As gentle a message as the second reading is, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by payers and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God,” the first reading and the gospel for this weekend remind us that God is also an investor, and like any investor, God wants to make a profit.  There is no way around it.  The profit God wants is not money, or even grapes, as the readings literally suggest.  The profit God wants, I have to believe, is that we become kinder, more just people, looking out for others, and loving them as we love ourselves; thinking of the vulnerable, and giving to them whatever we can.  

Too often I think we have reduced our faith to something that makes us personally holier, or is about personal piety, or makes us more morally pure.  As if this project is all about us, “all about me.”  I hear confessions where people are very honest about what they consider to be their personal moral failures, but they never once mention how they are treating others.  I think God reminds us today that God is more concerned about how we are treating others.  The harvest God wants is a harvest of justice.  “Make justice your aim; redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.” (Is 1:17).  If our faith and our religion is not making us better people towards others, then I think God wants to lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him produce at the proper time.

Last Sunday, some 8,000 plus people of faith decided to put their personal faith into practice to advocate for migrants and refugees on World Day of Migrants and Refugees.  It was a non-political prayer service and procession, where we could together express what our hearts tell us: migrants and refugees deserve better treatment here in this country.   It was a joyful moment!  It was the beginning of something.  It was an occasion where our faith wasn’t just about each of us feeling good about our personal relationship with God but about going above and beyond and thinking about how we as a country are treating the vulnerable other.    I was so proud of so many of you for being there, and for volunteering in a variety of ways.  God wants a rich harvest of justice.  May we produce.