At 12 noon today, the Holy Father Francis appeared at the window of the study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to recite the Angelus with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
These are the words of the Pope in introducing the Marian prayer:
“Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
In today’s Gospel (cf. Mt 21 : 33-43) Jesus, foreseeing his passion and death, tells the parable of the murderous tenants, to admonish the chief priests and the elders of the people who are about to take a wrong path. These, in fact, have bad intentions towards him and look for a way to eliminate him.
The allegorical story describes a master who, after having taken great care of his vineyard (cf. v. 33), entrusts it to peasants to leave. Then, at harvest time, he sends servants to collect the fruit; but those tenants welcome the servants with sticks and some even kill them. The master sends other servants, more numerous, who however receive the same treatment (cf. vv. 34-36). The climax is reached when the owner decides to send his son: the winemakers have no respect for him, on the contrary, they think that by eliminating him they will be able to take over the vineyard, and so they kill him too (cf. vv. 37-39).
The image of the vineyard is clear: it represents the people that the Lord has chosen and formed with so much care; the servants sent by the master are the prophets, sent by God, while the son is the figure of Jesus. And as the prophets were rejected, so too Christ was rejected and killed.
At the end of the story, Jesus asks the leaders of the people: “When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these farmers?” (v. 40). And they, taken by the logic of the narrative, pronounce their own condemnation: the owner – they say – will severely punish those wicked and entrust the vineyard “to other farmers, who will deliver the fruit in due time” (v. 41).
With this very hard parable, Jesus places his interlocutors in front of their responsibility, and he does so with extreme clarity. But we don’t think this warning applies only to those who rejected Jesus at that time. It is valid for any time, including ours. Even today God expects the fruits of his vineyard from those he has sent to work in it. All of us.
In any age, those who have an authority, any authority, even in the Church, in the people of God, may be tempted to do their own interests, instead of those of God himself. And Jesus says that true authority is when one does service, is in serving, not exploiting others. The vineyard belongs to the Lord, not ours. Authority is a service, and as such it must be exercised, for the good of all and for the spread of the Gospel. It is bad to see when people in authority in the Church seek their own interests.
Saint Paul, in the second reading of today’s liturgy, tells us how to be good workers in the Lord’s vineyard: what is true, noble, just, pure, lovable, honored; that which is virtue and deserves praise, may all this be the daily object of our commitment (cf. Phil 4,8). I repeat: what is true, noble, just, pure, lovable, honored; what is virtue and deserves praise, may all this be the daily object of our commitment. It is the attitude of authority and also of each of us, because each of us, in his own small way, has a certain authority. In this way we will become a Church more and more rich in fruits of holiness, we will give glory to the Father who loves us with infinite tenderness, to the Son who continues to give us salvation, to the Spirit who opens our hearts and pushes us towards the fullness of good.
We now turn to Mary Most Holy, spiritually united with the faithful gathered in the Shrine of Pompeii for the Supplication, and in the month of October we renew the commitment to pray the Holy Rosary.”
[01159-EN.02] [Original text: Italian] – Taken from the Vatican News – Bulletin 2020
