Is 5:1-7
I will sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded rotten grapes.
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield rotten grapes?
And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a wasteland;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his cherished garden;
he expected justice
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness
but heard a cry.
What touching words of the Lord, how close He has been to His people since the time of the Old Covenant, how much He loved and cared for them, how tenderly He surrounded them to show them His love! The vineyard was to produce sweet grapes; fruits of love and righteousness. The glory of God was to be reflected in the lives of people… But, in the end, only sour fruit was harvested in that vineyard, fruit that had not reached maturity and had not been impregnated by the sun that gives them their sweetness. Thus the vineyard, which the vinedresser had sown to delight in its fruits, was not a source of joy to Him.
We understand very well that, with the image of the vineyard, the Lord is referring to His people. In fact, in the same reading He specifies it. And then He also points out the consequences of their actions. God withdraws His protection from them and, instead of being a flourishing people that glorifies God, they end up becoming a barren land.
How often this tragedy is repeated in the history of peoples or of individuals in particular! How often there were times of decadence even in our own history! But then came a new impulse, a time of conversion… and then again the danger of decadence, when the hour of grace granted by the Lord was not seized, when the world became too important and the divine commandments were relegated to the background.
Do we hold fast to God’s commandments or have we become indifferent to them, or do we accept God’s law unconditionally and obey it, or is the Church influenced by the anti-Christian spirit that has already taken hold in the world? The spirit of relativism, which sees God’s commandments as conditioned by a certain era and presents them as ideals to be corrected according to human reality, is spreading more and more.
Without overlooking the signs of hope, such as conversions and certain impulses and attempts at renewal that can be seen today, it is necessary to ask how God sees His vineyard, which He has sown in the world through His Church. Are the fruits of faith, hope and love growing in it? Is the Church still concerned above all and with all her strength with the fulfilment of the primary task entrusted to her, which is the evangelisation of this world? Or is it more concerned with the earthly dimension? An Italian priest, Don Nicola Bux, made this point some time ago in response to the question of whether the Church still speaks of God:
“After the (…) speech of the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, more and more people are claiming that the Bishops are speaking like politicians, dealing with issues such as the economy, immigration, work, ecology, etc., when they should be concerned with preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments. In short, they are dealing with things that concern politics, when they should be preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments, since their vocation is to glorify God and save souls. The Lord did not solve the problems of poverty, hunger and war, but preached conversion to God as a condition for solving them, though never definitively. That is why He said: “You will always have the poor with you”.
Could it be that the Church in our time is in danger of putting the temporal before the eternal, thus losing its inner strength and being threatened by sins and false doctrines which seek to infect and destroy the Mystical Body of Christ?
Nicola Bux’s statement goes on to quote the then Cardinal Ratzinger, who already in 1985 lamented:
“The very concept of the Church is in crisis. It is seen as an organisation that has to take care of the body and not of the souls. But Jesus Christ came into the world to save souls from sin and lead them back to God the Father. He did not come to solve the economic and social problems caused by the Roman occupation of Palestine.
And Don Bux continues:
“From Che Guevara to Mother Teresa – as Jovanotti sings – a concept of the Church has spread in which everyone can continue to live as they please, without necessarily converting to Jesus Christ and without observing the commandments of God. All this leads to a loss of Catholic identity, also because a non-Catholic mentality has infiltrated the Church”.
Certainly we must always care for the poor, moved by Christian charity, and we must also contribute to solving the problems of the world, but all this must be integrated into the great mission of the Church, which, as we have said, is the proclamation of the Gospel. The balance must not be tipped too much towards the horizontal dimension, because then we risk losing the transcendent dimension.
I believe that it pleases God to see us concerned to live in His grace and committed to witnessing to Christ. It is necessary both to proclaim and to defend the great gift of belonging to the Church. The renewal of the Church happens through those who strive to live holy lives in the world and thus witness to the holiness of the Church.
Will the Lord be pleased with the state of the Church? Is she producing enough sweet grapes or too much sour fruit? Are we a source of joy to God?
Only God will know how to answer these questions! For our part, we can strive to bring forth those fruits that we know will please Him: sincere prayer and authentic witness, accompanied by spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
依撒意亚先知书 5:1-7
我要为我的爱友，讴唱一首有关他葡萄园的情歌：我的爱友，有一座葡萄园，位于肥沃的山岗上；他翻掘了土地，除去了石块，栽种了精选的葡萄树，园中筑了一座守望台，又凿了一个榨酒池。他原希望葡萄园出产好葡萄，但它却出产了野葡萄。
耶路撒冷的居民和犹大人啊！现在请你们，在我与我葡萄园之间，判别是非：我为我的葡萄园所能做的，还有什么没有做到？我原希望它出产好葡萄，为什么却出产了野葡萄？
现在，我要告诉你们，我将怎样对待我的葡萄园：我必撤去它的篱笆，让它被吞噬；拆毁它的围墙，让它受践踏；我要使他变成荒地，不再修剪，不再耕锄；荆棘和蒺藜，将丛丛而生；并且我要命令云彩，不再给它降下时雨。
万军上主的葡萄园，就是以色列家，而犹大人，即是他钟爱的幼苗。上主原希望正义，看，竟是流血；上主原希望公平，看，却是冤声！
天主圣言如此动人！在旧约时代，祂与子民就已如此亲近! 祂如此爱祂的子民，为他们而努力，多么温柔看顾他们，殷切地见证祂的爱! 葡萄园本应出产甜美的葡萄，爱与正义的果实，天主的荣耀要体现在人的生命中–但却只收获了没有成熟，尚需要阳光渗透使它们变甜美的酸葡萄。而祂种下的喜爱的幼苗，并没有结出能吃的果实。
我们非常明白天主指的是祂的子民，祂也这么说了。我们也听到了后果! 天主从他的子民身上拿走了保护! 他们没能成为兴旺而荣耀天主的民族，反而成为一片荒地!
历史上有多少次这样的情况发生在民族和个人身上？我们在教会中多少次看到，有衰退与上升;有信主的时候，然后又有衰退的危险，当主所赐的恩宠没有被持守，当俗世被教会越来越看重，当天主的诫命被忽略的时候!
今天的情况又如何呢？是坚守天主的诫命，还是在时代的潮流中逐渐无动于衷？
天主诫命是否仍然无限适用，要求我们遵守，还是教会越来越多被敌基督精神渗透？敌基督精神已在世界中找到了家! 相对主义精神，妄图把天主诫命当作必须由人的现实来修正的有时间限制的指令或理想。
在不忽视皈依的积极迹象和一些属灵的觉醒及更新的尝试的同时，我们必须自问，天主如何看待祂的大葡萄园，祂通过教会种在世的——教会。是否有信、望、爱的甘美果实在成长？教会是否在继续以她的首要任务，即向这个世界传福音，并全力以赴地努力呢？还是如意大利神父布克斯（Don Nicola Bux）所批评的那样，它的焦点更多地转移到了世俗领域。
“根据意大利主教会议主席最近的讲话， 责备主教们像政治家一样说话，并去处理经济、移民、工作、生态等问题的人正在增加。简言之，他们关心的是与政治有关的事务，虽然他们应该关心福音的宣讲和圣事的施行，因为他们的天职是将荣耀归于天主，拯救人们的灵魂。主耶稣并没有去解决贫穷、饥饿与战争的问题，而是宣讲皈依天主，虽然没有明确，但这是解决其它问题的前提条件，因此，祂说： “你们常有穷人与你们在一起”。
今天教会，难道没有那种把永恒放在世俗之后的危险？并从而丧失了内在的力量，也因罪恶与谬误，去感染和破坏教会的肢体？
我们再听听唐-尼古拉-布克斯的说法。
“1985年，拉辛格以枢机主教的身份感叹：对教会本身的理解正处于危机之中。教会被看作是去处理身体而不是灵魂问题的组织。但耶稣基督来到世界，是为了把灵魂从罪恶中拯救出来，引导他们回归天父。祂来不是为了解决罗马占领巴勒斯坦的经济与社会问题。此外，对教会的理解，正如乔瓦缔诺所唱的那样，”从切-格瓦拉到特蕾莎修女”，正在蔓延，每个人都不一定皈依耶稣基督，独立于天主的诫命之外，继续随心所欲地生活。这一切都导致了天主教身份的模糊。这也是因为一种非天主教的思维方式已渗透到了教会。”
当然，在基督的爱内，总是要向穷人提供帮助，也要为解决世界的问题积极贡献。但这应当融入到传福音的主要使命中去，如果教会不想失去精神层面的意义，天平就不能太过偏移!
我想，天主要我们努力活于祂的恩宠，为基督的救赎作见证。圣神的果实要增长，属于天主教会的伟大恩宠既要宣扬，又要捍卫。教会的更新是由那些在天主圣神引领下，向世界作见证的人完成的。
主耶稣对祂教会的状况是否满意？是否有足够的甜葡萄在生长，我们是主的喜乐，还是有太多的酸浆？
只有天主才能回答这个问题。但我们可以努力结出必蒙主悦纳的果实：真诚的祈祷和真实的见证，加上灵性与行动的慈悲工作（神哀矜与行哀矜）就是我们的使命。