Look at everything you have, including your life. What right do you have over them? - Daily Reflections March 21,2014

MASTER AND TENANTS

 

One day, a very rich man died suddenly. The local priest was called in for the last rituals. Afterwards, a local resident commented to the priest, “How much do you think he left behind?” The priest said, “Everything!” And it’s true. When our time comes, we will leave behind everything.

       Today’s parable begins with a simple line: “There was a landowner who planted a vineyard…” This pithy line actually summarizes the whole of the parable. God is the landowner. He owns everything. “Landowner” not only summarizes the parable but likewise describes a key principle of Christian spirituality. God is the source of everything we have and are.

       The parable goes on to say that the landowner leased the vineyard to tenants. If God owns everything, then we are but stewards. Everything that we have, we possess only on borrowed time, in limited fashion. Consequently, no exercise of right is absolute. The social doctrine of the Church teaches us that one’s right ends where another person’s right begins. Take the modern age’s mantra of “the right of choice.” Abortion is justified as a “right of choice” to do what a woman wants with her body. But how many bodies are involved in the act of abortion? The mother and the child. And whose body is being eliminated? Not the mother’s but the child’s.

       The social doctrine of the Church also says: When there is a real conflict of rights, the higher right shall prevail. In abortion, what rights are in conflict? The right to choose (on the part of the mother) and the right to life (on the part of the infant in the womb). Which right should prevail? If the right to life is the most basic right, then the answer is so obvious.

       Over 2,000 years ago, Christ uttered the words, “This is my body, given for you.” They were meant to give life for the other. Now the same words are invoked, “This is my body!” but they are said not to give life, but to take away the life of a helpless other.

       We need a reeducation in stewardship! Fr. Joel Jason

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Look at everything you have, including your life. What right do you have over them?

 

Help me to be a responsible steward of everything You have entrusted to me, Lord.