October 8, 2023: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God has done so much for the people He has chosen throughout the centuries, offering them His life-giving presence and so many blessings, like the owner of the vineyard who tends to it with such care.  No wonder God became so disheartened with the Chosen People when they turned away from Him, not bearing good fruit, but behaving wickedly, like the landowner who wanted to have the vineyard overrun and neglected.

In that same sense, Jesus describes a disheartening scene in the parable in today's Gospel reading, when the tenants of the land mistreat the servants sent to collect the owner's share of the land's produce, and then ultimately even mistreat the owner's son.  The religious leaders, to whom Jesus directs the parable, in responding to what should happen to the tenants, acknowledge what will ultimately happen to them because Israel's people rejected all the prophets up to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Clearly, things get out of hand for the Chosen People because they reject their relationship with God, Who is the Truth, seeking only for themselves.

God ultimately sends His Son as the fullness of the message the prophets attempted to convey.  He is Truth, and He is our Life, calling us to bear fruit that will build a culture of Life in this world by reflecting Him.  While these parables in today's readings had a focus on ancient Israel, their message continues to call us today.

In the spirit of what St. Paul writes in the 2nd reading, God will grant us peace as we turn to Him in the midst of our struggles.  And He grants us an abundant sense of Life as we turn our minds toward everything that is honorable, pure, lovely, and gracious, which is how we acknowledge that God is present with us.