Monday of 9th Week
“Jesus went on to speak to them in parables : ’ A man planted a vineyard ; he fenced it round, dug out a trough for the winepress and built a tower ; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad.When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard.”
The most marvelous present God has given to man is his freedom. Man is called to participate in God’s Love. There is no love without freedom. The bottom of the vine is tied, one bends the branches from top to bottom, attaching and tying them firmly. With this we can hear the gentle and holy life and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and this must sustain every well meaning man. Man must be bent; what is high must be lowered, and he must be spoilt in a humble submission in the depths of his soul. All of our faculties, outer and inner, those of our sensitivity, and avidity, as well as our rational faculties must all be linked, in their right place, to a true submission to the Will of God( see Jean Tauler) . But man can use his freedom in many ways! He can turn against God. Thus the world can abuse God’s gift and pillage the universe. The vineyard manifests God’s creation. The Love with which God surrounds his creation is a marvelous vine. It is the mystery of the Eucharist, from which God waits for the good fruit of love, that will give all its meaning to the world’s creation. Jesus watches over the Father’s vineyard, over humanity, for He is Love. God is present, He came to struggle with the little ones against violence and evil. He is innocent of evil. He acts in our own lives in order that we acquire knowledge so as to know how to step aside from evil.