For many years I have pondered the question, what is a parish? There is the definition found in the Code of Canon Law which gives us the skeleton or bare bones of what a parish is, but it is a definition that needs to be fleshed out:

A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor (pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop [Can. 515 §1].

Some priests see a parish as a platform from which they can make forays into their special area of interest be it study or a career option. Others see it as a place that affords social contact, a social network and maybe a social life. Others see it as a place for proclaiming the Gospel, forming people in the Catholic Faith and drawing people back into the life of Christ: the lapsed, the lost and the stray.

Over the last few decades we have various Popes indicating their view of the nature of a parish, namely, it is a Eucharistic community [Pope John Paul II in his encyclical ‘Ecclesia de Eucharistia’], a school of prayer [John Paul II in ‘Novo Millennio Ineunte’] and a field hospital [Pope Francis in ‘America Magazine’ 9/19/13 ]. But what image can we draw from Our Lord’s teaching that could give us a rich description that answers our question, namely, what is a parish?

Over the last few weeks of September and October we have had Our Lord speaking to us about the vineyard of the Lord. The parables make very clear points.

It’s never too late to come back to the Lord or to be converted to the Lord and so even the workers who came at the 11th hour to work in the vineyard were rewarded [Matt 20:1-16a].

It’s never too late to reconsider one’s No to the Lord as long as your Yes leads to a belated obedience that does in fact work in the vineyard of the Lord [Matt 21:28-32]. Our Lord tells the parable of two sons who are asked to go and work in the vineyard. The first son says “No” but thinks better of it and goes in to work in the vineyard. The second son says “Yes” but does not go. Our Lord through this parable shows up the hypocrisy of the leaders of Jewish people who say yes to God but then do not do the will of God whereas sinners who said no to God are the ones who repent and do the will of God. But neither sons are perfect, but Our Lord is. Our Lord is the obedient Son who says Yes to his Father and he is the obedient Son who also does the will of his Father for he does go into the vineyard.

It’s always a mistake to confuse stewardship with ownership for there is nothing we have that has not been given to us, given to us by the Lord. If we forget that we are mere stewards of temporal goods then as everything has been given to us so everything can be taken away! [Matt 21: 33-43].

What is this vineyard and what is the work to be done? The important key for understanding the theme of the Vineyard of the Lord is Our Lord’s parable of the Vine and the branches [John 15:5-6]:

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

Here in this conjunction of Christ the Vine and we the branches is the image that captures the vital importance of being in the state of grace, sanctifying grace. If we are not in a state of grace, because we are in a state of unrepented mortal sin, then we are those branches that are cut of from the Vine and so we can do nothing but wither. If we remain in this state of gracelessness we will be thrown away as dead wood and the dead wood is burnt! Thus if we are not in the state of grace we are spiritually dead.

The two sacraments to take us out of this spiritual death are Baptism and Confession. If the reason that we are not in the state of grace is that we are not baptised then we need to get baptised for baptism is the doorway, the portal, the gate by which we enter into the state of grace. It is this state of grace which we call sanctifying grace that baptism bestows on us. Baptism also makes us members of the Church because we are grafted on to the vine of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by the necessary sacrament of Baptism that we can enter the Kingdom of God [John 3:5-6] and without it we cannot be in the Kingdom of God [Matt 22:11-13].

If however, we are baptised but have lost this grace, by committing mortal sin, then we need to go to the Sacrament of Confession. Mortal sin is when we freely and knowingly commit a grave sin and it is grave sin that is found summarised in the 10 Commandments [the first three concern love of God, and the other seven love of neighbor] but explained in depth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC 2052-2550].

The Vineyard of the Lord is a symbol of the people of Israel, the people of God, who were brought into the promised land. But the land was covenanted land and this meant that the land was given by the Lord to the people of Israel on the condition that they will be God’s people if they made the Lord their God: “I will be your God and you will my people.” What this covenant looked like was spelt out in the in the Mosaic Law of the Ten Commandments ]Exodus 19-24] and the Holiness code [Lev 17-27]. Today, the Vineyard of the Lord is what every parish is called to be. When we learn the art of working in the vineyard of the Lord that flows from being in the state of grace then we can change the fields of our homes, our work and our cultural play into vineyards for the Lord to work.

Our Lord as the Obedient Son has come into the world and in obedience to his Father’s will he goes to work that is the salvation of the world by the pouring out of his precious blood; that giving and pouring out of his life on the cross, for the salvation of sinners. Thus it is so that where the Lord’s paschal mystery is recalled, celebrated, lived and handed on that is where the world is changed into the Vineyard of the Lord. But our parishes will only be vineyards of the Lord if we live and work in the state of grace. For the Lord said "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” In otherwords, we have to get into the state of grace, come back to the state of grace, struggle to stay in the state of grace so as to bear fruit and blossom in the state of grace. Where clergy and laity do not do this, their parishes wither and die and become a place of desolation as they cannot bear fruit for without sanctifying grace faith, hope and charity are dead.

It is here that we find the true meaning and the true essence of what a parish is. And what a sacred place it is! For every parish is called to be the cutting edge of where God saves human beings from their pride, their sins and their enslavement to the way of death. The only thing that can prevent us from being saved is ourselves for we have been given free will to say Yes to God or to say No to God. But God is patient, very patient, very patient with us all for he does not desire the death of sinners. He will wait for us and wait for us and wait for us to say Yes to him, even unto to the eleventh hour…but not so when the bell strikes for the twelfth hour!

For while there is breath of life there is always hope that a human soul will repent, change and turn to God because with life we have that time and space for free will to be exercised and so we can be changed. So Hope is there right unto the eleventh hour till time runs out in this world - and then we find ourselves standing on the judgment ground of eternity and there we hear the bells intone the 12th hour…the hour for the reckoning of my life and the final destination of my soul! To paraphrase the words of Cardinal Sarah, People go to a parish to seek God, not to save the planet; a priest is there and a parish is there for the salvation of souls!