St. Francis of Assisi
Saturday is the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi. Pope Leo has declared a jubilee year to celebrate St. Francis from January 10, 2026 - January 10, 2027. He was born into a wealthy family in Assisi, Italy. In his younger years, he delighted in fine clothing and lavish things, and yet was somehow inspired to live a life of poverty. You may say that his conscience and the Holy Spirit moved him in a different direction. He began caring for the sick in his hometown and this led to a radical change in lifestyle and alienation from his wealthy family. He also worked at physically restoring chapels. One of them was the Chapel at San Damiano, just outside of Assisi, in which he heard Jesus speak to him saying, “Build up my church.” Francis assumed Jesus meant that chapel, but the Lord really meant to strengthen the entire Church.
This led to many endeavors by young Francis, begging for the essentials to rebuild that one chapel and leading to the larger commissioning by the Lord to build up the universal church.
He ultimately went to Rome with some followers and petitioned Pope Innocent to start his own religious order. With all ecclesiastical steps complete, the Franciscan Order was started in 1210. Today there are 650,000 Franciscans in 110 countries across the globe, divided into distinct orders that include friars, cloistered nuns, and lay people.
The spirituality of St. Francis has led millions to make a more direct connection between their lives and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, see the value of all creation, including animals, and embrace simpler lifestyles in solidarity with the poor.
Friar Johnpaul Cafiero is a Franciscan who has been an inspirational part of our community here at Holy Family and we celebrate Francis’s feast day with him.
PADS Begins This Sunday
We welcome homeless guests to our home here at Holy Family beginning this Sunday afternoon and evening. We will do so every Sunday evening until the end of April. Guests arrive in the afternoon and they are served dinner, have television to watch, and are given a warm, safe and comfortable place to sleep. We have several volunteers who serve these guests, get them up in the morning, serve them breakfast, and send them off with a lunch to go.
We are beginning the 26th season of hosting homeless neighbors through the PADS program. We are always in need of volunteers to assist. Please contact our new Director of Human Concerns, Jean Swenson, for more information and details about how you may help in this very important ministry here at Holy Family.
The Vineyard, a Fruitful Metaphor
There are many references to vineyards in the Scriptures. The past three weeks' Gospel passages from Matthew have included a vineyard in the narrative and thus part of the spiritual message of Jesus. Two weeks ago, Jesus used work in the vineyard to make a point about fairness. Last weekend he used it to make a point about incongruities between what is said and what is done, and also to make significant changes in beliefs. This weekend we hear about the construction of a vineyard and the builder of the vineyard entrusting it to tenants and servants.
There are various morals and points of emphasis in these stories, but as always, they invite us to put ourselves in the vineyard of life.
What vineyards have you worked in? How long have you worked in them? Have you been challenged by what is fair and not fair in the vineyard of life? How has your role in the vineyard of life changed? When have you not followed through on your promised work in life’s vineyard? What are your significant contributions and work to the vineyard of life?
This weekend's Gospel paints a picture of God who has built the vineyard of life and has high hopes that it will be fruitful. We can see ourselves as tenants who God has entrusted the vineyard to. What has God entrusted to you in the vineyard of life? Have you contributed to the fruit of that vineyard? How have you treated others who have helped you or worked with you?
The tenants in the story let a desire for power and greed overtake the realization that the vineyard is not theirs; it belongs to the owner. We have a great opportunity through this story to realize that the vineyard of life belongs to God, and we are to do all in our power to care for it. God has a desire for a fruitful vineyard, so let us work with each other to make that happen.
May we see everything we have, and the vineyard itself, as a gift from God. May we, through faith, hard work, respect and initiative, be partners with God, co-laborers with God, to take what has been entrusted to us and make it fruitful.