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| "You too go into My vineyard" (Mt. 20). |
Audio clips below are in 3 separate sections due to technical difficulties (Sun., 5pm):
(audio recording, Part 1 of 3)
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WRITTEN TEXT:
Homily #99
“Jesus Recruits Us to Help Save Souls From Hell”
by Deacon Dennis Purificacion
Parable of the Landowner (Mt. 20)
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 24, 2017
(Sat., 5pm; Sun. 8am & 5pm Masses)
There
are 3 main points (on God’s generosity in the Parable of the Landowner):
1.) Serving God is a gift.
2.) We have the free will to accept or reject
generous God’s gift.
3.) Here are some practical ways to be an
effective laborer/apostle.
I.
Whenever we apply for a job (or college), we create a
resume (or application). We then send
our resume to a company Human Resources recruiter hoping for an interview. It is typically the job applicant that
approach the company for work.
However, in today’s Gospel, the opposite is true. It isn’t the applicant that is the main focus,
but rather it is the employer that is the focus. That’s part of the meaning of “The last will
be first, and the first will be last”. Jesus
once again switches our way of looking at things. Instead
of us approaching Jesus to work in Jesus’s Kingdom, it is rather, Jesus Himself
– our Divine Employer – who initiated the first move. Like the bumper sticker says, “My Boss is
a Jewish Carpenter.”
Jesus’s call for you and me is so abundantly generous
that it is a gift. In a sense, Jesus
doesn’t care what’s on the resume. His
call for us is unmerited. We don’t
deserve the job, but he still calls us. In today’s parable, the landowner is Jesus,
and he describes himself as “generous”. From
our First Reading, it is written in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah that God is
“generous in forgiveness. In Gospel,
Jesus the Generous Landowner says to us, “Am I not free to do as I wish with my
own money or my treasures or my graces?”
This is why the laborers shouldn’t complain to the Divine Landowner
about their pay—because serving God is a gift.
II.
That leads to the second point. Just as God is free to call and recruit and
distribute the treasures of graces, so too we are free to accept or reject that
call from God to work in his vineyard. But
what I want to say is this: There are far too many souls that are rejecting God
today. And I’m not referring to outside
in the world, but within those Catholics that are rejecting God within the
Church.
What are we doing to help save our souls? What are we doing to help save the souls of
our loved ones and others, esp. in our immediate family? Jesus
recruits us to help saves souls from Hell.
Here’s a snapshot of the rejection and why you are
needed in the vineyard to labor for God: Out of 100 Catholics in the United
States, only 22% go to Sunday Mass. In Europe,
it is worse: only 10 out of 100 go to Mass.
Of those that go to Sunday Mass, only 1/3 believe in the Real
Presence. Only 2 out of 10 believe in
Hell and the devil. A majority of
Mass-going Catholics reject some moral teaching of the Church. (Cite Deacon Pete statistic on 9/10
cohabiting before marriage—not Catholic way of dating and courtship.) It’s a type of silent apostasy. Apostasy is when Catholics leave the Church. It’s like stars falling from the sky; it is a
tribulation for the Church. Instead of
apostasy, however, our RCIA programs should be packed with new Catholics.
This is a sample of why we need you right now, the
Church needs you! Jesus needs you! Mary needs you to bring souls to her
Son. Jesus says, “I thirst”, but like in
the Gospel, most Catholics are idle.
They just stand there. The landowner found others standing around
idle in the marketplace and said, “Why do you stand here idle all day? You go to my vineyard.” So many souls are lost every day. Just
look in our own families & friends who don’t go to Mass or are living lives
of sin. Are we giving them the help they
need to be free from sin and live in grace?
III.
Finally, here are some ways to be an effective
apostle. If we want to help save our
souls and the souls of loved ones, the first way is to bend our knees in prayer
to God through – not just a sacramental life but – a fervent Sacramental life: The Eucharist is the center and source of
prayer. Confession. We need to make sure that our marriages are
in good standing with the Church. Our
Lady said that Fatima that there are many marriages not pleasing to God. As Sr. Lucia of Fatima wrote, “The final
battle between Our Lord and Satan will be over family and marriage.” (Cite Deacon Bobby comment about the best
homily I as a deacon can give is when I bring my family to Mass.) (If time, talk about statistic about father of
families attending church. Include Men’s
Cursillo Retreat.) (If time, briefly
mention the role of men as spiritual fathers.)
The soul of the apostolate is personal daily prayer. I know you’re busy, but don’t forget Our
Lord. Don’t be so busy to neglect the
Lord for the works of the Lord. (Every
Wed., Jesus in Blessed Sacrament is exposed.)
The second concrete way is true devotion to Mary. The greatest saints in the Church’s history
are those that have a deep love for Mama Mary and her rosary. (If someone in our family is away from God
and the Church, pray the rosary for that person, fast on Friday for them, and
offer prayers and sacrifices for them.)
October is the month of the Rosary, and we celebrate the 100th
anniversary of Fatima on Oct. 13. If a
family member isn’t coming to church, pray/fast for them.
In closing, we covered 3 main points:
1.) Serving God is a gift.
2.) We have the free will to accept or
reject God’s generous gift.
3.) We saw some practical ways to be an
effective apostle.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out
at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
May we accept God’s free gift to be that zealous – not lukewarm –
laborers for him, and in so doing, grow in holiness, help save our souls, and
the souls of others, so that they may be in Heaven forever and ever and
ever. Amen.
(partial recording due to technical difficulties: Sat., 5pm Mass)
(partial recording due to technical difficulties: Sun., 8am Mass)
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