Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 6, 2026
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
“Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them,
thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”
They answered him,
“He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,
they knew that he was speaking about them.
And although they were attempting to arrest him,
they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
Imagine listening to this parable as a Pharisee. Even though Jesus shrouds the meaning of his words in allegory, Matthew writes that they still recognize they are the wicked tenants. Jesus challenges them for refusing to let their hearts be transformed by God’s prophets and God’s own son.
The Pharisees even respond to Jesus’ question that the owner of the vineyard, God the Father, should put the wicked tenants to death for what they have done! Hearing this, they should pause, reflect on their actions and intentions, and ultimately repent and believe. Yet they continue to reject Jesus and attempt to arrest him.
At first, we could question how the Pharisees are so stubborn that they refuse to change after Jesus calls them to be transformed. The more I reflect on my life, though, I see how I am just like them. I cling to my habitual sins and easily ignore the ways Jesus’ words hold a mirror to my actions.
I know I should love my neighbor as myself, yet I am all too ready to gossip with friends about others in my medical school class. Jesus prescribes forgiveness throughout the gospel, yet I hold on to grudges and anger. It can become disheartening once we realize all the ways we disregard Jesus as he asks us to be more like him. But I am reminded not to despair.
Our God will not deny us grace, mercy, and love. The more we pay attention to Jesus’ voice in our lives and acknowledge the areas where he calls us to grow, the more we can ask for his help to do his will. We can implore him not to let us be like the Pharisees, stubborn and hard-hearted, but open to his movement in our lives.
Prayer
Lord, teach us to be filled with you and emptied of an ego that puts our glory over your glory. Let us be your ambassador. Give us your voice and direct our motives this day that we might produce the fruits of the kingdom. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Colette lived a life of extremes in service to God's will.
She was born in France in 1381, daughter to a carpenter. Both of her parents had died by the time she was 17 years old, and she gave away her possessions to the poor and joined a community of Franciscans.
For a time she lived as an anchoress—someone who lives in solitude and prayer—by having herself sealed in a brick cell with only one small, grated window looking in to a church. She became known for her spiritual insight and wisdom.
She had a vision from St. Francis in which he told her to reform the order of Poor Clares. To do this, she had to leave her cell. She decided to travel through France without shoes and in a patched nun’s habit, begging and encouraging greater faithfulness, especially among the religious orders there.
Her efforts were met with great opposition—she was even accused of sorcery—but she persisted, and began a movement that reformed convents in parts of France, Spain, and Belgium. She founded 17 additional convents in the reformed, stricter rule of the Poor Clares.
She was well-known for her holiness and for the depth of her prayer, which often led to ecstatic visions. Her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Colette, you called people to greater holiness by your own example and dedication to prayer—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Colette is available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Last accessed February 6, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
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