27th Sunday in Ordinary Time · Matthew 21:33–43
A vineyard called to bear fruit
Growing what we receive builds the Kingdom
This Lectio Divina for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, leads us into Matthew 21:33–43, the parable of the wicked tenants. God entrusts his vineyard to us and looks for the fruits of justice, reconciliation and fellowship. Through Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio and Communicatio, we receive the Word in the Augustinian Recollect spirit, in personal prayer and in community.
Invocation
Come, Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit,
through whom every faithful soul
that believes in Christ is made holy
and becomes a citizen
of the city of God.
Come, Holy Spirit;
make us receptive to God’s prompting.
Kindle your fire within us,
enlighten us and lift our hearts to God.
— Saint Augustine (En. Ps. 45, 8 · Serm. 128, 4)
The Gospel
Matthew 21:33–43
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus said to the chief priests and elders: “A landowner planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress and built a watchtower. He leased it to tenants and went away.
When harvest time came, he sent his servants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized them, beating one, killing another and stoning a third. He sent more servants, but they treated them in the same way.
Finally he sent his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But the tenants said, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him and take his inheritance.’ They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
When the owner returns, what will he do to those tenants?” They answered, “He will bring them to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to others who will give him the fruit at harvest time.”
Jesus said, “Have you never read: The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone; this is the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who produce its fruit.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
Lectio
What the text says
Saint Augustine · Sermon 87, 2
The tenants said: “This is the heir. Let us kill him and take the inheritance.” They killed him and cast him outside the vineyard. When Jesus asked what the owner would do, the answer was plain: he would entrust the vineyard to others who would return its fruit in due season.
The vineyard was planted when the law was placed within human hearts. The prophets came looking for its fruit, a life made right, yet they received insults and death. At last Christ, the only Son, was sent. The tenants killed the heir in order to possess the inheritance, but their choice achieved the opposite. By killing him, they lost the vineyard.
Saint Thomas of Villanova
Let us tend our spiritual vineyard. Open the soil to the rain of grace and the warmth of charity, cut away the rotten branches of sin, and allow the Lord to cultivate and renew it. Let it remain the Lord’s vineyard rather than our own.
Reflection
Growing what we receive builds the Kingdom
The parable leaves us with a direct question: what am I doing with the vineyard God has placed in my hands? Our life, gifts, relationships and community are not possessions to lock away. They are a trust placed under our care.
From the beginning, God has invited us to share in his work. Everything we receive is meant to grow and benefit others. Trouble begins when we forget the owner and live as though the vineyard belonged entirely to us.
The tenants want the fruit and the inheritance for themselves. Their hunger to possess leads them to reject every messenger and finally the son. The story reveals where a heart can go when gift becomes control.
Our calling is to build community together. Preserving our talents without offering them is not enough. God’s fruit becomes visible in justice, reconciliation, conversion and fellowship.
God has given us his own Son and the power of the Resurrection. Faced with such generosity, our response is to join his work and make the Kingdom visible through love.
Meditatio
What the Word says to me
God longs to dwell within his creation, yet we often live carelessly and overlook the wonder of his nearness. He has given us even his Son, and still we can pass by the gift without receiving it.
Do I recognise God’s presence when he draws close to my life?
The tenants saw only their own advantage. The vocation God gives us is lived through service and community. Our gifts are meant to be shared and to bear the fruits of justice, reconciliation and freedom.
Am I using what God has entrusted to me for myself, or to bear fruit for his Kingdom?
Oratio
What I say to God
Do you share my ideas?
Walk with me in my plans.
Do you question my way of thinking?
Keep searching for truth with me.
Do you recognise that you were mistaken?
Come over to my side.
Do you believe that I am mistaken?
Correct me.
Only then will we walk together
along the path of truth,
seeking the one who says:
‘Seek my face always.’
— Saint Augustine (On the Trinity 1, 3, 5)
Contemplatio
Keep me mindful of you, Lord
In the silence…
Look at the owner of the vineyard. Notice everything he has done: he prepares it, protects it and entrusts it to the tenants.
Hear the choice of those who forgot the gift: “This is the heir. Let us kill him.”
Look at Jesus and ask what he longs to reveal about God to those who listen.
Let him look at you
The vineyard is in your hands.
Let Jesus look upon your life, gifts, vocation, relationships and community. All of them belong to the vineyard God has entrusted to you.
Remain
Give thanks for his patience and for the gift of his Son.
Pray: “Lord, let my life bear fruit for your Kingdom.”
To contemplate is to receive the vineyard as both gift and responsibility.
Communicatio
In community
In him we are one
Share
Speak about what the Lord has stirred in the heart.
What has Jesus shown me about the way I live?
Discern
Listen for what the Lord asks of the community today.
Which fruits of the Kingdom are we called to nurture?
What concrete call has emerged as we shared?
Walk
Choose one simple and possible step.
What fruit does God want me to bear this week?
How can we make our community a fruitful vineyard together?
grateful, we cultivate;
together, we bear fruit for the Kingdom.
Prayer
Thank you, my Lord,
for all you have given me
and inspired within me in this moment.
May my restless heart
never cease to burn
until at last it rests in you,
the one true love.
May everything be for the greater glory of your name,
as we become one mind
and one heart directed towards you,
our God.
Amen.
Prayer
For Vocations
Lord our God,
let the call of your voice reach many hearts.
May they rise and learn to live as one in you.
Prepare their hearts through your Word,
so that they may bring good news to the poor
and care for your abundant harvest.
May all whom you call to Augustinian Recollect life
hear your voice
and have the courage to do your will.
Amen.
PredicAR · Augustinian Recollects