Brothers and sisters

May the Lord give you peace!

A question comes to me spontaneously: what would happen if we really listened to the Word of God? And I apologize if I ask yet another question: have we really listened to the Word of God today, here in this Mass? Have we understood something? Yes, brothers and sisters, if this Word of God, which is life, and is alive, entered our hearts now, many things would change in our lives… and Jesus speaks to us, he speaks to us today… the great danger is that we think that the Word of God is something of the past, not of the present…. And today He, the Lord Jesus speaks to us with this Parable.

But do you know what a parable is? A parable is a story, a story to communicate a truth, a principle. Jesus uses everyday situations to offer a teaching. In the parable, it is not the details that are important but the central idea that you want to communicate. And in today’s liturgy, Jesus takes up the image used by the prophet Isaiah of the “vineyard”, which represents the people of God. Here is the story of God’s love… Yes, we are the vineyard… Our realities, our human society. And God endows, entrusts his vineyard to men. And we have the love of God, the trust of God, and on the other side a stubborn infidelity. And despite this, God’s patience.

One example is one’s own human life: God entrusts human life to us, and in many nations they approve the law of abortion. There are fathers who abandon their children, mothers who abandon their children. Children who have been entrusted to them, destroying them… There are people who sell drugs, and for money, destroy families … families who suffer from alcohol, infidelity, separations, divorce. Brothers and sisters, we ask, why? Because we think that we are the master of the vineyard, the owners of the vineyard. Here is the reason. The Lord has given it to us on “lease” and expects us to be capable of giving him good fruit;

The world is not your property, the Church is not our property. There are people who think that the Church is their property. It is terrible when we find people who feel themselves masters of the Church, and treat their brothers and sisters badly, many do not abandon the Church, because we do not welcome them.

Brothers and sisters, the story, however, ends with a double message of hope. God’s plan does not stop. Nothing can discourage the love of God, not even repeated infidelity. We can betray the Gospel, we can betray our vocation, impoverish our churches to the point of sterility, but the history of salvation continues, even without us, so-called “Christians”. Yes, no one is the beginning and the end, only Christ is the beginning and the end, we are always in the middle. Everything existed before us and will continue to exist.

Yes, our hope is based on God. And we must take care of the Lord’s Vineyard. For the vineyard of the Lord, is all of you, The Church of Cyprus. Yes, I ask you to have patience, we are close to a new chapter of the Church of Cyprus, especially here in northern Cyprus. The vineyard of the Lord is our families, your families. And how are you caring for your families, friends, our communities? And let’s start taking care today. Let’s not leave it for tomorrow. The devil will never tell us not to do good, but he will always tell us: leave it for tomorrow, there is time. No… let’s start today to behave like workers in the vineyard, taking care of the Lord’s vineyard. Let us not forget that it is possible through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, of Saint Joseph, Amen.