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And he will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and he will lease it to other tenants.
Last spring, we had the opportunity, in the rectory garden,
to put in two new planters.
I have been wanting to put them in for some time,
but we eventually got around to doing it.
Victor and Baldy did a great job putting in all the soil
and getting everything ready.
I was so proud as I eventually went out and bought
all the plants and all the herbs I wanted.
I got tomato plants, and bell peppers and chili peppers
and all sorts of herbs.
The first month or so they were all growing well.
It was fantastic and I was very proud.
Then suddenly they stopped growing
and then they just started to shrink.
I said, “We need to check the water.
There must not be enough water.”
But there was enough water as the soil was lovely and moist.
So, I talked to my friend who is a vintner.
He runs a vineyard and is a horticulturist.
I explained the problem.
He says, “Well, have you fertilized it since you planted?”
I said, “What? I just planed them two months ago!”
Then was reminded that with planters the plants need the nourishment.
He said, “Planters are shallow soil and the nutrients get depleted fast.
The plants rely on you to get all the nutrients they need.
Once it is gone, you have to replenish it right away.
Fertilize regularly.”
And he gave me one of these half bags of stuff he mixes up,
he has all this nice stuff that he mixes up.
I put it on and watered it and things are now flourishing.
Every month I water with this fertilizer, and everything is flourishing.
It is unbelievable. I was so delighted.
You could tell I am not a green thumb,
but I learned a lot out of the experiment.
But here is the part that is like most of us,
a lot of us may not be used to gardening,
and today's metaphors in the first reading and the gospel
is all about gardening!
We need to know some things about gardening
because he is talking about a vineyard.
Isaiah, in the first reading, speaking on behalf of God, saying,
“Look, I have planted, I have done everything right,
but you, vineyard tenders are not doing your job.
You are not nourishing the plants, the people.
What else am I to do?”
Then in the gospel, Jesus points straight at the Pharisees and scribes, saying,
“You are those vineyard tenants who are not doing the job.
You are not producing the fruit
and you are not producing what I have asked you to do.”
He asks them what he should do about this and they say,
“Put those wretched men to a wretched death.”
Now thankfully God does not do that to us.
He is merciful.
But let’s be clear, if we neglect the vineyard
this is what we deserve.
The vineyard of the Lord as the responsorial psalm so beautifully says,
“is the House of Israel,” which is, the people of God.
We are the vineyard.
When we do not tend to one another, we are held accountable.
Let us just be very clear about what the Lord is making,
he is not mincing the words here at all.
He says, we will be a held accountable to the fruit we produce.
It is great that he is merciful,
but just understand that we are called to produce fruit,
not just as a church, but also individually.
Now, just understand that the leaders of the church today
are not just the priest and deacons and the religious, but all of us.
Anyone who comes to church is considered a leader.
Why?
We are leading the rest of the world who are not coming to church!
You see how it works.
All of us have the responsibility to produce fruit.
This week is a very important in our Church,
as Pope Francis calls the Synod on Synodality to the Vatican
He has asked the cardinals, archbishops,
bishops, priests, religious and lay people from all over the world
to come together in Rome to decide to till the soil of the church
and to listen to the Holy Spirit for the sake of the Church.
He evoked the prayer of the Second Vatican Council
because this is an implementation the Second Vatican Council.
It is 60 years later, and we are still struggling to implement this council.
Pope Francis has reminded us that we have to listen to the Holy Spirit.
We have to turn over the soil and
we have to learn to listen as to what new nutrients the Church needs.
He called upon a lovely metaphor, not a gardening metaphor,
but he used the conductor and symphony metaphor;
that the Holy Spirit is the conductor of the symphony,
and all those attending are different musicians
who need to listen to each other,
as each of the different instruments with different sounds,
and that we have to listen carefully.
It is the Holy Spirit that we are watching and following.
The conductor, the Holy Spirit, is the animator for the Synod.
What he is asking for the church is to listen
so that the soil can be tilled we need to listen to people,
to reach out to the whole world and
to be that nourishment to the whole world.
We cannot give what we do not have and therefore we need to listen.
That is all great out in Rome and all the leadership out there,
but it comes back also to us.
Are we listening to the Holy Spirit in our lives, in our heart?
Are we tilling the soil of our heart?
Are we nourishing the soil of our heart so that it can produce fruit?
The fruit, by the way, that St. Paul was telling the Philippians,
the true, the beautiful, the just the lovely, the kind, the gentle,
that is the fruit that we are meant to be producing.
And if we are not producing those in our lives,
if there is no evidence for the fruit,
then just like me with the gardening,
we have to add something to it.
We need to do something here.
That is the Holy Spirit,
and that is the nourishment we receive from this table.
But that is our work.
And then we can enjoy the fruits.
But we have to accept that we need to till the soil,
we have to carve out some time for God in our life,
not just on Sunday, but every day.
We have to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us.
We have to listen and ask,
what is it that the Lord is asking me to do today?
Among my friends, among my not so friends,
to among my neighbors, and maybe even to strangers.
Today, may the Lord not be disappointed in us.
Rather let the Lord be delighted by us
because we have tilled the soil that we have been good tenants
May we commit to turning the soil over in our own lives,
to listen to the Holy Spirit in our own heart,
and that we inspire and pray that
the church leadership does the same in the Synod,
but we need to do our part, listen to the Holy Spirit
and act so that our fruit can be known to the whole world.
And he will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and he will lease it to other tenants.
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