“Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” Matthew 21:43
Today, Jesus concludes his parable with this strong, stern warning, words intended to make us accept responsibilities and prompt us to action. The vineyard is the responsibility of all the tenants. We all have a stake in the vineyard. We all have the shared responsibility to tend to the vineyard and cooperate – to harvest the vineyard and produce the good fruit. We can’t sit idly or freeload from what others are doing. God has placed each on of us in the vineyard for a purpose, and we must fulfill the purpose to the best of our abilities. He didn’t place us in this world to produce bad fruit or do nothing; instead, He’s placed us in this world to produce the good fruit and to glorify him, to reveal more and more of his goodness and love to the world. Therefore, the question is: do we take the path and approach of negligence and resentment like the tenants in the Gospel or the path and approach of responsibility and graciousness by accepting God’s mandate to produce fruit? Everyone’s cooperation is needed, and we can begin with our Church – the vineyard which He’s given us. We’re all tenants placed here to serve the Lord. Consider then the ways which you can serve our community with your time and talents. How will you enhance our vineyard – our faith community? Consider faith formation, ministries during Mass, Knights of Columbus, Council of Catholic Women, prayer groups, ministry to the sick, bereavement, finance council, arts and environment, linen ministry, caring for our greenhouse, just to name a few.
This week, the Church remembers Saint Faustina. Her gift of prayer and contemplation was one of her greatest contributions to the vineyard. She had a deep interior life which included receiving revelations from the Lord Jesus, messages that she recorded in her diary at the request of Christ and of her confessors. At a time when many had an image of God as a strict judge, something that tempted many to despair about the possibility of being forgiven, Jesus chose to emphasize his mercy and forgiveness for sins acknowledged and confessed through his messages to Faustina. “I do not want to punish aching mankind,” he once told Saint Faustina, “but I desire to heal it, pressing it to my merciful heart.” These messages echoed throughout the world, revealing – through Faustina – God’s Divine Mercy for all his children. Saint Faustina, pray for us.
In Christ
Fr Robert Marquez
Pastor of Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Community