My friends, I generally love each season in nature as we experience them here in Minnesota.  Coupled with enjoying the physical changes that each season brings; I find it most spiritually uplifting to connect those changes with those in the Church Year, as we Catholics live through them each and every year. 

   Springtime here is bursting with “new life”—green shoots and buds, and all this comes forth from the formerly cold and barren ground of winter, often covered with snow.  Springtime proceeds into summer when growth, often in abundance, is present in the fields, gardens, and crops.  Autumn, or fall time, hints of a rest to come, as the multi-colored leaves literally “fall” from the trees as we are experiencing now.  Winter follows with seeming, barrenness, as our world “quiets” for a time, and silently prepares for a new season of growth. 

   I find that the seasons as we experience them here in the Midwest correspond beautifully with my spirituality as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, our brother, the Christ.  Our readings today seem to be “summer and autumn” fare as both prophets, Isaiah, and Jesus, in the 1^st reading and the gospel, speak of “growth and the harvest.”   Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, calls for the people’s spiritual growth.  More on this later.

   As we move through the fall and into winter-time, and in our area, more cold and dark, the Church Year gives us Advent, a time of slowing-down, and preparation for the high feast of the Incarnation! Then, as we move through Christmas-time, the New Year, spring, and new life comes once again, the Church Year proclaims in a special way, the life-death-and resurrection of Jesus, our brother—the Christ! 

   The Church Year continues on through summer and into fall with the season of Ordinary Time which I have suggested in the past, might really be called, “extra-ordinary” because it is filled with so much challenge to be our “best selves,” in the footsteps of Jesus. 

   All of this then brings us right into the readings for today.  As already mentioned, Isaiah and Jesus speak of “God’s kin-dom” as a “vineyard.”  In the times when they wrote, 800 years apart, actually, “vineyards and the growing of grapes” was something the people understood.  Perhaps, not so much for many of us today.  But because Jesus always intends for us to go deeper, we can take his meaning into the present day, and think of a corn crop, a garden full of tomatoes, a family of children—perhaps. 

   Whatever our example may be in which to understand Jesus’ message today, each of us is called to “produce a crop.” Our “crop” should be as Paul describes it in the 2^nd reading today to the Philippians:

          “Your thoughts should be directed toward all that is true, that deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous…worthy of praise.”  [If you do all this], “the God of peace will be with you.”

   If we go back to the 1^st reading from Isaiah, and the gospel from Matthew, to make sense of what Jesus and Isaiah are actually talking about in the stories concerning “vineyards,” we can see, I believe, that each story is about “leadership.”  A “gift” is being left by the owner to those who are called “to watch over their respective vineyard.”  Again, place yourself into this story and determine whom or what, you as a follower of our brother Jesus, is called to “watch over and bring to harvest.” 

   Isaiah, in speaking to the people of Judah, tells them that they, “are God’s cherished plant…” In our own time, I have suggested to all of you, more than once, as someone else has said, “We are spiritual beings here, having a human experience.”  So, in other words, we might say, if “we are God’s cherished” [ones], then the very best is, first of all, expected of us, and equally so, hoped for us. 

   This past week, we celebrated the feast day of Francis of Assisi, one known the world over for his love of all of God’s creation –people, animals, and all that makes up the created world, naming each, “Sister or Brother.”  He lived his life in adulthood very simply, sharing what he had, bringing joy to himself, but more so to all others that he encountered.  It could be said that “he cherished” all of creation.

   And we can see by the hundreds/thousands over time who have followed him and his sister counterpart, Clare, how deeply many others saw the good of what he was doing in his life—basically following our brother Jesus. But, Francis’ earlier life, as a rich man’s son, indulging in all the trappings that such a life affords, was less than, “other-centered.”  He went off valiantly to fight in the Crusades, only to find that war was not glamorous, as he had assumed, being captured, and thrown into prison.  While in prison, he questioned deeply his previous life, hearing a call from God to make some changes. 

   My friends, our lives as present-day followers of our brother Jesus call us as well to make some changes if we have been comfortable to simply follow the status-quo—doing what is easier, when many in this world have far less than what is needed, on a physical level, but on other levels as well, to live in some comfort in this world.   There is much that is challenging in our present-day world and in a general way, we could say, all of it is about “good versus that which is not so good.” 

   As a Cojourner—one who “journeys” with the Rochester, MN Franciscan Sisters, I have spent the last several days with other Cojourners and Sisters at their annual General Assembly as we all pondered what our on-going future together will be. Before Francis died, he said to his brothers and sisters, “I have done what was mine to do, now you must discover what is yours to do.” This is the question all of us pondered these last days and for the greater Church, it is the prime question.

   Pope Francis has called the bishops of our Church to Rome this week and throughout the month of October in the 1^st of two meetings on “synodality” –in lay language— “journeying as the People of God.”  His intent, as I listen to him, is to discover more and more ways to “be one” in our world, listening to each other, finding a place for all, at our common table.  Now this is not to say that Francis, is as open as he should be to all the concerns of the People of God, but I find him, making the effort.  Hopefully, this process will give him a clearer view of women, and their calls to service, based on equality.  And this just may happen as a contingent of Roman Catholic Women Priests and Women’s Ordination Worldwide is in Rome advocating for this.

   Unfortunately, there is a movement within our beloved Church to move us backward, to be less inclusive, less welcoming—unless of course, one chooses to align themselves in a top-down style of Church with no input—only compliance.  Such as this, is what Francis will be up against at the Synod on Synodality.  We should all pray for this process because for many, change is so hard—it is about letting go of something that has been so comfortable—so easy, for us personally.

   But if the stories today about the “vineyards,” can challenge us in any way, it might be to come to the realization and question, that if all the People of God, don’t have access to the goods of this world, should any of us truly be comfortable enjoying them? This is what Jesus came to teach us, to challenge us to do in his place. 

   Unfortunately, we see much the same going on in our country today in the political realm—there is much self-centeredness, based on individuals getting ahead and seeing to their own needs as opposed to negotiating, listening to, and finding a way to get the most of what one might think is the way to go, yet allowing others some of what they feel would make our world a more fair and just place too.

   And sadly, we see this inability to come to a fair and just agreement for the good of all in the ages-old conflict, ignited once again this weekend between the Palestinians and the Israelis, especially in the Gaza Strip area.

   So, friends, whether in Church or State, in our nation, or around the world, we must move away from absolutes, this, or that, black or white, and find more of “a blend of color” wherein the “vineyard” can be shared by all. Amen? Amen!