19th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023 - Winemaking and the art of goodness

About six years ago, I had a funeral for a long-time parishioner of St. Clare in Lyndhurst, one of my previous parish assignments. His name was Lenny Giuliani, and when I met with the family to plan the funeral, I learned that Lenny had been a winemaker. Making wine wasn’t his profession, but a hobby that he took very seriously; his family called him the “Einstein of Wines” because he was extremely scientific in perfecting his wines. His daughters brought me a few bottles of their father’s wine and suggested that I try them before the funeral. Not the morning of the funeral, of course. But they told me that their father loved constructive criticism, and they’d like to know my honest opinion at some point. 

So, a few days after the funeral, I opened his bottle of red, a blend of several different grapes noted on the label. And I’m no connoisseur, but I could tell that I was drinking something special, the culmination of a life’s work, a work of art. 

Maybe it’s because I’m half Italian, but I believe good food and good wine are works of art. And Lenny’s wine was certainly artfully made. He developed these wines, painstakingly, and shared the fruits of his labors with family and friends. And for that, the world was blessed. In this digital age, when we are tempted to spend our waking hours, are so-called “free time” in front of screens, we probably need to be a bit more like Lenny. To produce something, with our hands, with our minds, that can be given away to bring some joy in this increasingly joyless world. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop as proverbs says. And so a hobby, a craft, and, and art offered up to God can be a wonderful means of avoiding the near occasion of sin, and can bring something to the world.  For our readings focus on how we use our time, how we spend our life—how we use the time we’ve been given…to be a blessing to others…or not.

In today’s First Reading Isaiah explains how the Lord had prepared Israel to be a fine vineyard—that was supposed to yield the highest quality grapes. God had given Israel the Law, the Torah, he had delivered the Israelites out of the slavery of Egypt, and placed them in the promised Land, he had sent them prophets to help them be his holy people. And yet, what did they do with those blessings? what did they do to the prophets? 

Rather than yielding the lush, juicy grapes of faithfulness, justice and peace, Israel had produced wild sour grapes of infidelity, false worship, ignorance of the scriptures, and injustice toward the poor. And so Isaiah was voicing God’s displeasure to Israel, hoping they would repent, but also to help them understand the consequences of their infidelities. 

Shame on Israel, right? Well, how about us? Examining our own lives, do we find the good fruit of peace, justice, faithfulness, and joy, or the sour fruit of turbulence, selfishness, ignorance, and crankiness? Probably a bit of both, right? The Word of God challenges us to ensure we are doing everything in our power to yield good fruit. To trim back and uproot the rotten vines, lest they takeover our vineyards—our souls. 

Chronic crankiness, bitterness, and selfishness, are typically that we’ve not trimmed back the bad vines as we should—they are often signs of self-absorption rather than self-donation. And so they are indicators that there is more of our life that needs to be handed over to God, likely by devoting more time to prayer, fasting, spiritual reading, meditation on the scriptures, and engaging in the works of mercy. As soon as we detect them, we should be on the lookout for habits and attachments that we need to turn away from, because they do not give us spiritual life. To allow them to remain, is to reject God’s plan for us. 

The Gospel Parable of the Tenants also highlights the twisted logic of sin by which we reject God’s plan for his vineyard.

In the parable, we hear of these wicked tenants who reject the vineyard owner’s servant and then reject and kill the vineyard owner’s son. And the Lord Jesus tells this parable to the chief priests and elders as a way of illustrating that they have not only rejected the prophets by twisting the Jewish faith in a number of ways, they were also rejecting the vineyard owner’s son—the Son of God—in the rejection of his teachings. And this is one of the parables that the Lord explains there are going to be serious eternal ramifications for this sort of behavior and lack of faith. 

This parable from the lips of the Lord himself is like flashing neon lights urging these guys to repent and believe in the Son of God. God is not pleased with what you have been doing with his vineyard. Sour grapes are rampant. Time to make some changes for the kingdom of God is at hand.

And again shame on the chief priests and elders, right? Well, again: how about us? We see baptized Christians forsaking the faith, and acting like they might catch on fire if they stepped into Church. Amongst the Protestants heresy has spread like wild-fire—they’ve lost the eucharist, the priesthood, confession, sacramental anointing—some of them don’t even practice baptism anymore. And many Catholics fall away from the Church when they start acting like Protestants—Cafeteria Catholics who pick and choose which teachings they’ll adhere to like choices in a buffet line.

Just like the tenants rejected the vineyard owner’s son, there are some wicked tenants in the Church right now, there are always are, there always have been, and there always will be until the Lord’s return. We just better not be one of them, by holding fast to revealed truths—to the teachings and traditions received from the apostles and the practices which deepen the virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

And also, to not give into despair when it seems like the wicked tenants are having their way. The Holy Spirit protects the Church. And the Gospel will be proclaimed until the Lord’s return. Until then…

“Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,” Paul tells the Philippians. “Then the God of peace will be with you.” St. Paul of course was pointing to his own tireless labors in the vineyard of the Lord for the spread of the Gospel. The saints are always our teachers, they show us how ordinary people can become extraordinary blessings for the world. How the fruits of the spirit can become lush and abundant when we cultivate the vineyards of our souls.

Ordinary things, small acts of love, truly can transform the world. Like Lenny Giuliani, perfect an artform that can bring joy to others: that can be with paint brushes, food, drink, car repair, professional advice, music, generosity, kindness, teaching, healing, compassion, writing, works of mercy. And then sharing that art, that craft with a neighbor can be an opportunity for a grace-filled conversation. A craft, or a moment of genuine concern, given in kindness, is likely more efficacious in catching souls then hours debates on the internet.

Become artists of goodness, prayer, hospitality, scripture. Become artists of self-donation, artists of Catholicism, lights in the darkness.