Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time A.  September 25, 2005. Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 7:30, 11:30.   Ezekiel 18: 25-28.  Philippians 2: 1-11.  Matthew 21: 28-32.  Ministry Sunday.

Have you ever heard of the 80 – 20 rule?  Those who study church groups tell us that 20% of the people who say that they belong to a parish do 80% of the ministry of the parish.  This is also true of parish giving.  20% of most congregations give 80% of the income needed to support the parish.  Many would say that the same thing is true in most work places.  20% of the workers do 80% of the work.  Is that true in your place of work?   The same seems to be true in other aspects of life.  20% of criminals commit 80% of the crimes and 20% of motorists have 80% of the car accidents.   If these statistics are true, then a lot of people say that are doing something that they are not doing very intensely and with much energy. 

Jesus said, “A man had two sons.  He came to the first and said, “Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.  The son said to his father, “I will not” but afterwards he changed his mind and went and began to work as his father had asked him to do.  The man said to his other son, “Son, go out and work in the vineyard.”  The son said to his father, “Yes, sir!”  But he did not go. Jesus asked, “Which of the two sons did his father’s will?”

The answer to Jesus’ question is not as easy as it may seem at first. “Which one of the sons did what his father wanted?”  To be sure, the son that said that he would go to work but never went was clearly not doing what his father asked him to do.  That much is easy.  I am not sure that the son who changed his mind and went out to work was really doing his father’s will either. Sometimes we do what we are asked to do because we feel guilty or because we want to get someone off of our backs, but when we get around to doing what we promised to do we are doing it half heartedly.  We become one of 80% doing only 20% of the work.  We are doing what we were asked to do sort of – but without much energy or commitment.

A few weeks ago there was an article in the Catholic Spirit about the decline in the number of Church marriages in our Archdiocese.  In 1970 there were 5,700 Catholic Church marriages in our Archdiocese.  In 2003 to 2004 there were 2,831, a decline of more than 50%.  At the same time the Catholic population of the United States grew by 20 million people.  The article says that there are many reasons for the decline in Catholic Church marriages. Among the reasons for the decline are changes in the vibrancy of the actual commitment of people who say “yes” to being Catholic but who do not want to enter into the process of marriage preparation when they find it too challenging or inconvenient.   Perhaps there are greater numbers of Catholic who do not want to publicly state their religious faith preference in a Church marriage ceremony and their allegiance to Church teaching that marriage is life long and involves the total gift of self.  In a society in which close to 50% of marriages don’t survive the tendency may be to be more cautious in publicly declaring that this marriage is for life.  We all know that living together before marriage and even having children together before marriage is more common today.   Perhaps some people wonder if the priest will be compassionate when they deicide to get married after having lived another life style.  I assure you that I will kindly welcome and help anyone who wants to get married  and embrace the total commitment that marriage involves no matter where they have been in the past.

The marriage vows say: “I, take you, to be my husband or wife.  I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.  I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.”  

Yes, sort of, is not enough foundation for a good marriage.  For the grace to give ourselves 100% to the extent that this is possible with God’s grace, we give God thanks and praise.

Parish membership also involves the total giving of ourselves to being followers of the Lord.  On this parish ministry Sunday we celebrate the gifts of ministry given to this parish community.  I invite Mary Ann Marshall, our Director of Shared Ministry, to speak with us about ministry at Our Lady of Grace.

(After the ministry talk)  I invite you to join the 20% who do most of the prayer and ministry at Our Lady of Grace.  With God’s grace we can turn that number around.