27th Week in Ordinary Time
08th October 2023 (Sunday) Readings and Reflection
Psalter: Week 3
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!
Psalm 80:9 and 12, 13-14, 15-16 and 19-20 (R. Isaiah 5:7a)
R/. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel.
Second Reading: Philippians 4:6-9
Brethren: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Alleluia
V/. Alleluia R/. Alleluia
V/. I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, says the Lord.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel : Matthew 21:33-43
At that time: Jesus said to the chief priest and elders of the people, “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence round it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than at first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Highlight: Dutiful or Deceitful?
Guidlines: We are Stewards to whom God has entrusted His rich treasures of grace and blessings. This demands a sense of gratitude, humility, responsibility, diligence, fidelity and fruitfulness{alertSuccess}
1. Vineyard is one favourite and frequent biblical expression. 25th Sunday spoke of the parable of the workers in the vineyard; the previous 26th Sunday spoke of two sons, who were asked to go to work in the vineyard; and now this Sunday once again both the first reading and the gospel mention about vineyard.
2. The image of vineyard forcefully brings out the deep personal care of God for His people. What a minute and meticulous care He takes to cultivate it! He provides everything for its healthy growth and its abundant productivity. So it is quite reasonable that He expects fruits. But He is totally disappointed because He does not receive the due fruit.
3. In the first reading, the vineyard yields wild grapes and in the gospel, the tenants act violent, turn greedy, and try to misappropriate the vineyard from the owner's hand. Clearly, the failure is in rendering the due fruit to the owner.
4. Behind this explicit and visible failure, there is a total lack of sense of stewardship. They completely forget that they are stewards. God has trusted them so much and entrusted them so much.
5. This should make them deeply grateful for what is given in God's abundant generosity. They should be humble because God gives them despite their unworthiness. They should be responsible because of the trust placed in them. They should work hard in order to prove themselves. They should be faithful in producing a rich harvest and render the fruit to the owner.
6. But, they fail in all these counts. We can summarily classify 3 categories of people and 3 aspects of responses. One is mediocre and lethargic people who are lazy and slothful, and who do not bother about producing fruit
7. Second, they produce fruit but wild fruit. They produce, but they are not concerned about the kind of fruit. They are engaged in useless and worthless activities and results.
8. Third, they produce well and abundant fruits; but these are greedy, malicious and manipulative. They are very competent and talented, and do a lot of things and produce many fruits. But unfortunately, they take the whole credit for themselves. They are so self-centred and own the whole glory by themselves.
9. The whole problem in all three categories and aspects is a total lack of stewardship. This leads to a lack of responsibility and diligence in the first two categories.
10. In the third category, that leads to a total misuse and abuse of the given charge. They mistake the duty to be power. They mistake the trust of the owner as an opportunity to exploit. They mistake violence as a means for grabbing propriety. They mistake their greed as the threshold for the bumper offer of fulfilling their overambition for ownership.
11. In the present times too, these 3 categories abound. There are those who produce nothing and are unproductive. There are those who produce but useless fruits. And there are those who misappropriate God-given gifts and resources, for their own self-interests, those who abuse them, and those who steal away all the credit and glory from God.
12. What about us? Do we tend to be tepid and unproductive? Are we shallow and superfluous to produce useless fruits and valueless activities? Are we so avaricious and self-interested that we try to exploit, manipulate and grab away what belongs to God or others?
Practice: If only we humble ourselves a little more to acknowledge that we are only stewards and not proprietors, how much more accountable we will be! how beautiful will be our Christian life!{alertSuccess}