Twenty Seventh Sunday of the Year a

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This parable when first heard by those listening would have angered and also shocked the listener. For what we have is a parable about how the Jewish people had treated the prophets in the past. They were sent by God to give the Good news of salvation to the people of Israel. Each of them were rejected and despised. Lastly after sending the prophets he sent his only Son and what we see is anger and a violent rejection of Christ. This parable became true with the death of Christ.  This parable then was telling the Jewish authorities what was going to happen to him.

Sadly this rejection of Jesus and of Religion is also present in our country today. We have seen the dramatic fall in numbers coming to the Church and many people are actively against any forms of organised Religion. They see it as a hindrance to personal freedom and even actively opposed to it. We saw this is the lead up to the Papal visit last year. Where people such and Peter Tathell, Stephen fry led us to believe that the visit and organized religion is something that people don’t want in their lives.  So what do we do when we don’t have a religion we make one up we turn other things into a religion as a counter sign to rejection of Christ and religion. So we have football, money the pursuit of power, drink and drugs to fill in the gaps and make them into religions. 

Even political systems try and fill in the gaps of society by giving us the " Big Society" idea. This is OK in itself but it needs to have bite and teeth. It cannot be something to fill in the gaps because there is no money. 

The rejection of Christ then is actually a rejection of Religion and the core values that goes with it. In a recent programme to mark the Jewish New Year Lord Jonathan Sacks points out that the breakdown of society and an authentic value system is because there is a rejection of Religion. He looked at the family as important aspect, how we treat each other in the wider society so respect and seeing each person in the image of God and lastly to learn and our respect for the old and vulnerable in society.

We I feel as a Catholic community hold the same value system. The family, the domestic Church, is vital in the handing down of the message of Jesus. It is here that we put Christ of at the corner stone so how can we do this practically maybe by praying a grace before meals or spending time as a family in prayer. We can respect others and see the image of God in other people by curbing our tongue when gossip start by seeing everyone as God’s work of art. With the respect of the vulnerable in society maybe spending time visiting or doing some work of charity or simply praying for those who are finding life difficult.

One way in which we can help in this is by looking at ourselves as it says in Paul’s letter this weekend we need to be careful that we don’t reject Christ by what we are reading or looking at. To discover what is beautiful and enjoy God’s creation So that our whole lives becomes a way of praising God: This one of the ways that we can produce the fruits of the Kingdom.




Below is the link to the program I mentioned in the Homily 



www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b015d4pt/Whats_the_Point_of_Religion/

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