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Our Sunday Reflection - October 8, 2023
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"The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone."
Matthew 21:42ab
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Introduction to the Liturgy of the Day
Like the last few Sundays, the readings today speak of a vineyard. It is an excellent time of year to contemplate a vineyard, vines heavy with grapes waiting to be harvested. But when Jesus speaks in parables, each element stands for something else. The vineyard we are invited to contemplate today is not just a large field planted with vines, but our very home in the Lord. The fruit it produces is not just grapes or wine, but the kingdom of God made manifest in our world. Let us resolve to be productive servants in the Lord’s vineyard.Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word
Isaiah begins the parable-telling today, establishing the vineyard as the setting we will revisit throughout the readings. From the first reading through the psalm and on to the Gospel, we are afforded the chance to consider the wonderful vineyard that God created for us and what has befallen it over the course of centuries. May God’s word inspire us to bear good fruit in the vineyard that is our world.Reflections
- It must have been a beautiful vineyard. Impressively built and expensively furnished, it attracted tenants who wanted the finer things in life. They saw the vineyard and they envied its owner. They probably felt that they deserved it and its bountiful harvest. After all, they’d worked all year while the owner traveled far and wide. Who did this absentee owner and lowly servants think they were to take away all that they had produced? They wanted it all for themselves. So they fought to keep it, escalating their fight until they saw their opportunity to keep it forever. Their greed drove them to murder. Their desire to possess what was never truly theirs prevented them from finding joy in living in the beautiful vineyard for the season in the first place. The kingdom of God will be taken from the greedy and given to the generous.
- It seems nonsensical for the landowner to keep sending servants to the murderous tenants. They killed two of the first three emissaries! Who would send more? Then who would send the person most precious to them in the whole world? But God persists in giving even the most incorrigible sinners second and even third chances. For God sent the Son not to be lauded by saints, but to save sinners. It is sinners who get opportunity after opportunity to repent and choose good. Even after they killed the Son, God does not put the murderers to a wretched death, as the chief priests and elders who heard this parable assumed. “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). God always offers mercy, even to those who show none.
- Our thoughts can quickly fill with worries and anxieties. Saint Paul assured the Philippians that they shouldn’t be anxious, for God’s peace should reassure them. Moreover, note what Paul advises them to think about. Not their material wealth, status, or success. No, think about “whatever is true, . . . honorable, . . . just, . . . pure, . . . lovely, [and] . . . gracious” (4:8), in other words, virtues that will lead us to bear fruit, fruit for the kingdom, not for ourselves.
Question of the Week
What specific thing can I do this week to produce fruit for the kingdom of God?
-from Pastoral Patterns
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readings of the mass
LISTEN HERE to the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, October 8, 2023
SELECT HERE for the Readings of Sunday, October 8, 2023
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Offerings
The Sunday offerings are a portion of our blessings that we give to God (Church) in gratitude to what God has done for us...ONLINE GIVING OPTIONS -
Reflections on the readings
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