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September 9, 2014
Spirituality
Fr. Brendan McGuire is pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in San Jose and a Vicar
General of the Diocese of San Jose. As Vicar General, he is responsible
for special projects such as the recently launched Saint Katharine Drexel
Initiative to revitalize Catholic Schools in the Diocese. Before being ordained
in 2000, Fr. Brendan was an executive in a technology company and still
loves to use technology such as Facebook, podcasts and YouTube to bring
people to a deeper relationship with Christ. Email him at [email protected].
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time • September 21, 2014
Not Fair!
When we hear the Gospel on Sunday, September 21 about the workers in the vineyard all getting the same full day’s pay for different hours of work, we tend to say,
“That’s just not fair!” It violates our American way of life.
The key phrase is, “Are you envious because I am generous?” The evangelist is telling us that eternal life has nothing to do with merit but everything to do with God’s
grace. We cannot earn our way into God’s kingdom. It is God’s grace.
The challenge when we hear this story, is that we do not hear with “generous”
hearts” but with “scarcity” hearts. We believe God needs to somehow portion out
his grace in small portions according to some metric we have in our head. Thankfully, God does not do that. God says that his grace is in abundance and he gives to
all according to need.
God gives enough material goods for all of us in our community not just as individuals but as a community. There is enough in this community for everyone, plus a
whole lot more left over.
In our greater community of the County of Santa Clara, we know there is enough
food for everyone; there has to be because we have some of the wealthiest people in
the world. Yet, 25% of the people in this County do not know where their next meal
is coming from. That is not fair!
The World Health Organization tells us that one-third of the world is well-fed,
one-third of the world is underfed and one-third of the world starves.1 Wow. That is
not fair. Clearly there is enough food in the world for all to live but there are those
dying of starvation every day!
We need to look at this Gospel not from our point of view, but from the point of
view of those who do not have enough. We are challenged by this message and asked
to emulate God’s way in our life. That means that we have to share more of what we
have with those who do not have, not because they deserve it, not because they have
merited it, but because they need it.
It is not fair that so many go without food or shelter, when we who have so much
have more than enough. We are called to share not because they deserve it but because
they need it. God’s grace is enough for all, so too are our goods!
(Endnotes)
1
Statistic as quoted by Dick Folger, “Celebration: An Ecumenical Worship Resource,”
(Kansas City, Missouri: National Catholic Reporter Company, Inc., September 18, 2011).
Cyprian of Carthage
c. 200-258 • feast Sept. 16
One of the first great theologians
in the church, this Latin father is
remembered today for his writings,
which are quoted in the documents
of the Second Vatican Council. A
late convert, Thascius Cecilianus
Cyprianus was a lawyer, rhetorician
and teacher before being chosen by
the people and clergy of Carthage,
in North Africa, as their bishop. He
was drawn into papal controversies
and schisms, but he also was known
for pastoral zeal and aiding plague
victims. Having survived one Roman
persecution, he later was beheaded
for refusing to participate in state religious ceremonies. He wrote biblical
commentary and treatises on church
unity and the sacraments. Cyprian
is the patron saint of North Africa
and Algeria.
www.valleycatholiconline.com
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he Valley Catholic
Exaltation of the Holy Cross • September 14, 2014
Pain to Pearls
An oyster is soft, tender and vulnerable. Without the sanctuary of its shell it
couldn’t survive. But oysters must open their shells in order to “breathe” water.
Sometimes while an oyster is breathing, a grain of sand will enter its shell and
from then on become part of the oyster’s life.
Such grains of sand, though microscopic, cause the oyster a great deal of pain.
But the oyster does not change its soft nature because of a particle of sand. It does
not become hard and leathery in order to not feel. It continues to open its shell to
the ocean, to breathe in order to live.
But it does respond to the suffering in its midst. Over time the oyster wraps
the grain of sand in thin translucent layers until it has created something of great
value in the place of its pain. A pearl might be thought of as an oyster’s response to
it suffering.1 The oyster turns the place of pain into a place of triumph. It replaces
the pain with a pearl of great value.
Jesus did the same thing (analogously) with the cross. He turned this place of
pain into a place of triumph. Before Christ, death by crucifixion was reserved to
slaves and the worst of criminals. Before Christ, the cross was a vicious form of
death where the victim hung by six-inch nails driven into the arms and ankles,
left to die in the intense heat of the midday sun under unbearable thirst exposed
to ridicule from the crowd. Yes the cross was unspeakable pain. But Christ turned
it into a place of triumph.
We all have grains of sand that hurt and irritate us. All of us have experienced
or will experience loss and hopelessness. These “grains of sand” are a part of everyone’s life. Maybe it is the death of someone close, the loss of a job or a close friend.
These “grains of sand” cause great pain indeed. We may not have a choice about
having pain but we can choose how to handle it. Like the oyster we can transform
that pain into a pearl. If we can allow the Lord to help us we can transform our
pain into triumph. So we may ask how?
Openness! The oyster opens itself to the water despite the reality of its suffering,
because it needs to breathe. Then it has the strength to cover the grain of sand with
the translucent layer. So too, we are called to open ourselves to the world again
because we need to breathe the air of life. Then we will have