Note: This homily is based on John 2:13-22.
Some years ago I visited a chapel in Paris I never forgot. It’s called the Sainte Chapelle. It was neither impressive nor imposing from the outside, but the moment you step inside, it immediately takes your breath away. For instead of walls, the Sainte Chapelle has columns upon columns of the most colorful and intricate stained glass windows. The stained glasses feature hundreds of Christian images and stories that we have grown up with. Basking in the multi-colored sunlight streaming through those holy images, you can’t help but feel that you are truly in a special and sacred space.
At first glance, it would seem that our Gospel parable today is perfectly suitable for our belated celebration of the feast of San Lorenzo Ruiz. Our Lord tells the story of a vineyard owner who sends a series of servants to his tenants to collect the rent, but every single one of those hapless servants were killed–one after the other–by those villainous tenants. And when the landowner sent his own son as a last resort, even him the tenants did not hesitate to kill.