27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

(RENEW - Week #1)

October 6, 2002

The true story is told of a priest who went to see his elderly Aunt Rita.

Rita said to Fr. Jim: "Jim, you won’t believe what happened in church last weekend. The priest asked us to introduce ourselves to another person and talk with them for a few minutes. Imagine doing something like that in church. What’s going to happen next?".

Fr Jim responded to his Aunt: "Aunt Rita, I did the same thing last week. We are beginning a program called Renew. We wanted people to get to know each other a little better."

The Aunt looked at her nephew for a second. She said, "It was a beautiful experience".

For the sake of her nephew she was willing to take another look at it.

For the sake of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are we willing to take a renewed look at our relationship with one another? If we do, we are merely answering the call that is deep within since the day of our baptism.

On the day of our baptism God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit came to live within us.

We now live the life of God. The life of God is community. God the Father loves God the Son. The Son loves the Father. The love of the Father and the Son is God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity draws us into this life of community with God and with one another.

Each of us is like the vine that is presented in the word of God. We as a vine grow and produce good fruit when we grow in our relationship with one another.

We are now in the first week of our process called RENEW. Sixty of our parishioners will begin their faith sharing groups this week. Although the rest of us may not be in a faith sharing group, nevertheless, I invite you to pay attention to the call of the Holy Trinity to grow in your relationship with one another.

I invite you to go to the side entrance or the gathering area and take a paper and write (no name) the relationship that needs to be renewed. We will pray for that during these six weeks of Renew.

Could we be closer to one another as a family? What about saying a prayer before we eat?

What about spending fifteen more minutes at the table and speak about what is happening?

Is there someone that I haven’t called or seen for a long time? Will I be willing to take the first step even though the person said he would get back to me?

Is there someone with whom I have not reconciled? I have tried to put it out of my mind?

Would I be willing to bring this relationship to God in special prayer?

In the first reading God condemns the vine because it has produced bad fruit through neglect.

May we take this special time of Renew in our parish to have our vine grow and produce good fruit to show and praise God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.