Yet, beneath the joy of this celebration lay an important challenge — not only for the children and their parents, but especially for those entrusted with nurturing their faith: their evangelizing catechists (ECs).

On this 27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the first reading from Isaiah 5:1–7 and the Gospel reading from Matthew (21:33-43) both presented the powerful image of a vineyard. In Isaiah, God lovingly prepared a vineyard. He cultivated the soil, planted good vines and cared for them, expecting them to produce good grapes. Instead, the vineyard produced sour and wild grapes.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells the Parable of the Wicked Tenants. The tenants had been entrusted with the vineyard, but they forgot that they were merely caretakers. They behaved as though the vineyard belonged to them and failed to give the owner the fruits that were rightfully his.

In his homily, Monsignor Stephen Liew reminded the congregation that the vineyard can be likened to the Church and to our life of discipleship. Everything we have is ultimately a gift from God. Our talents, abilities and opportunities are entrusted to us so that we may use them for His glory and for the good of others.

For ECs, this image of the vineyard carries a particularly powerful message. Monsignor Stephen’s words, “Whether these children bear sour grapes or sweet grapes will depend on their teachers, parents and priests”  made me pause and reflect.

The children entrusted to us are part of God’s vineyard. We are their caretakers. We do not own their faith. We cannot force them to believe or love God. But we can prepare the soil, plant the seeds, nurture growth, remove the weeds, provide support and patiently wait for the fruits to appear.

Every lesson we teach is a seed. Every prayer we lead is a seed. Every hymn that we sing is a seed. Every word of encouragement is a seed. Every act of patience, kindness and understanding is a seed.

But seeds need more than planting. They need constant care. As ECs, we therefore need to ask ourselves: What kind of vineyard are we cultivating?

• Are we merely teaching the children prayers, doctrines and Bible stories, or are we helping them encounter Jesus?
• Are our lessons helping them to know about God, or are we helping them to know and love God?
• Do our children see in us people who genuinely live their faith, or do they see faith as something that exists only in the Catechism classroom and at the celebration of the Eucharist?

Most importantly, what kind of fruit are we helping them to bear? This is a daunting challenge for us! We definitely will not be able to do it on our own, but will succeed if we place our trust in the Holy Spirit.

If we want our children to bear sweet fruit, then we must first tend our own vineyard.

We need to keep cultivating our own faith, deepening our relationship with Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us. We need to be willing to prune away impatience, complacency and self-interest. We need to keep learning, growing and renewing ourselves so that we can better serve the children entrusted to us.

The task of an EC is therefore much more than teaching a weekly lesson. It is the sacred work of cultivating the young to live lives pleasing to God.

May we, as ECs, take up this challenge with renewed commitment. The desire of a good and faithful EC is to produce a harvest of sweet and abundant fruits — children who know Jesus, love Him, live their faith and, in turn, become fruitful disciples who bring others closer to God.

Let us work diligently in God’s vineyard, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, prepare the good soil, plant the good seeds and nurture the children entrusted to us with love and patience.