Jesus' words in today's Gospel can easily apply to the Church in our present age, beset as it is with the appalling sexual abuse scandal throughout the world. It will have come as a sickening surprise to the majority of good, faithful Catholics that there have been so many "wolves on the prowl." Where we thought we were working in the fruitful vineyard of the Lord, much of it has in fact been a wilderness of prickly plants and decaying trees. Jesus' purpose is to warn us to be on our guard against false prophets. Perhaps our best way to be on our guard in the midst of such a widespread scandal is to pray earnestly and consistently for the church, that the Lord will cut away the dead branches and clear the vineyard of prickly plants and decaying trees. And let us not forget to pray for the victims, that they may be truly healed.