IT IS TIME TO PRESENT THE FRUITS TO GOD

IT IS TIME TO PRESENT THE FRUITS TO GOD

I recently recalled in a reflection before a group of people that justice is giving everyone what they deserve. From this idea, and in contrast to today's Sunday gospel (Mt 21, 33-43), God must be given what belongs to Him. According to the readings, God, who is the owner of the vineyard, is waiting to receive his rightful share of the fruits of the vineyard. However, those who have worked the vineyard have decided to keep everything, their own and that of others. They are not capable of being fair to the owner of the vineyard. Some of us have not wanted to give the part that corresponds to God.

The parable used by Jesus to address this topic of the vineyard, the workers and the fruits, clearly shows how God patiently sends on his behalf some, who in his name, ask that God be given his due, and we see how over and over again God is denied what is his. Finally, God has spoken to us through the Son himself and many have not wanted to receive him either, nor listen to what he has to say. This is how Jesus has referred to himself.

Today we are the ones who have been sent to work the vineyard of the Lord and at the
opportune moment God will ask us to present to Him the fruits that He expects, much like Cain and Abel, and that belong to Him. Will we be ready to return to God what God has so generously given to each of us before, hoping that what we received will be multiplied?

Let us be diligent and grateful to God, be-cause He has provided us with everything in His goodness. He trusts us to take care of what is His and make it grow. May the Spirit of God help us in the task that each and every one of us has received from God in favor of the vineyard. Amen.

 Fr Carlos Flores, OSA