Themes:
A. I Expected Sweet
Grapes
B. Our Care of God's
Vineyard
Readings:
First Reading:
Is
5:1-7
Second Reading: Phil
4:6-9
Gospel Reading: Mt
21:33-43
Greeting (See Second Reading)
May the peace of God,
which is so much greater than we can understand,
guard your hearts and your thoughts
in Christ Jesus.
May his peace be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
A. I Expected Sweet Grapes
Church, people of God of today, the Lord asks an answer from us: look at all the good things he has given us: our faith, the people around us, his own kingdom lovingly entrusted to us, and what have we done with all this? Have we cared for his trusting love? Let us ask Jesus in this eucharist that from now on we may give with Jesus an eager and generous answer to our Father in heaven.
B. Our Care Of God's Vineyard
A good farmer, even one who rents the land, takes care of his fields and crops even more than a trader of his business. For he loves all that grows and bears fruit; there is life in it, he can see it grow. God loves his people, the vineyard he has planted and surrounded with loving care. His Son died for us, his people, that it might live and grow. God has entrusted this vineyard to us, leaders and people together, not as a privilege but as a field to work in, so that it can bear rich fruits of justice and love. Where are these fruits?
Penitential Act
Let us examine ourselves before the Lord
whether we have been responsible Christians.
(PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, you have entrusted to us
this earth as a beautiful vineyard.
We have neglected it.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you have entrusted to us
people to care for with love.
We have often remained indifferent to them.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you have entrusted to us
our faith as a plant to grow.
We have cared little for it.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Merciful and tender God,
forgive us all our sins
through the sacrifice of your Son
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray the Lord to keep surrounding us
with his care, till we bear rich fruit
(PAUSE)
Lord God, our Father,
you ask of us today:
My people, answer me:
What more could I have done for you?
Teach and help us to respond with our whole being
to your daily forgiveness and patience,
to the riches of life brought us by Jesus,
to the prompting of the Holy Spirit,
that we may be a people that bears lasting fruits.
May we bring to all a justice animated by love,
may we learn to share as you do with us.
Show us your mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading: God's People Is
His Vineyard
God's people is like a vineyard which he planted and tended with loving
care. Yet his people do not respond to God's love.
Let me sing for my beloved the love song of my beloved about his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up, cleared the stones, and planted the choicest vines. He built there a watchtower and hewed out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only wild grapes.
Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do that I have not done for my vineyard? Good grapes was the yield I expected, why did it yield only sour grapes?
Now I will let you know what I am going to do with my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be burned; I will break down its wall and it will be trampled on. I will make it a wasteland, I will neither prune nor hoe it, and briers and thorns will grow there. I command the clouds, as well, not to send rain on it.
The vineyard of Yahweh Sabaoth is the people of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant vine. He looked for justice, but found bloodshed; He looked for righteousness but heard cries of distress.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 80:9-16, 19-20
You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches;
it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River.
Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,
the stock that your right hand planted.
They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.
Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.
Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
Second Reading Introduction: Christian
Living Opens Us to God's Grace
Paul invites his Christians to live in union with God and to integrate
all human values. A good Christian is a good person and lives in God's
peace.
Brothers and sisters, do not be anxious about anything. In everything resort to prayer and supplication together with thanksgiving and bring your requests before God. Then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, fill your minds with whatever is truthful, holy, just, pure, lovely and noble. Be mindful of whatever deserves praise and admiration. Put into practice what you have learned from me, what I passed on to you, what you heard from me or saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.
Gospel Introduction: Are We Faithful
Caretakers?
God has entrusted his kingdom
to us. We are his caretakers and must produce fruits of Christian living.
Otherwise the kingdom will be taken away from us.
Jesus
said to the chief priests and elders of the people, "Listen to another
example: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence
around it, dug a hole for the winepress, built a watchtower, leased the
vineyard to tenants and then went to a distant country. When harvest time
came, the landowner sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share
of the harvest. But the tenants seized his servants, beat one, killed
another and stoned another.
Again the owner sent more servants, but they were treated
in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son, thinking: 'They will respect
my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they thought: 'This is the
one who is to inherit the vineyard. Let us kill him and his inheritance
will be ours.' So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed
him.
Now, what will the owner of the vineyard do with the tenants when he comes?" They said to him, "He will bring those evil to an evil end, and lease the vineyard to others who will pay him in due time."
And Jesus replied, "Have you never read what the Scriptures say? The stone which the builders rejected has become the keystone. This was the Lord's doing; and we marvel at it. Therefore I say to you: the kingdom of heaven will be taken from you and given to a people who will yield a harvest."
General Intercessions
United with our Lord Jesus Christ as branches of the life-giving vine, let us pray to the Father for everything that the Church and the world need, and let us say: R/ Lord, hear the people you love.
- For the Church, which we are together, that it may always remain young and faithful and inspire its members and the whole world with a sense of hope and deep love, let us pray: R/ Lord, hear the people you love.
- For the whole Christian people, that we may show patience and compassion to people who go astray, to those who disappoint us, and accept them as the Lord accepts us, let us pray: R/ Lord, hear the people you love.
- For those who offend the rights of others, that they may return to the Lord, and that all of us may be just and fair to all and even enrich our justice with love, let us pray:R/ Lord, hear the people you love.
- For all those, Christian and others, who in honesty and with courage keep trying to bring happiness and goodness to the people around them, especially the poor, let us pray: R/ Lord, hear the people you love.
- And for all of us in our Christian community here, that we may be grateful that the Lord has made us the vineyard and the tenants from whom he expects much, and that we may respond to his expectations, we pray: R/ Lord, hear the people you love.
God our Father, may we really become what you have called us to be:
your vineyard, your holy people, who respond to your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. R/ Amen.
Prayer Over the Gifts
Faithful God,
we bring these gifts before you
to celebrate how you have made
with us, your chosen people,
a new and everlasting covenant
through the death and rising of your Son.
Do not allow us to become proud
of being the people you love,
but help us to be worthy of your trust
and to give you a response
of deep faith expressed in service.
Grant this through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
With our praise and thanks, let us bring before our Father in heaven our willingness to bear fruits of honesty, goodness and justice.
Introduction to the Lord's Prayer (See Second Reading)
Let us pray in the words of Jesus
to our heavenly Father
to present our needs to him
in petitions full of gratitude. R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us (See Second Reading)
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil,
above all from the evil of sin.
Grant us peace in our day,
peace among nations and in our homes,
above all your own peace
which surpasses all understanding.
Direct our thoughts to all that is true,
all that is honest, beautiful and good,
as we prepare for the full coming among us
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
Because there is one bread,
we, though many, are one body,
for we all share in the one loaf and the one cup.
This is Jesus our Lord;
he is our bread of unity. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Lord, mighty God,
in this eucharist your Son has been
your encouraging word and our food of strength
for building up your kingdom among your people.
Deepen our trust that Christ will stay with us
and that he is the foundation on which we build.
Make us inventive and creative
in sharing the good news we have received
with all who are willing to listen.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
The message of today called attention
to our great responsibility as Christians.
We are God's cherished people.
We are answerable to God and sent by him
for making his good news known to all
by our words and our deeds,
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace, and let your life be
a song of gratitude to the Lord. R/ Thanks be to God.
The priests and Pharisees had figured out things for themselves. They had closed themselves to what Jesus was saying. They could not but be reactive to all he said. No change of heart was in store for them, nor were the fruits that obtain from such a change. The more ominous were their evil designs on Jesus, the more urgent was his invitation to penance. God's gift of the reign of God is never withdrawn from anyone, for God does not revoke divine promises. It is human malice that exempts oneself from God's bountiful grace. How perceptive are we of that bounty in our own life?
Taken
from Liturgy
Alive for Weekdays,
& Bible
Diary 2002
(Scripture Readings from Christian
Community Bible, Pastoral Edition)
Copyright © 2002 by Claretian Publications
A division of Claretian Communications, Inc.
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