OMELIE / Omelie EN

08 ott 2023

08/10/2023 - 27th Sunday of the O.T. - Year A

08/10/2023 - 27th Sunday of the O.T. - Year A

1st reading Is 5,1-7 from Psalm 79 2nd reading Phil 4,6-9 Gospel Mt 21,33-43

The song of Isaiah and the parable of Jesus speak of a vineyard. In both passages the vineyard is the object of loving care on the part of its owner.

In Isaiah it is "my beloved" who owns it and cares for it wisely, with toil and assiduity.

In the parable it is a master who has many servants and only one son.

In Isaiah, the vineyard disappoints its owner, who even decides to command the clouds not to send rain. And so we discover that the owner is God himself, the only one who has power over the clouds, he is the one who planted it and cared for it. He is disappointed. Everything is clear: the vineyard is the people of Israel, who do not respond to the attentions and, therefore, the expectations of their God: they do not serve him with obedient love.

Even in the parable we can discover, as the story proceeds, that Jesus is speaking of his people who have not responded with love to the Father, because their leaders have not urged them to do so, have not helped them either with their teachings or, even less, with their example. The religious leaders, throughout the centuries, have even rejected the Word of God announced by the prophets, they have rejected it by maligning the prophets themselves. Now it is precisely the leaders who are plotting to kill even the Son, the only Son the Father has sent them.

Jesus in this way announces his own passion and the meaning of his death, but he also lets us understand the consequences: the leadership of the people will be handed over to others, and the mission of God's people will be given to a "people who will make it bear fruit".

As long as we think about what happened in Jesus' time everything is clear to us, and we do not feel challenged. But when we think that this word is proclaimed today, we wonder what meaning it can have for us. For it is a warning that cannot leave us calm.

Several times throughout history it has happened that in places where the life of the Church has become 'insipid', where Christians have allowed themselves to be overwhelmed by earthly interests and the pursuit of pleasures, where they have forgotten Jesus and his teaching or have deliberately ignored him, there the Christian presence and the benefit of a society where it was possible to trust one another and live a peaceful life in harmony and peace has disappeared altogether.

Our society throughout the West has lost and is gradually losing the flavour of the gospel: it is excluding the presence of Jesus from itself. It certainly cannot be called the people of God, it is no longer the bearer of his Kingdom. This will be handed over to other peoples, who will enjoy the presence and the fruit of the Gospel and offer the Father works of mutual love and peace.

We cannot resign ourselves: we will try to fill our lives with the Word of Jesus, welcoming the Son whom the Father has sent us, and we will still be salt of the earth and light of the world to breathe life into our society, to make it fit for the life of man, always in need of love and harmony.

The situation in which we find ourselves is grave, but, as the Apostle Paul commands us today, we must not distress ourselves. We shall multiply our praying, our thanksgiving to God and our listening to his Word, so that his thoughts occupy our minds completely. We shall live a life consistent with that Word which we receive abundantly. We will thus still be present in the world as a leaven, capable of giving it new life and stirring up that goodness that gladdens the heart of God, because it contributes to making the lives of his children beautiful and holy!