Today’s Thoughts: Our readings today present to us an interesting challenge. At first glance we might say that our readings especially the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and the Gospel selection from Matthew have not a lot to say to us. Isaiah is speaking to the Israelites of his time and Jesus is speaking to the religious leadership of his time and seeing the readings in this light is right. However, if we look beyond the historical and theological context of the readings. we might see what they have to say to us.
The passage from Isaiah gives us a good starting point. I have always liked this passage because Isaiah says, “My friend had a vineyard….” (Isaiah 5:1) Isaiah is speaking about God. He calls God his friend. Friendship with God holds a special place in my own spirituality. As a preacher, I enter my moments of preaching with the understanding that I like Isaiah am going to speak about my friend, I am going to share my friend, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit with all who are willing to listen. Isaiah is speaking about his friend, Jesus in the Gospel is speaking about his Father. Yes, they are challenging their respective communities, leaderships to see life differently, but they are also challenging us at this moment in history. We see our faith as a collective journey by the community called Church with a collective responsibility, but faith also means an individual journey and personal responsibility. God, our friend, has created us and in creating us has given us many good gifts. The gifts of life, insight and inspiration; the gifts of hope and ambition; the gifts of loving others and being loved; the gifts of sharing life and participating in life with others; the gifts of prayer, Eucharist, and contemplative silence; the gifts of strength and conviction to preserve goodness in ourselves and others. God, our friend, has showered us with all these gifts and more each according to our own ability. The question our readings pose to us today is what do we do with them? Do we invest them? Do we work at making our vineyard the best it can be? Do we take care of God’s gifts? Or do we lazily sit back and allow weeds to grow? Do we neglect God’s gifts to the point of our vineyard producing nothing? Our readings today challenge us to recognize the dignity of our gifts, the beauty of life and our lives, the joy that has been planted in family, others and ourselves. We are asked to live our gifts to the best of our abilities. In other words, we are asked to produce good fruit. How can we live this challenge by following St. Paul’s advice to the Philippians that we hear in our second reading, “…be wholly directed to all that is true, all that deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous, worthy of praise.” (Phil. 4:8) If we can care for the vineyard God, our friend, has planted within us as individuals and as Church, “Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7) And most importantly God will welcome us into the Eternal Kingdom as a good and faithful friend! Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give your Friend and little time today!
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Fr. Paul R. Fagan, C.P. "Preacher on the Run"Just a few thoughts to help you on your journey through life...let me know from time to time what you think... Archives
April 2024
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