The Lord is the landowner who planted the vineyard, and the vineyard is Israel. Here, we are not talking about the country but the Church which is the spiritual Israel or the “New Israel”. There are many workers, and tenants in the vineyard of God which is the Church. He established it and gave us the Gospel, the sacraments, priests, and sacred traditions. All these are meant to bear fruit in us, not only in the priests and religious but most especially the lay people. Perhaps when we go to Church on Sundays, we see many people attend the Holy Mass. But this is not the only fruit that God desires of us. We are meant to evangelize and proclaim the Good News to all people including those who live on the streets and the poorest of the poor. How many of us Catholics go and serve Christ in the poor? How many of us go to the hospitals and visit the sick just to listen to their problems? There are many people out there in need of care which shall be given by us Christians. There are many religious congregations and lay organizations needing great help but where are we?
We are called not only to love ourselves, our family members, and our friends but most especially those who cannot repay us so we have something to look forward to in Heaven. All of us are meant to be missionaries and be Christ to other people in love and service to them. All the graces we receive are not meant for us alone. They are meant to be spread throughout all the people from different walks of life so that they, too, will experience God’s love and care for them. The fruit that God wants of us is the love of God through charity to our neighbor. It is not that difficult to help if we only look for ways that we can. We must also renounce materialism if we desire to pursue the mission of Christ which is also ours today. May we bear fruit in the love of Christ and neighbor as God wants us to. May God bless us and grant us the grace to be courageous in going out of our comfort zone to look for the poor and sick and serve them as Christ did.
Amen. +
Marga de Jesus |
OLA Social Communications
