Welcome to the new Liturgical year (cycle B) and also the beginning of the Advent season! The season of Advent is a four week period of preparation and hopeful anticipation for the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas day. The scripture readings within Advent generally focus on the Incarnation (Jesus coming as flesh for the world, fully God and fully human) and the second coming of Christ.

Our scripture readings today remind us to stay awake and alert. The parable Jesus gives in the Gospel forewarns us that his second coming will take many people by surprise. Our whole lifetime is given to us to prepare for a journey into eternity. If He comes and finds us ready and actively preparing through service to others and prayer, then we will join Him in the Kingdom of Heaven. However, if He comes and finds us spiritually asleep with the doors of our hearts firmly closed to Him, then we will face the consequence of rejecting Him, which is an eternal separation from God in hell.

This weekend, as we come to the end of the liturgical year, the Church invites us to reflect on the kingship of Jesus Christ. Pope Pius XI established the Feast of Christ the King in 1925 as a declaration of the Christian belief that the reign of Christ must be felt, not only in our private lives of Christians, but also in the public domain. The Feast originated as an objection against the rise of modern secularism right after the First World War (1914 -1919). At that time, there was a rise in the ideology of the power of humanity to rule itself. This led to a cultural superiority and leadership struggle among powerful world leaders with Hitler proposing himself as the dominator of the known world and other leaders striving for dominance over the whole world. The Church introduced the Feast of Christ the King of the Universe to send a message to the world leaders that no individual person can have control over the whole world except Jesus Christ who has ultimate power over the universe.

Our Scripture readings this weekend focus on the theme of “Spiritual investment.” The First Reading from the Book of Proverbs speaks of a virtuous wife that bears fruit in all things. She is very creative, using every opportunity presented to her to make her family a happy home.

In the Gospel, Jesus gives us a parable to illustrate how we can invest our talents spiritually. In this parable, we see that the man who went on a journey represents Jesus, who ascended to heaven after his resurrection. The servants represent you and me. The money symbolizes our God-given talents. In his absence, Jesus expects us to use our talents to build up his kingdom. The emphasis in this story is on the man with the least amount of money, or talents. He made no effort to trade with his talent for fear of losing it. He probably thought that he had so little in comparison to the others that he could be excused.

Over the next three weeks, the readings will focus on “being prepared.” This is because we are approaching the end of the Liturgical Year A. The story of wedding preparation in the Gospel today may not make any sense to us in the Western Culture. However, the point of the story is not so much about the wedding ceremony itself but on the need to be prepared so the Lord will fi nd us ready when he comes.

Today’s second reading contains a reference to an event sometimes called “the rapture.” St. Paul explains that when the trumpet sounds, there will be two groups of Christians: “those who have fallen asleep” and “we who are alive.” St. Paul states that those who are living will have no advantage over those who have died. Jesus will raise the dead and then those who are le[ behind; that is, Christians still alive will be caught up in the air with them. We will meet Christ who will transform us along with those whose bodies now rest in the ground.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints which allows us to experience the joy of being part of the great family of God’s friends. The liturgy again presents the expression full of surprise of the Apostle John: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1).

Yes, to be saints means to realize fully what we already are insofar as raised in Christ Jesus to the dignity of adopted sons and daughters of God. He who believes in Christ, the Son of God, is reborn. This mystery is enacted in the sacrament of baptism, through which Mother Church gives birth to “saints.”

With less than two weeks to the General Election, the scripture readings this weekend are very timely. The readings capture the essence of Catholic Social Teaching: to respect human dignity, to care for the poor and vulnerable, and to maintain social justice for all. In the Gospel, Jesus talks about three levels of love we have for God and one another. In the first reading, God gives us a practical example of how we can demonstrate these levels of love for our neighbors by loving and showing compassion for the poor, the immigrant, and all vulnerable people in society. The reading identifies the most vulnerable people in the Old Testament as the immigrants, the poor and the widows. In our own time, the most vulnerables in our society are the infants in the womb, the elderly, the homeless, the poor and the immigrants.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). This Bible quotation from our Gospel reading today is a popular one among politicians. This is because many people consider it as the origin of the idea of separation of Church and State. Surprisingly, many people use this term of separation of Church and State loosely when, in fact, they are actually referring to separation of religion and State. There is a big difference between the two. Many people confuse this to mean that religious leaders have no right to condemn unjust civil laws and practices, or the right to request the government to address injustice in the society. Many people who argue on this do not even bother to check and see what the Constitution of the United States actually says. Here is the actual quote from the Constitution:

There has been so much talk about the uniqueness and importance of the Presidential Election this year. What caught my attention is the projection about the impact of religious affiliation in the outcome of the election. The Catholic Church in particular has received more attention than any other religious group in recent times. Religious identity has always been the bedrock and a key factor that determines the core values and direction of any society and culture. Thus, a society either leans toward religious and moral values or is secularized and embraces moral relativism. Looking around the world, we see how the dynamic of religion versus secularism is playing out in different societies.

A recent study conducted by Gallup shows that the percentage of Americans who reported belonging to a church, synagogue or mosque or any religion is at an all-time low. The study further indicated that church attendance has dropped more among Catholics than among Protestants. It is no longer news that the largest “denomination” in the United States today are the “NONE,” that is, those who do not affiliate with any religious denomination at all.

The parable of tenants in the Gospel today tells us of God’s patience and justice. It also invites us to reflect on our responsibility to accomplish the mission God entrusted to us in life and the consequences of failing to do God’s WILL. We are told the landowner was patient with the tenants and forgave them several times. However, rather than appreciating this virtue, the tenants took advantage of the owner’s patience. In the end, his judgment and justice prevailed on the tenants.

This passage reminds us that we must all face the consequences of our choices in life at the end time. This parable raises a number of questions for us. We ask ourselves, “How patient am I with other people and even with myself? Do I take God’s mercy and love for granted? Do I ignore or underrate God?” We learn from this story that God gives everyone enough time to accomplish our mission in life. His patience with us is boundless and God is always ready to give us another chance to repent and amend our lives. We must all render an account to God on how well we lived our life and face the consequence of all our actions in life at the end of time. Let us strive to seek the will of God, trusting in his love and mercy, and unlike the tenants, be mindful of his generous blessings.

The Catholic radio station, Relevant Radio 1310AM, used to have a program called, Cradle vs Convert. That is, people who were born into Catholic families versus those who experienced a profound conversion into the faith. The Gospel reading today is a good illustration of these two groups of people in the Church. The parable also represents people who experience a sudden growth in their spiritual lives. Like the first son in this Gospel, there are many people who say Yes to God at their Baptism and grow up in the faith, but later abandon their relationship with God or do not take their faith seriously. The second son represents people who do not believe in God early on, but later experience a conversion of the heart and become faithful followers of Christ.

The parable of the landowner and laborers in the Gospel today speaks loudly to us with the current unprecedented, high-rate of unemployment as a result of the pandemic. Not having a job or the ability to provide for family needs is one of the most challenging situations in which we can find ourselves. The scripture readings today are centered on the generosity of God and the depth of his love and mercy for us that is beyond our human comprehension. The landowner in the Gospel story represents God. He was not only generous enough to hire people to work in his vineyard, but he personally went out in search of workers and offered them job opportunities. This illustrates how God, in his generosity, sent his son to search for us and gave his life for us. Jesus invites us to serve God in his vineyard, the Church. It is not by our personal effort or merit that we belong to the Church. Everyone of us was invited by Jesus Christ into the vineyard at different times and in different ways.

Congratulations to all of you on our performance in the Offertory Matching Opportunity! I am so excited to inform you that we exceeded our matching goal of $29,700 by 152%. The total new offertory increase donation is $45,231. This means that $29,700 of this amount will be matched, dollar for dollar, making a total of $74,931 increased donation to our parish within the months of July and August. The new increase in Offertory ($45,231) within July and August represents an average monthly increase of $23,000 in offertory and we expect this trend to continue. This is all from 172 of our parish families (84 new online givers and 88 increased givers) that participated in the matching appeal. The matching gift check from the donor will be mailed to us in the month of October. I understand that a few families participated right before the deadline on August 31st. I will give you more updates next week to include those new gifts.

The Scripture Readings this weekend invite us to examine our prophetic roles as individuals and as a community; specifically, our responsibility in reconciliation and fraternal correction within our families and in the community. In the First and Second Readings, we are told the responsibility of correcting a member who strays away from the faith is not a choice, but an obligation placed on us by God. This is countercultural to our generation, o[ en characterized by the attitude of, “Who am I to judge?” The overall goal as explained in the Readings, is that we are not called to judge a member who strayed from God or condemn them, but rather help them heal and restore their relationship as a member of the Body of Christ.