The theme of this Sunday’s readings is the necessity of bearing fruit in the Christian life. In the light of this we should all ask ourselves this question: Are we good fruit-producers in the vineyard of the Church? Jesus has given us many tools to use in order to make us fruit-bearing, so we really do not have any excuses for not doing so. Some of these tools are as enumerated below:
1) The Bible to know the will of God.
2) The priests to lead us in God’s ways.
3) The Sacrament of Reconciliation for the forgiveness of sins.
4) The Holy Eucharist as our spiritual food.
5) The Sacrament of Confirmation for a real fruitful life of Faith.
6) The Sacrament of Matrimony for the sharing of love in families.
7) Role models in thousands of saints.
We really must make use of these gifts and produce fruits for God so that we can say that we are grateful stewards for everything God has given to us. He will care for his Church, not by committees or documents, but by raising up saints who will properly tend the vineyard.
I will leave you with a couple of questions for you to ponder! Is our parish a real sign of Jesus’ presence and love? What kind of impact do we have? Do we measure the quality of our parish by what happens during Mass, or on what happens when we leave Church?