What are we willing to die for?
Today in many parishes across the country people will bring
their pets to a special blessing done this Sunday in honor of the feast of
Saint Francis that is celebrated on October 4th. This is custom
reflects the giftedness of creation.
Asking God to bless our pets or livestock is an excellent way of
recalling that God is the source of all life.
Would that
we had that attitude about all of God’s creation! Today is also Respect Life
Sunday a day that points to our culture’s lack of respect for human life. Like
the son in the parable that represents Jesus, many of those sent by God to us
are condemned to death and often the motivation is no different than that of
the evil tenants--economic.
“They will
respect my son,” the owner of the vineyard presumes wrongly.
Do we respect human life? It is horrible that our culture has become so
selective about who deserves to live or die often based on how productive
someone’s life is seen to be or whether we can afford them. Can anyone afford
not to respect life?
Life is a
gift from God and you and I are not God. Neither are doctors, lawyers, judges,
government leaders or anyone else you can think of. We are all tenants who have
been given the task of cultivating and producing good fruit and sharing it with
one another. In the process we share it with God.
