Today’s readings speak to us in very beautiful images about God’s love for his people, and they speak to us about our failure at times to correspond to that great love which has been shown to us.  In the First Reading we hear the Prophet Isaiah’s love-song of the vineyard.  The prophets of the Old Testament returned to this image of the vineyard again and again: the Chosen People are the vineyard of God, the work of the Lord, the joy of his heart.  In today’s Gospel, the Lord uses this image.  He reveals to us the infinite patience of God, who is represented by the owner of the vineyard, sending messenger after messenger in search of fruit.  Just like this owner, God sent a whole series of prophets, priests, and kings in the Old Testament to try to call his people back to himself when they turned away.  In this story, the Father finally sends his own son, but the tenants throw him out of the vineyard and kill him.  This is a reference, of course, to the crucifixion of Christ: he too was cast out of the vineyard by being expelled from the city of Jerusalem, and led to his death.  So the vineyard is a symbol of the chosen people who failed to live up to God’s call to friendship.  But the vineyard is also us.  We should seriously ask ourselves whether the Lord can find in us, those abundant fruits of holiness and sanctity that he’s looking for in his vineyard.  We’ve received so much from God, so much nourishment, so much assistance, that we should be bearing great fruit.  This fruit can come in many forms, in acts of charity, of work well done, of faithfulness to prayer, of good friendships and of patient kindness with our families.  Are those the fruits of our lives, or are we also producing those wild sour grapes of sin, lukewarmness, and mediocrity?  Sin is the sour and bitter fruit in our lives.  And if we want to produce consistently good and sweet fruit, we should ask the Lord to give us an aversion for all sin, even small, venial sins.  Things like lack of charity, a spirit or judgment or criticism towards others, impatience, resentment, letting our minds and eyes wander to places they shouldn’t, sloppy work done without focus.  These little sins can actually do a fair amount of harm to our soul: that’s why the Lord says, “Catch the little foxes that destroy the vines.”  It pleases the Lord greatly if we actually resolve to address these things in our lives and not just give in to them. 

The good news is that everything in our lives, everything we do, every personal interaction we have, can have a real value in our struggle to live faithfully for God.  So St. Paul says to the Philippians in our second reading, “Brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”  The things of this world are good in themselves, and they can come to have a divine meaning.  One of the earliest saints of our Church, St. Irenaeus, who lived in the 2nd century, expressed this beautifully.  He said, “Through the action of the Word of God, everything has come within his saving work.  The Son of God has placed the sign of the Cross above all things.”  And so our everyday activities can be transformed into good fruit for God.  Every human reality, from the most significant to the most mundane, can and should be sanctified and offered up to God.  Every day of our lives we encounter many opportunities to give good fruit to the Lord.  We can begin first thing in the morning by offering our first waking moment to him: instead of our first conscious moment of the day being given over to the snooze button, instead we could choose to get out of bed, make the effort to win that first battle of day by overcoming our own inertia, and dedicate that precious first moment of the day to God.  The saints call this little habit “the heroic minute,” and it can really take heroism some days: but it’s a great way to strengthen our weak wills, and it’s an opportunity to turn our minds to God and offer him something first thing.  We can also give God our patience when we get stuck in a traffic jam on the interstate.  We can offer him serene acceptance of a headache or a small illness.  There are many, many occasions during the day when we can offer a smile, a friendly word, an act of forgiveness or understanding: we can also offer God the good fruit of our work in the office, at school, or at home, work carefully and well-done, with punctuality and good order, with concentration and attention.  God is very pleased with our offering of our everyday work. 

Above all, let’s be convinced that God really does care: he cares about the way we live our lives.  He cares about the choices we make every day.  He wants us to bear good fruit, he wants us to fight for virtue and for holiness.  And he promises us his help.  He promises that his peace, which surpasses all understanding, will keep our hearts and our minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of our Savior, Jesus Christ.