This parable of the landowner who planted a vineyard teaches us that God holds us accountable for the blessings that have been bestowed on us. To put it bluntly, God expects some return on the investment he makes in our lives. All God asks is that we give something back to the kingdom of God.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Earlier this month we heard these words on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “For today, the Virgin Mother of God was assumed to heaven as the beginning and image of your Church’s coming to perfection, and a sign of sure hope and comfort to your pilgrim people; rightly you would not allow her to see the corruption of the tomb since from her own body, she marvelously brought forth.

“Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain” writes Paul to the Christians in Philippi. To understand the depth of these words we need to see it in context. Paul was in prison awaiting trial. There were two possibilities before him: he might be released, but he also might be executed. So Paul says, whatever happens to me, whether I live or whether or I die, the important thing is that Christ will be honored in my body. And his rationale for saying so is that to him to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

In today’s Gospel, Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive?” Peter suggests seven times, but Jesus responds, “Not seven times but seventy-seven times.”

Jesus is not asking us to keep count. He is reminding us that forgiveness is not something we offer only when it is convenient or deserved. Forgiveness is a way of living.

A few summers ago, my family had a big reunion. It included my parents, my four siblings, and all their many children. One of my favorite moments was simply watching my parents’ contented faces as they took in all of us together, laughing, sharing food, singing, telling stories. They loved seeing their children happily together with each other.

Do you know what it is like to be thrilled by the power of Christian faith one moment and then utterly fail in it the next? I do. That is Peter in today’s Gospel. After last week’s bold confession, he now hears Jesus speak of suffering and death, and something in him recoils. He takes Jesus aside and tries to correct him. Jesus responds with the shocking rebuke, “Get behind me, Satan.”

The first time I stood inside St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, its majesty overwhelmed me. The sheer beauty of Michelangelo’s dome seemed to lift my soul right out of my body.

Later, I joined the Scavi tour that winds below the basilica, down into the ancient pagan cemetery where Peter was buried. There, in the dim light and narrow passageways, I found myself looking at the bones of a murdered Jewish fisherman, his feet cut off so his crucified body could be taken down more easily.

This summer, let us: “Stay prayed up!” With this welcomed season of summer vacations, we need to remind ourselves, as we break from our work schedules and routines, that, although, it is a time for rest and relaxation, it is not a time for us to take a vacation - a break - from attending Mass and receiving the Eucharist, nor putting off our daily prayers, especially, the Rosary.

As a young, newly ordained priest, I admired a senior priest who was gifted, beloved, and had changed countless lives. But soon I learned that he had fallen in catastrophic and destructive ways. The painful juxtaposition of good and evil was complex to process. How could someone so seemingly good also be so broken and deceptive? It forced me to confront a sobering truth: leadership in the Church is no guarantee against weakness or sin.