Mark 12:1-12 Taking Control

Monday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

(Click here for readings)

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables.  “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower.  Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.  At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants do obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.  But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away…”

Have you ever felt like you weren’t welcomed in your own home?  God knows the feeling.

God created the world.  It belongs to Him.  We don’t own it.  We work in it, play in it and live in it, but like a hotel room, we don’t own it.  But for the longest time, ever since the very beginning of time, we have wanted to own it. 

Now not only do we want to own the world, but we also want to own “good” and “bad.”  Yes, we want to be the ones who decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong; what is good and what is bad.  And just like children, we don’t want to be told what we can and cannot do.  We want to decide for ourselves. 

But the truth is the truth, and the truth is quite simple:  we don’t own anything.  We don’t even own our very own lives.  And we don’t like it.  Hence, there’s been a war that has been raging on since the dawn of man, a battle for control, a battle for ownership.

Call this battle whatever you want:  good vs. evil; the light vs. the darkness.  But that’s not our battle.  The battle is much more sinister than that.  We can all relate to “good” vs. “evil”.  But what some people can’t relate to is One telling us what is “good” and “evil.”  We can’t relate to God.

This morning I read an article by a woman who converted to Catholicism.  Her family and friends were taken by surprise.  They couldn’t believe that a highly intelligent, vibrant, beautiful young woman would convert to Catholicism, or, as her atheist brother put it, “The Evil Empire.” 

So the Church is the “Evil Empire?”  The “Evil Empire???”   And so what exactly does that make the world out to be?  The “Loving Empire”???  Hahahahaha!!!  The absurdity of atheists!  Like a child, he speaks the Childish language. Obviously, he must consider his insults to be “good” and his opinion as “tolerance.”  

You think this is bad?  Oh, you haven’t seen “bad” yet.  I invite all my friends to take a look and see what kind of responses atheists give to the uplifting, beautiful and humble tweets from our Holy Father.  Go to @Pontifex today.  Take a look at it for yourself.  Click on one of his messages and read the comments that follow.  What do you see?  Tolerance?  A willingness to dialogue?  Loving messages?  No.  What you see is the reality of atheism (the real “Evil Empire”): insult after insult, vulgarity, profanity, immaturity, hostility, vileness, meanness and of course, hypocrisy.

What these individuals would love to do is drive the Holy Father out of social media.  But their ultimate goal is to drive God out of the world.  And just like the workers in the Lord’s vineyard, they will stop at nothing to get what they want:  total control.  These sick individuals will resort to anything and everything to accomplish their mission.

At her worst, The Church has simply imitated the world it lives in.  But at her best, it has imitated Jesus Christ.  [And when I say “The Church” let’s not forget what that means:  It means “us”.]    

Yes, we are at our worst when we imitate those outside the Church.  We are at our best when we imitate Jesus Christ.  We are at our worst when we go with the flow.  We are at our best when we go against the current.    

Love conquers all things.  Let’s take control!

P.S.  Check out some of the articles that helped inspire this meditation.  Click here.