MATTHEW 21:43

Jesus is continuing his attack on the Jewish religious leaders that we began reading last week. He is in Jerusalem on his way to his cross, and he is provoking them into a murderous rage.

Jesus tells a parable that begins by closely following Isaiah’s parable of the wild grapes. But after setting the tale of the vineyard, he turns away from the crop and talks about the landowner leaving the vineyard in the care of tenants who grow rebellious and beat all the servants whom the landlord sends to check up on them. Then the landlord sends his son thinking that the son will get respect but he gets death instead. Jesus ends with the warning above that the Kingdom will be given to those who produce fruit.

The postscript of the story, omitted from the readings, is that the meaning did not escape the chief priests and Pharisees.

There is a temptation for us to hear this parable and align ourselves with the people producing fruit. But I think we should sit with the Pharisees on this and question how much fruit we are producing.

This year, in case you haven’t noticed, we’ve dealt with a pandemic, widespread protests over police brutality and massive human-caused wildfires as well as another horrific hurricane season. Many of us feel righteous in our view that the President has done an awful job in leading the nation to control the pandemic. We feel righteous in our outrage over the murder of innocent blacks by the police yet that outrage has only been sparked by technology which confirms what Black folk have been saying for years. The overwhelming majority of white folks gave the police the benefit of the doubt for far too long. And Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ has squarely rooted the environmental crisis in our materialism, for which we are all guilty.

The Adult Religious Education program is presenting a series on The Sin and Tragedy of Racism. The first session is available as a video on our website. The last two sessions will be October 15 and November 5 and 7:00 p.m. See below for more details.

By the way, this series is presented by the Religious Education Commission because the Social Justice Commission is leaderless as well as followerless. If you are interested in getting our missions right, email Father and offer to get involved.

Also worth reading: a reflection by Ed Taylor, former parishioner and father of an STCA alum at https://www.kuow.org/stories/i-want-my-hair-to-be-fully-gray-the-lives-of-black-folks-should-end-with-dignity.

Father Maurice has announced that if attendance at the 11:00 mass reaches 50, he will restart the 8:30 mass. Currently attendance is a bit over 30. Masks are worn, social distancing is in force, there is no communal singing (sob!) and there is lots of ventilation. Use Sign Up! from the website or your phone to reserve a spot, though currently there is plenty of room for walk-ups. Y’all come! (If you use Sign Up! on your phone, the button is at the bottom of the scroll, not on the right were it appears on a computer.)

Let us be generous with our financial resources:

• For several weeks we’ve been about $1100 short of our Annual Catholic Appeal Goal. We can’t stop this close! Please support the work of the Church of Western Washington by clicking on this link: Annual Catholic Appeal. Much of your contribution comes back to the parish in the form of central office services, such as facilities and personnel consultations, payroll servicing, and management of employee health insurance and retirement funds. If you have questions about the Appeal, please email me at jvrussell85@gmail.com
• Give to the St Vincent de Paul Society by going to our website at st-therese.cc.  Scroll down to the St Vincent de Paul button near the bottom of the home page. If you prefer to write checks, please send them to Sr. Kathleen -SVdP , 3514 E. Marion St. , Seattle, WA 98122. The St. Therese conference has been overwhelmed by requests in the St Edwards area, which our conference is now serving. When the ban on evictions is lifted, the amount of accumulated delinquent rent will be crippling to many families. Please be generous!
• You can make a contribution online at st-therese.org and clicking on the "Donate Now" button or use the Push-Pay app on your phone.