Listening to the passage about the man who asked his two sons to work in the vineyard we may feel that it is a continuation of the parable of the landowner who kept going out to the market place all day long in order to search for workers in his vineyard. It was the parable we were given last week. However if we go to the Gospel of Matthew we discover that a lot happened in between. Let me just recall one event: Palm Sunday.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! Although the Holy Week for us is still months away but from today until Advent we will be listening, on Sundays, to the Gospel passages taken from the Holy Week Jesus lived. Let us appreciate those sayings of the Lord which we will be given over next weeks. Those final messages are from the Son of God who is aware that it is a matter of days for him to be captured. Jesus is aware of his condemnation as he looks into the eyes of some of his fellow Jews.
In this tense situation however we see the only begotten Son of God who doesn’t stop his work in the vineyard of his heavenly Father. In the Scriptures a vineyard is a symbol of the people of God. Jesus is the one who does his ministry to this precious vineyard continuously.
Let us remember the words of the man who went to his first son and said: ‘My boy, you go and work in the vineyard today.’ This mission offered to the first son from the parable evokes the mission with which Jesus, the Firstborn of all creation, was entrusted by his heavenly Father. Before the Archangel Gabriel was sent to Mary, before Mary said yes, her fiat, to the invitation from heaven, and thus became a part of Divine Mission, it was Jesus who said yes to his Father who asked him: ‘My son, you go and work in the vineyard today.’
St Paul in our second reading taken from the Letter to the Philippians contemplated this ‘yes’ of Jesus and its consequences: ‘His state was divine, yet Jesus did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave.’ Why did Jesus assume the condition of a slave? Because we tend to feel sorry for ourselves as we imagine that we are slaves who need to put up with ‘a heavy day’s work in all the heat’ as the people first employed in the parable last Sunday described their time in the vineyard. Because like the second son from today’s Gospel we find ourselves so disconnected from God’s love for his people that we don’t see the vineyard of the Lord, his Holy Church, as our inheritance. Because we would rather call God ‘Sir’ like that second son did rather than ‘Abba’ as Jesus did. Because if we called God Abba it would mean that we cannot turn a blind eye to the people who also have a right to call him Abba. Because if we called God Abba we had to call his vineyard, his Church our Church, our inheritance, for which we are responsible.
Let me give you a moment from Jesus’ mission which occurred in his Holy Week. It was when he prayed in the Gethsemane: ‘Abba, remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’ There Jesus voiced what is our common experience: loving others makes us vulnerable, loving others doesn’t guarantee that people will love us back, that they will appreciate it. But it is not the point. We are called to minister to those around us because as Christians we have been given a charism of looking at people the way God does.
I invite you to think about people near and far and to pray the prayer of Gethsemane: ‘Abba, remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’ It is a prayer of someone who is realistic about the challenges of loving people. It is a prayer of someone who is realistic about their own feebleness when it comes to loving. However it is predominantly a prayer of someone who does not want to run away from the vineyard of the Lord, from his Holy Church. Jesus prayed it, not only for himself but for me and you.

            At times we may feel that God plays a hide and seek game with us. Our first reading seems to support that as we could hear from the prophet Isaiah: ‘Seek the Lord while he is still to be found.’ However it is not God who hides from us, it is rather us who don’t want to find him. Why? Because it may require of us: abandoning our ways and our thoughts.
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers!
            In the Gospel we have been given a parable about God who makes the first move: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard.’ However it is not the end of his seeking. We see God who goes out at 9am. He does the same at 12pm and 3pm. In fact we see him again at 6pm going out to seek workers for his vineyard. It is hard to miss him, isn’t it? However the One who told the parable was not simply a story teller he was the Seeker.  He made the first move, he chose to be near.
In the Gospel of John, in the very first chapter, we read about Jesus being baptised by John the Baptist. John the Apostle, who first was a disciple of the Baptist and later became the beloved disciple of Jesus, recorded in his Gospel that the following day Jesus came again to the place where the Baptist with his disciples were ministering to the people near the Jordan River. And he came back the day after. On that third day Andrew and another disciple of the Baptist followed Jesus to see the place where he lived. The first thing Andrew did after that was to go to his own brother Simon, who would be called Peter, and to tell him: ‘We have found the Messiah.’ However my question is: who found who? Was it really Andrew who found Jesus? Or was it Jesus who found Andrew? Jesus appeared more determined to find Andrew.
Isaiah in the First Reading wrote: ‘Call to God while he is still near.’ After the three visits from Jesus, Andrew made the right call when he said: ‘Teacher, where do you live?’ His excitement from seeing the place where Jesus lived wasn’t about the grandeur mansion, as Jesus did not have such accommodation, but it was about discovering in Jesus the eternal wisdom of the Almighty: ‘The heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.’ What thrilled Andrew wasn’t however a university degree in wisdom which he could show off in front of his friends and relations but a relationship he was invited to have with God who became visible in the person of Jesus Christ. Andrew got it right. He became a good worker in the vineyard of the Lord if we use the expression from the Gospel today. Andrew did what Jesus did to him. Andrew went to seek for his brother Simon. Andrew wasn’t possessive of what he found after being found by Jesus.
My Dear Fellow believers!  Please don’t remember from today’s Gospel only the workers who were hired at daybreak. It is easy to remember them because they ‘grumbled at the landowner.’ They were the people making big noises. Such people usually attract attention of others, don’t they? However it is not they who have a message for us. The message comes from the people who were hired at 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 6pm. Why? Because they exhibited something out of this world. They went to work without knowing how much they would be paid. University can educate people in economics but not in trust. Trust in God however is the talent much needed. It is the talent we are called to share in a quiet way with our sisters and brothers who may be still in the market place of the world like those workers from the Gospel.
The next time you hear from someone that they cannot see God, that they cannot find him, reflect whether it is because you haven’t taken them to Jesus. May the Andrew, who took to Jesus the first Pope, be an inspiration for you and me.

What would you do if you heard fire alarm going off right now? You would leave, wouldn’t you? A few days ago at a college there was a musical gala. When the MC went up to welcome people, just as she was about to say the first words, fire alarm went off. Do you know what the whole audience did next? Nothing, they kept sitting. It took some time and some extra explanation to get them evacuate. Why did they not leave in the first place? Because they thought it was part of the show. They did not ‘read’ the normal message conveyed by the alarm but they made their own interpretation of what was happening. Thank God there was just a minor issue. But what would happen if it were something major?
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers! St Paul in our Second Reading taken from the Letter to the Romans wrote: The life and death of each of us has its influence on others. What kind of influence it will be comes from our accepting in faith and trust what St Paul wrote next: If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord, so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord. As we gather this Sunday, we can remember the words of St Peter, the Apostle: Do not behave in the way that you liked to before you learnt the truth. St Peter when he wrote those words had in his memory, and in his heart, the three years he walked with Jesus and other Apostles across the Holy Land. Today’s Gospel recalls a day from that three-year-long walk. However the walk wasn’t about physical fitness. It was about their growth in trust and faith in Jesus.
            It was about trust. Peter is an example of someone who is not afraid of confronting his own thinking, his own life experience, with Jesus. Peter must have had situations when people wronged him. However he also had heard Jesus’ call to forgive, as we did last Sunday. So today we see St Peter coming and, rather generously, offering to forgive seven times. Lots of people would struggle to apply that to their life. Sometimes to forgive once seems to be like deserving a Noble Prize. So how did Jesus react to that generous offer of Peter? Did he award the first Pope with seven Noble Prizes? Jesus said: You must forgive seventy-seven times.
            Here Peter had to place his faith in Jesus. The word he receive was challenging but it was also life giving. First to the people who would benefit from limitless forgiveness St Peter would offer. What a great impact on others, isn’t it. Secondly to Peter himself as he was living his life for the Lord Jesus not for himself, as he was allowing the Spirit of God to shape him according to the Good News proclaimed by Jesus Christ.
            My Dear Fellow believers! The Scripture readings for this Sunday are about forgiveness but they are also about the Word of God which influences us who place our trust and faith in Jesus. The Scripture readings for this Sunday confront us, and our own way of listening and interpreting of the Bible with the truth of God. For example we may listen to the Word of God like the people at the music gala to the fire alarm and thought that the alarm didn’t apply to them. That it was irrelevant.
We may also try to water down the Scriptures by adding contemporary trends, politics, philosophies, ideologies, lack of faith, irreligiously etc. to the purity of the Word of God. It is like pouring a few liters of water to a glass of wine. After that exercise what is left in the glass, is it still wine? Is it still the Word of God which is life giving, hope giving, love giving or is it the product of our own doubt, conformity, the easy way, self-absorbedness, individualism etc. which is death giving, despair giving, hate giving?
The Peter of our time, Pope Francis, like all Pope we might have known so far, is an attentive listener to the Word of God. Every day between 5 and 7am he meditates on the Word of God, he allows the Word of God to influence him. Last week when he was in Colombia he was approached by a woman whose husband poured acid on her face. After many surgeries she decided to have euthanasia as he believed that her psychological suffering was unbearable. She went up to the Pope and asked him to bless her for her final journey. The Pope answered: ‘You will not do that. You are beautiful and courageous.’ It was a brief moment but it changed her. She doesn’t want to have euthanasia. Her life was influenced by the Pope who first was influenced by the Word of God.

Do you know who a guardian angel is? It is a person who is with you 24/7, isn’t it? However before you start imagining someone in shining garments with wings growing from their back, let me talk about a Catholic community of Cenacolo. The community was founded by Mother Elvira Petrozzi , an Italian nun in 1983. Mother Elvira discovered a call to help drug addicts. However she didn’t employ medical personnel, psychologists, psychiatrists or councillors. She didn’t invent a new method of treatment either. Instead she turned to the Gospel. Cenacolo means Cenacle, the Upper Room. After prayer and reflection she started a community which was to reflect what we have been given in the Gospel, particular captured in the Last Super. Mother Elvira describes it as a ‘school of life,’ focusing on work, prayer and interpersonal sharing. Over 34 years of their existence 80% of the women and men living in Cenacolo communities have won their battle with their addiction. I presume that the reason our government organizations are not applying the method of Cenacolo is that the communities founded by Mother Elvira have a strong Catholic identity.
            Let’s go back to our question regarding a guardian angel. In Cenacolo it is a recovering addict, who has been already for some moths in the community. He may still have his own demons to deal with but he is given a new comer. Over a number of weeks he will be like a shadow to the newbie. He will be like Prophet Ezekiel who was appointed by God ‘as sentry to the House of Israel.’ He will not leave the newcomer even for a second, day and night, week after week. I guess some could raise an objection that it is the invasion of privacy. However those who have recovered from their addiction say that without the guardian angel it is impossible to survive those first weeks when every cell in the body screams for drugs, alcohol, etc. The guardian angel is like that person from today’s Gospel who never gives up, unless the person she or he is accompanying walks away from the community.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! I am telling you the story of Cenacolo so that you could grow in your appreciation of belonging to the Church community which was a model for Mother Elvira. If it can help people in such drastic circumstances it can also help us in our own parish communities. I don’t mean that we all need to have a parishioner following us 24/7 but that we should rediscover the essence of living our faith as a community. The guardian angel from Cenacolo is someone who on behalf of the community loves the fellow Christian in a very concrete and practical way. The guardian angel knows that he has got the support, understanding and love of the community. He is not on his own when he faces the roller-coaster with dramatic mood swings. Jesus said: ‘Where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.’ However those two or three need to come together because they care for someone. Jesus hasn’t promised to be among those who gather together just to enjoy some cozy but selfish time.
From what I have told you so far about Cenacolo you shouldn’t be surprised that the people there practice seriously what Jesus explained in the Gospel for this Sunday: ‘If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone.’ It means: Put your whole love into winning back your brother or sister who strays. However if your love is not enough double it by asking someone else to go with you for the second time. If it still doesn’t work bring the whole love the community, your Church, has got into your interaction with your brother of sister, because sometimes you may not have enough love to be challenging or consistent.
However the first test whether you have love to correct someone is when you yourself are open to be corrected. If it is not, you better go and have a cup of coffee and examine your attitude, then go to Jesus and ask him for openness to receive a correction from your fellow Christians.

            At the beginning of Lent we listen to the Gospel about the three temptations Jesus faced in the desert. After the third temptation Jesus said: ‘Be off, Satan!’ In the Gospel for this Sunday we hear the words which evoke that desert moment: ‘Get behind me, Satan.’ These words were thrown at the man who, according to what happened a few moments earlier, as we could hear it last Sunday, was described the rock on which Jesus was to build his Church. ‘And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.’ In split seconds Peter - the rock became Peter - an obstacle. In split seconds we too from disciples can become enemies of the Lord.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers!
What triggered such a drastic reaction in Christ? Peter was pulling Jesus away from the cross. Peter had an idea of Jesus doing great things without the cross being involved. Jesus however opposed the vision which didn’t include the cross. Christ didn’t seek suffering. Christ didn’t seek an excruciating death. Christ however did seek to ‘offer his body as a holy sacrifice.’ It was to be a life giving sacrifice as we continue to celebrate it in our communities.
The situation in the Gospel shows Peter, who had just professed his faith in ‘the Son of the living God,’ falling into a subtle temptation of imagining the world without the cross. It is not a vanished temptation; it is still present in our midst. Recently I was reading an article about Iceland, the first nation Down-syndrome free. Do you think that they have discovered a groundbreaking treatment to eradicate the syndrome? Not at all. The solution they have found is sinister: the prenatal testing and abortion. Iceland became Down-syndrome free because all babies with Down-syndrome are being murdered. Denmark is going to ‘achieve’ that in 10 year, while Europe and America are not far from such an ‘achievement.’ Apparently it is going to make the world better and more beautiful. I doubt it because we are losing something precious the Down-syndrome people give us. Listen to these statistics:
99% people with Down syndrome are happy with their lives.
97% people with Down syndrome like who they are
96% people with Down syndrome like how they look.
How many of our schools and institutions can enjoy that?
St Paul in the Letter to the Romans wrote: ‘Do not model yourself in the behaviour of the world around you, but let your behaviour change, modelled by your new mind.’ The world without the cross is a sinister temptation. That’s why as Christians, following the example of Jesus, whom we preach as the crucified Lord, we have been always at the frontline of health and social care alleviating suffering in its various form. At the outbreak of A.I.D.S catholic religious were with patients when others were scared of contagiousness. However we also recognize that there is mystery surrounding human suffering when we are called to be with the person knowing that there is no cure or solution.
Henri Nouwen, a great writer and theologian but also a humble and faith-filled priest saw his mother dying not in the calm of peace but in the grip of struggle, even terror. He voiced than what was in his heart: ‘Why were we witnessing such pain and agony of a woman whose life had been one of goodness, tenderness and love?’ These are legitimate questions but without faith there is no answer. Nouwen contemplating the suffering of his mum started reflecting if his mother’s struggle did not reveal the truth of God’s love. Who was more loving than Jesus? Who suffered more than Jesus? Jesus’ life did not end in a tranquil death. He suffered an agony and his agony still echoes down through the centuries in those who suffer. ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.’
However it will happen only when Christ goes first and we follow. That’s why Jesus said to Peter: ‘Get behind me.’ Because when we push Jesus off the frontline and place ourselves there expecting him to follow us and to accept our vision for the world without the cross, we in fact create a sinister world. The world where killing babies is called an abortion; and murdering the vulnerable is called euthanasia.
My Dear Fellow believers! In this world where our voice as people of faith is played down we need again to stand behind Jesus and then we will have a beautiful view of the world and of our fellow human beings. Then we can offer to our world our contemplation of heaven in those who are united with heaven in their suffering.