Twenty-seventh Ordinary

Matthew 21: 33 – 34

“Here’s another parable. Listen closely. There was once a man, a wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits.”

Jesus gives us a powerful image: a vineyard entrusted to people who are expected to care for it and, in time, share its fruit.

Catholic schools are vineyards of a different kind. Every day, we are entrusted with young people, their questions, their hopes, their struggles and their possibilities. We are entrusted with classrooms, corridors, offices, playgrounds, relationships and moments that can shape a life in ways we may never fully see.

The challenge is not simply to get through another day. It is to ask what we are growing.

Are we growing courage, belonging, compassion and curiosity? Are we creating spaces where every student and every colleague knows they matter? Are our words, decisions and everyday interactions producing the kind of fruit our Gospel values call us to produce?

None of this belongs to one role or one team. Teachers, education support staff, leaders, administration, wellbeing teams, grounds staff and everyone who contributes to school life shares in this sacred responsibility.

The vineyard is in our hands today. What we choose to nurture, protect and share will become part of someone else’s tomorrow.