Summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily from October 2, 2005
"TWHEN HE LOOKED FOR a crop of grapes, and what it yielded was wild grapes. " Is. 5:2. The older translation read "sour grapes". "He looked for judgment, but, see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!" Is. 5:7
I was at a neighborhood party last week and was taken aback of the new building constructed next door. I wondered if a convent of nuns had moved into the neighborhood. I was assured that this large institution was a family home. I read in the press that Chevy Chase is trying to take steps to prevent "mansionization" At the same time the news reports that the government has trouble housing Katrina's children. If the recently displaced cannot be housed, what about the chronically homeless? We live with strange disparities and still lack a semblance of social justice.
The violence of the first reading continues in the gospel with the stoning of the servants and the killing of the master's son to claim his inheritance.
It is possible for us to look around today on Respect Life Sunday and find further evidence of blood: gang killings with machetes, ill-begotten wars where the dead are only partially counted, increased numbers of abortions, no end to the death penalty in sight and hurricanes.
However, it appears to me that we do not get far by dwelling on the negative. Perhaps we need to focus on the Vinedresser. " What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done?" We are blessed in so many ways that we do not even recognize.
When a toilet is flushed, we have more water available to us in an instant than most families in the third world have for all the needs of a full day.
When we experience ourselves as blessed by God's bounty we share.
I am proud of the way this parish of St Charles shares. A month ago we asked you to feed the hungry in Arlington by donating 1,200 boxes of cereal. You have given over 1,300 boxes for Arlington's Food Assistance center. You have put food on the table for families who have trouble providing their daily bread. You have given over $40,000 dollars to hurricane relief. On the same Sunday you maintained an offering of over $20,000 dollars, which we tithed for the needy. Last weekend 165 of you volunteered your time to St Charles' many ministries.
The answers to this world's problems are not found among the sour grapes of acquisitiveness and greed. The answer is found in parishes like ours; communities of solidarity and generosity, where no one is left unfed or ill housed. Let us bring to the Lord's Table today the good wine of a grateful giving people.