XXVII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  – CYCLE A – OCTOBER 8 2017

We continue with the Gospels about the vineyard, the theme today is God’s fidelity and our fidelity.   

 FIRST READING : Is 5: 1-7  

Ø  Isaiah says that the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel 

Ø  The Church is also the vineyard of the Lord  

Ø  And each one of us may say the same.  

Ø  The vineyard was cared for and cherished, and the owner expected good fruits. Like the vineyard of the parable, many times we have given bitter fruits instead of the good fruits God expected from us.  

Ø  We have not always acted well, we have allow us to be seduced, distracted by our idols, by the evil one

Ø  We have wanted to live away from God, our Creator and Redeemer. We have wanted to be on our own.  

Ø  And the consequences are the ones the prophet mentions, if we are alone we will not be protected, nobody will shelter us.

Ø  But we can always go back, change our way of thinking and acting as we heard in the readings last week, those two sons that were invited by their father to go to the vineyard … both offended their father, but one of them reconsidered… 

Responsorial Psalm:   Ps 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20

R. (Is 5:7a) The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

A vine from Egypt you transplanted;

you drove away the nations and planted it.

It put forth its foliage to the Sea,

its shoots as far as the River.

R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Why have you broken down its walls,

so that every passer-by plucks its fruit,

The boar from the forest lays it waste,

and the beasts of the field feed upon it?

R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Once again, O LORD of hosts,

look down from heaven, and see;

take care of this vine,

and protect what your right hand has planted

the son of man whom you yourself made strong.

R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Then we will no more withdraw from you;

give us new life, and we will call upon your name.

O LORD, God of hosts, restore us;

if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.

R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Ø  The psalmist speaks with the Lord and  

o   Reminds Him how He took his people, his vineyard from Egypt and planted it in another land.   

o   For the Israelites these memories included a great number of wonders made by God for them.   

o   Why, then, Lord have you abandoned your vineyard?    

o   But, would it not be the other way around? Is it not the vineyard that has abandoned her Lord?    

o   And the psalmist says with humility, sorrow and trust “turn your eyes toward us”… “we will no more withdraw from you.”  

Ø  Is this our humble and trusting supplication to the Lord? What are our memories of what the Lord has done in us and for us? 

GOSPEL Mt 21: 33-43

v  Jesus tells to the religious leaders of his people a parable about the vineyard 

v  Certainly those men were on their guard on hearing the story of the vineyard, since the Old Testament speaks about a vineyard, loved and cared for…  

v  The owner leases it to tenants to take care of it. 

v  They would have to take care of the vineyard and give the produce to the landowner, who will give them the just part according to what was just in that society. 

v  But when the owner sends his servants to collect the produce, the tenants do not give it to the servants whom they mistreat and even kill.  

v  Finally the owner sends his son, hoping that they would respect him, but instead they also kill him.  

v  And Jesus, as he does very often, asks the opinion of his listeners, who had very well understood the message of the parable.  

v  And Jesus says to them, the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a people that would produce fruits.  

v  I think it is good for us to learn this lesson, because the new people is the Church, we need to ask ourselves whether we are what we are supposed to be, and whether we do what the Lord wants us to do. Do we give him the fruits he expects?  

v  Or on the contrary we are distracted with our idols, the idol of power, oppression, lack of love, selfishness, pride….     

v  Each one of us may look at his or her life and see with what are we distracted, what are our idols. 

v  And with humility let us return to our God and Father so that he can transform us and make us in the way he has dreamed for us when he created us. Let him take from our hearts our idols that alienate us from Him, our only God.  

SECOND READING  Phil 4: 6-9

ü  Paul invites the community of Philippi not to worry 

ü  On the contrary he says to them to offer their petitions to God in their prayer  

ü  With a thankful heart   

ü  And this will produce the peace of God which exceeds all we may hope for. 

ü  Because peace is not only the absence of conflict, it is much more; it is a whole wellbeing the one God dreamed for us,  for the whole human race.  

ü  How far we are from this? Our conflicts are very numerous, it seems as if we were not all partakers of the same human race, called to continue creating  the world which God began.   

ü  Where have we left the words that Jesus told us: “Love one another as I have loved you….” 

ü  It is true, however, that there is more good than bad in our world.  

ü  And there are many persons some important in the eyes of the world and some humble and all of them do good to others, good which is not published in the mass media.  

ü  But anyway let us ask ourselves about the measure of our love.

	CLARETIAN CORNER

Beside what I saw in these sacred letters (without seeing anything with my bodily eyes as I have said above) an interior voice in the depths of my soul, was explaining me their meaning and the way to practice (…)  To my understanding I saw everything in Christ Crucified who, as he was teaching me the divine letters, was explaining me their meaning. As this was the first time that our Lord spoke to me, I did not understand of these things and I did not know how to comply with his commands. I was crying abundantly and I told his Divine majesty, whom I had very present, that seemed to me that I was speaking face to face with the Majesty of God …  Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculata Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 6.

The first ideas I can remember date back to when I was five years old. When I went to bed, instead of sleeping—I never have been much of a sleeper--I used to think about eternity. I would think "forever, forever, forever." I would try to imagine enormous distances and pile still more distances on these and realize that they would never come to an end. Then I would shudder and ask myself if those who were so unhappy as to go to an eternity of pain would ever see an end to their suffering. Would they have to go on suffering? Yes, forever and forever they will have to bear their pain ! Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculata Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 8.