Skip to main content

Who is my Bhai?


Deacon Ned Berghausen
St. Agnes Catholic Church
September 23/24, 2023
25rd Sunday of Ordinary Time
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090422.cfm


Good evening / morning St. Agnes and guests. Thank you for joining us for this mass celebrating the Season of Creation. This liturgical period, which runs from September 1st to October 4th, is a time in which we are called to “renew our relationship with the Creator and with creation, through celebration, conversion and commitment.” Whoever wrote that description really likes the letter ‘C.’

Today’s parable could well be Americans’ least favorite of all time. The vineyard owner in this story pays workers the same wage, regardless of how long each worked or how hard. For many, this offends our cherished principle that hard work should be rewarded amply. We might well agree with the worker who grumbles, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”

Yet, Jesus’ challenging parable is meant to introduce us to God’s alternative vision of justice. It is a vision that dares us to reimagine our own place in a justice that includes the poorest members of our world, and the created world that we live in. I want to share an experience of mine that connects to today’s parable.

I’ve mentioned in homilies before that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer for two and half years when I was in my 20s. In Bangladesh, the country where I served, the main form of transportation is bicycle rickshaw. You may know them as pedicabs—they are used by tourists in downtown parts of American cities where they are called pedicabs, looking like big tricycles. There’s a cab in the back for passengers and a standard bike up front where the wallah or puller pedals. In Bangladesh, there are millions of poor men employed in pulling the machines.

Near the apartment where I lived, there was a crossroads where a group of these rickshaw pullers hung out all day waiting for fares. Most worked seven days a week, for an average of nine hours a day. A typical fare for a 15-minute ride could be around 60 US cents, but this was entirely negotiable. There was no meter running. No Uber-like app where the price was set in advance. It was a simple matter for passengers to cheat or exploit these laborers. The pullers needed to rent their rickshaws for about $1 a day from fleet owners. This was another transaction ripe for abuse. These laborers ranged in age from 20 to 60 years old. The younger, healthier guys might expect to get chosen more frequently for rides. The older and more infirm pullers sometimes resorted to begging for themselves and their families if they didn’t get enough work. Can you see parallels with Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard today? The master of the vineyard opted to pay a living wage to the older and infirm workers in this story, one sufficient to feed him and his family for another day.

This aroused the greed of the workers who labored all day. They felt they deserved, they earned even more than what they needed to support themselves and their family. They felt a deep resentment towards the other workers, who the spokesman says, “you have made … equal to us.”

In the grumbling workers, we can detect a desire to take more than they need. A greed to get a greater share of money, resources, and status. There is a famous quote from Mahatma Gandhi that the “Earth provides enough to satisfy every [one’s] need but not for every [one’s] greed[1].”

The reality is that almost everyone on our planet, including the Bangladeshis I know, would like to live the American lifestyle: The trouble is, as Gandhi suggested, the world cannot sustain it. If everyone lived this way, we would require 5.1 Earths, according to one estimate. There is nothing wrong with wanting to live well, be comfortable, and give the best to our children. Yet tension because our lifestyles are damaging the world we want to leave to our children. There is enough on this good earth for all human beings, indeed, for all life to live sustainably with their needs met.

One thing I appreciated in Bangladesh was that people would always call me, “Bhai” or “Bhaiya,” which means brother. There is a sense in that culture that every person is part of one’s extended family. A recognition that cuts against the grumblers accusation in the parable – you see we were already equal. Already brothers. It reminds me of St. Francis who felt this same kinship with nature – with Brother Wolf, Sister Water, and our Sister, Mother Earth. [God is praised through all his creatures]. It is hard not to care about someone when they are part of your family. St. Francis and Pope Francis call on us to see creation with that same vision.

Pope Francis, in his 2015 encyclical letter, Laudato Si’, urged us “to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” (LS 49). He wrote that these two cries are inextricably linked. I think again of our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh who contribute very little to the pollution and changes in our climate. Despite their limited responsibility, however, Bangladeshis are experiencing some of the worst effects. It is a country that frequently suffers from flooding and severe storms. Because it lies near sea level, its people are also among the most vulnerable should the ocean waters rise.

We are now seeing different but related environmental effects in our own community like wildfire smoke, increasingly severe storms, and record breaking heat on summer days.

The pope has issued a challenge for every Catholic institution: dioceses, schools, universities, hospitals, and even Catholic families to create a plan for how we will take action to respond to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. We have a responsibility both individually and collectively to take up this call to action. God bless you, God bless creation, and all the people of this good earth.

[1] Quoted by Pyarelal Nayyar in Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase (Volume 10), page 552 (1958)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Render unto God

  29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Oct 17/18, 2020 Somehow, in the great providence of God, our readings for mass today are the famous “render unto Caesar” Gospel passage.  With 17/ 16 days to go in our presidential election, what on earth does God have to say to us about politics and civic engagement in the midst of this chaotic, stressful, and divisive election year?   Much ink has been spilled and many sermons given on Catholics’ faithful citizenship and participation in our democracy.  In my reading and prayer preparation for today, however, I began to feel that “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” is not the important part of Jesus’ response, even though those are the words we remember and quote.  The critical words here are from the second half, “render unto God what is God’s.”   How often do we give Caesar more than his due?  How often do we give Caesar what belongs to God?    [Reminder of the...

A Son is Given to Us

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122520-mass-at-night.cfm In the first reading tonight, we hear a very familiar passage from the prophet Isaiah proclaimed: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light… for a child is born to us, a son is given to us. Upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.” Six years ago at midnight mass, I heard these words while sitting in the pews. My wife, Kate, and I went with my family to Holy Trinity parish. I remember it vividly because ten days before the two of us had found out that she was pregnant. Our Christmas Eve was in that electric time when no one else, only she and I knew the secret: a great joy had just entered into the world. Holy Trinity that night was jammed packed. So full that we sat in overflow seating in a separate section of the church with no view of the altar and with the audio piped into our room. That suited us fine because she needed to sit cl...

Jeremiad and the Sparrow

  Deacon Ned Berghausen St. Agnes June 24/25, 2023 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062523.cfm If the psalm prays, pray. If it laments, lament. If it rejoices, rejoice. If it hopes, hope. If it fears, fear. For everything which is written here is a reflection of us.  St. Augustine. There is one book of the Bible that we hear at almost every single mass, both on Sundays and at daily mass with the exception of only four days of the year [where we hear canticles].   It is the longest book of the Bible.   Do you know what it is?   It’s the Book of Psalms.   Today we heard Psalm 69 which we sung together, led by our cantor [name], in between our first and second reading.   It’s sometimes easy to miss or forget that these songs are Scripture, just as much as the other readings and the Gospel.   When we approach the Bible, we may think of it primarily in terms of narrative stories, law codes and rule books, parabl...