Jesus was not a wimp..

Today he looks the elders straight in the eye and gives them a bloody parable about a violated vineyard...and there is little doubt that it is they who have blood on their hands!

The same can be said of our Congress.

Over the last 471 days there have been 521 mass shootings.

And what have they done about it?

They have bowed their heads in silence.

They have uttered pious platitudes.

And too many of them have opened their greedy hands to receive millions of dollars from the gun indusrry and lobby.

They indirectly have blood on their hands because of their total inaction.

If Jesus were here today, he would stare them down.

There is a time for piety, for silence, for reflection.

There is also a time for prophetic action

The words of Isaiah the prophet in today's First Reading could well be paraphased:

"The people of Judah ( USA) are his cherished plant,

he looked for judgment,

but see, bloodshed..."

And so we pray:

Jesus of the fiery eyes and valiant spirit,

deliver us from being wimps,

who close our eyes,

wring our hands,

and proclaim: "Well nothing can be done after all.".

Spare our children from becoming pawns in a bloody shooting gallery.

Silence automatic weapons and the carnage they visit upon us from the accessories that change ordinary hunting firearms into wepons of mass destruction.

Deliver us from being deaf to the cries of the wounded.

Deliver us from inaction to action.

deliver us from evil.

Amen.