The meaning of the parable in the Gospel of today’s Mass is consoling. Jesus asks me to reflect on who I am and for what task I was created and how I have responded.
God, who created me, cares for me, just as the owner of the vineyard desires for the progress and harvest yield of each vine he planted. Hired tenant farmers oppose his desire. He finally sends his son, whom they kill. Finally, he finds others to whom he will entrust his vineyard in the name of the risen Jesus and the blessings of the Holy Spirit.
“We find it marvelous to behold.” Why? Because Jesus teaches us in this parable that what the Father wants for all humanity, he realizes in each and every one of us. He takes care of each of us, watches over each of us, inviting each of us to hear his invitation to respond to his love, to prepare to yield a generous harvest for him when he calls us to himself.
Resolve. I shall spend time today saying short prayers of gratitude to the Father for creating me, for his Son’s presence in the Eucharist and for the Holy Spirit who dwells within me, and I shall ask him to speak louder to those who have deliberately plugged their ears to his invitation to be with him in our life to come.