XXVII Sunday in Ordinary Time

Brothers and sisters, Fiat!

In the biblical texts we find the image of the vineyard. The prophet Isaiah describes Israel as a vineyard to which God gave every care so that it can produce good fruit, but it did not reciprocate. The wonderful expressions of God’s care “I will sing to my love—a song to my lover about his vineyard ” for whatever He did,  are not reciprocated with good fruits but with ” sour grapes “.

In the psalm, starting from this situation of sin, of our lack of response, we implore the Lord that He may have mercy on our lacks, on our sins and give us new life. This prayer is strengthened by a serious purpose of being faithful to the Lord, to His love: ” we will no more withdraw from you,… if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.”

But the situation becomes serious – according to the gospel – when we rebel against God in the search for our interests. The parable speaks of the servants who are beaten and mistreated, it speaks of the son who is killed (Jesus speaks of Himself: we can imagine with what deep feeling He spoke so explicitly of His passion and death).

How many signs from God, how many people have been sent (prophets) to help us, how much love in Jesus, the Son of the Father who came to save us! Rebellion against God – in the illusion of building better life by ourselves – is our ruin.

God will always offer His love; His kingdom will be given to a people who produce the fruits….

Jesus often speaks to Luisa about the creatures’ lack of correspondence to the Creator.

Jesus wants refreshment for His flames; He wants to pour His Love out, but His Love is rejected by creatures. In creating man, God issued a quantity of Love from within His Divinity, which was to serve as primary life of creatures, for them to be enriched, sustained, fortified, and for help in all their needs. But man rejected this Love, and His Love has been wandering from the time man was created, and It keeps going round without ever stopping. Rejected by someone, It runs to someone else in order to give Itself; and as It is rejected, It bursts into sobs of crying. So, lack of correspondence forms the crying of Love.

While God’s Love goes wandering and runs to give Itself, if It sees someone who is weak, poor, It bursts into sobs of crying and says to him: ‘Ah! if you did not make Me go wandering and had given Me a place in your heart, you would have been strong, and you would lack nothing.’ If It sees someone else fallen into sin, It bursts into sobs: ‘Ah! if you had let Me enter into your heart, you would not have fallen.’

For another whom It sees dragged by passions, muddied with earth, Love cries and, sobbing, It repeats to him: ‘Ah! if you had taken my Love, passions would not have life over you, the earth would not touch you, my Love would be enough for you in everything.’ So, in each evil of man, small or great, Love has a sob of crying and continues to go wandering in order to give Itself to man. And when in the Garden of Gethsemane all sins presented themselves before Jesus’ Humanity, each sin carried the sob of His Love. And all the pains of His Passion, each blow of the lash, each thorn, each wound, were accompanied by the sob of His Love, because if man had loved, no evil could have come. Lack of love germinated all evils, and even Jesus’ very pains.

In creating man, God acted like a king who, wanting to render his kingdom happy, takes a million and puts it in circulation, so that whoever wants it may take of it. But as much as it circulates, only a few take a few cents. Now, the king is anxious to know whether the peoples are taking the good he wants to do to them, and he asks whether his million is finished so as to put out more millions. But he is answered: ‘Majesty, just a few cents.’ The king feels sorrow in hearing that his people are not receiving his gifts, nor do they appreciate them. So, going out into the midst of his subjects, he begins to see some covered with rags, some infirm, some starving, some shivering with cold, some homeless; and in his sorrow, the king bursts into sobs of crying, and says: ‘Ah! had they taken my money, I would see no one giving me dishonor, covered with rags, but rather, well dressed; nor would I see them infirm, but healthy. I would see no one starving and almost dead from hunger, but full. Had they taken my money, no one would be homeless; they could very well have built themselves a room in which to take shelter.’ In sum, for each misfortune he sees in his kingdom, he has a sorrow, a tear; and he grieves over his million which the ingratitude of the people rejects. But the goodness of this king is so great, that in spite of such great ingratitude, he does not withdraw this million – he lets it continue to circulate, hoping that other generations may take the good which others have rejected, and so he may receive the glory of the good he has done to his kingdom.

So God does: He will not withdraw His Love which has come out – It will continue to go wandering. Its sobbing will last still, until It finds souls who would take His Love down to the last penny, so that His crying may cease, and He may receive the glory of the dowry of the Love that He has issued for the good of creatures. But do you know who the fortunate ones are, who will make the sobbing of His Love cease? The souls who will live in the Divine Will. They will take all the Love rejected by the other generations; with the power of His creative Will, they will multiply It as much as they want, and for as many creatures as have rejected It from Him. Then will Its sobbing cease, and the sob of joy will take its place; and Love, satisfied, will give to these fortunate ones all the goods and the happiness which others did not want.

Paul’s Letter helps us to entrust ourselves to God and to live a new life in faith, a life full of good testimony and good fruits.

 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. … whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”