A WORD FOR TODAY 4 OCTOBER 2020

A WORD FOR TODAY

BE USEFUL FOR GOD AND BEAR GOOD FRUITS FOR HIM

"Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."(Philippians 4:6-7)_

The readings of today are reminding us of what the Lord expects of us as His followers. We have been blessed in all aspects of our life and all that the Lord wants from us is not to abuse this privilege, but to use our gifts to bear good fruits for Him.

The first reading and the gospel reading talks about the vineyard. We are God's vineyard and He has spent so much on us to make us be the best and if we are to reciprocate this love, our aim will be always to bear good fruits for Him and remain useful.

To be useful is to be capable of being put to use for an end, It means to be productive and to bear fruits. When something is no longer useful, it becomes a waste and the next thing will be to throw it away and find a replacement.

God has created us and has nurtured us as a vineyard. The vineyard is where vine are plantard and they inturn produces grapes as fruits which are used in producing wine. The vine is a delicate plant that needs a lot of care and attention. You do not make an investment and let it be a waste, you do that to make gains. We are God's investment and He has spent so much on us and the only way to show Him that we are not useless is to make use of all He has given us as gifts to serve Him well. God expects nothing but goodness and usefulness from us and if this is not happening it means that something is wrong and need to be quickly fixed, before it becomes irredeemable. God is also patient and it is for us to change and become better, however, if we fail to change after all He has done for us, we shall face his judgement and justice.

To be useful for God we must bear fruits of love, truth, honour, purity, justice, kindness, peace, compassion and mercy. We must do all that saint Paul recommends in the second reading of today in his letter to the Philippians. We must shine out as the light and stay away from places, things and persons that make us become darkness and offend God who has loved us so much. God's love for us is pure and unselfish and cannot be compared with any other kind of love. We must, as a matter of responsibility reciprocate this love by doing good always and by bearing good fruits. Most times, when the Lord comes to harvest fruits from us He finds, infidelity, oppression, exploitation, wickedness, false accusations, hatred, bloodshed e.t.c. All these will never make him happy.

To bear fruits for Him, we must first know what He wants, secondly, we must make a resolve with a strong will and discipline to do what He wants and then thirdly, we begin to do that which He wants and our light will shine and those who come around us will be moved to shine as the light also.

Good morning dearest one. Smile😊as you begin your day and do have a splendid Sunday. May God's grace help you to be useful to Him and to humanity. Amen. And may the Almighty God bless you: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Meditation: Isaiah 5:1-7/Psalm 80:9,12-16,19-20/Philippians 4:6-9/Matthew 21:33-43

Watch-Word: I chose you from the world that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should abide.

When you connect yourself deeply to God, you will be useful, but when you disconnect from him, you will become unusable.

(Twenty seventh Sunday in the Ordinary Time. Cycle A.)