Corpus Christi Blog

Personal Spiritual Responsibility

09-28-2014HomiliesFr. Chad King

My brothers and sisters in Christ, our readings today, particularly our 1st reading and Gospel, challenge us to take personal spiritual responsibility of our lives. Our 1st reading comes from the end of chapter 18 of the Prophet Ezekiel, but in order to help you understand what I mean by Personal Spiritual Responsibility, we need to recall the beginning of the chapter. The beginning of Ezekiel 18 starts with God asking Ezekiel to recite the ancient proverb: “Parents eat sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge”. What that proverb means is that the children paid for the sins of the parents. I encourage you to read Ezekiel 18 for yourselves to get the full meaning.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, our readings today, particularly our 1st reading and Gospel, challenge us to take personal spiritual responsibility of our lives. Our 1st reading comes from the end of chapter 18 of the Prophet Ezekiel, but in order to help you understand what I mean by Personal Spiritual Responsibility, we need to recall the beginning of the chapter. The beginning of Ezekiel 18 starts with God asking Ezekiel to recite the ancient proverb: “Parents eat sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge”. What that proverb means is that the children paid for the sins of the parents. I encourage you to read Ezekiel 18 for yourselves to get the full meaning. But I will try to explain, in ancient cultures- the community was over the individual. So if everyone else in the community was wicked sinful people, then even if 1 person was righteous- that person, just because he/she is part of that community, is held liable for the sin as well. That one good person was held captive, he/she was a victim of the community. Such was the way of life in the ancient culture. It was a way of life because justice was the most important rule at this time in the land of Israel. Justice- someone must pay for the crime. So if the Father sinned, then the son was punished for the crime.

But now God, in Ezekiel 18, is abolishing that rule, He is changing that way of life. Now only the one who sins is held responsible. The primary rule God is establishing in the land of Israel, isn’t Justice anymore, but Mercy. Now real moral change is possible, no more is one person a victim with the ways of the community. Mercy is now possible. Individual conversion is possible as long as there is individual repentance. Now, and this is the point I want you to remember, one can and should stand before God individually and assume spiritual responsibility. I’ll say it again, now one can and should stand before God individually and assume spiritual responsibility.

For example, with the change of the translation of the Creed we say at Mass, now it is “I Believe”, not “We believe”. No more can we proclaim the faith of our parents, and no more can we just try and blend in with the faith of people around us. Now each of us have to make the claim for ourselves. We have to stand before God as individuals, yes those around us affect us for good or bad, but God will judge us as individuals. Now we are not victim of what others has done before us, nor can we take credit for the virtue of those around us. Each of us choose good or evil for ourselves, and if we choose evil and sin, we must choose to repent.

Similarly, our Gospel teaches us how to stand before God as individuals. By use of a parable, Jesus warns the Scribes and Chief Priests, as well as those of us, who think that they are obeying the law, that God will judge us not according to our standard, but by His standard. We must not just be good in our eyes, we must be good in His eyes, and that God judges by the goodness in our heart.

But let us look more closely at this parable in which, like another well-known parable, we are presented with and called to reflect on the actions of 2 sons with their Father. In this Gospel, the Father invited the children to work in the vineyard. Just as each of us, not collectively but as individuals, are sent into the vineyard of the Lord. Each of us have a mission, each of us have a specific task in the vineyard given by the Father. And we are held responsible if we obey and do as He asks or not. Once again, we cannot take credit for the work that others around us have done. So how committed are you in obeying God and working in His vineyard?

Let us reflect on the responses of the 2 sons in our Gospel today. The first son at first said he would not go work in the vineyard, but then changed his mind, repented and did what God had called. I imagine the 1st son at first was thinking about what he wanted, he didn’t want to go work in the vineyard, he wanted to do what he wanted to do. Don’t we all get that way, don’t we all sometimes do whatever we want to do and ignore the call of God that day? But what do you suppose made the 1st son to repent and change his mind? I think part of it had to be because he really knew the Father, he knew the Father’s love for him, and he knew that he was called by the Father; and although he did not want to do it, out of love for the Father he repented. Do you know the love of the Father for you? What does that love make you need to repent from? If you repent and come to confession, do you confess out of fear, or out of love- because our sins have offended the Lord whom we should love above all things?

The 2nd son likewise was called by the Father to work in the vineyard. He said he would, but in the end, didn’t. I imagine he said yes because he wanted to appear as if he was a good son who obeyed, but it was all an act, his heart wasn’t in his answer. How many of us say little lies to appear to be good? How many of us try and do external holy actions but our hearts really aren’t in them?

Through our readings today, we are challenged to individual spiritual responsibility; we are held accountable not just for our actions but for our hearts in the actions. May we ask our Lord to know His great love for us, and because of the love God has for each of us, may we open our hearts. But unlike the Scribes, may we know we are held accountable not according to our standard, but according to God’s standard, and so may we then repent of our sins, and receive the fullness of Mercy. I wanted to remind you that I am available for confession by appointment if you cannot make the scheduled times.

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