September 21, 2014 SUNDAY 25th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Psalter: Week 1 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him. (Ps 145:2-3, 8-8, 17-18). 1st Reading: Is 55:6-9 Seek Yahweh while He may be found ; call to Him while He is near. Let the wicked abandon his way. Let him forsake his thought, let him turn to Yahweh for He will have mercy, for our God is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not Your thoughts, my ways are not Your ways, says Yahweh. For as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than Your ways, and my thoughts above Your thoughts. 2nd Reading: Phil 1:20c-24, 27a Brothers and sisters: Christ will be exalted through my person, whether I live or die. For to me, living is for Christ; and dying is even better. But if I am to go on living, I shall be able to enjoy fruitful labor. Which shall I choose? So I feel torn between the two. I desire greatly to leave this life and to be with Christ, which will be better by far, but it is necessary for You that I remain in this life. Try then, to adjust your lives according to the Gospel of Christ. Gospel: Mt 20:1-16 Jesus told His disciples this parable: This story throws light on the kingdom of heaven: A landowner went out early in the morning, to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay each worker the usual daily wage and sent them to his vineyard. He went out again, at about nine in the morning and, seeing others idle in the town square, he said to them, You also go to my vineyard, and I will pay you what is just.So they went. The owner went out at midday, and, again, at three in the afternoon, and he made the same offer. Again he went out, at the last working hour---the eleventh---and he saw others standing around. So he said to them, Why do you stand idle the whole day? They answered, Because no one has hired us. The master said, Go and work in my vineyard. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, Call the workers and pay their wage, beginning with the last and ending with the first. Those who had gone to work at the eleventh hour came up, and were each given a silver coin. When it was tthe turn of the first, they thought they would receive more. But they too, received one silver coin. On receiving it, they began to grumble against the landowner. They said, These last, hardly worked an hour; yet you have treated them the same as us, who have endured the heavy work of the day and the heat. The owner said to one of them, Friend, I have not been unjust to you. Did we not agree on one silver coin per day? So, take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last the same as I give to you. Dont I have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Why are you envious when I am kind? So will it be the last will be first, the first will be last. Reading: Again, Jesus uses the imagery of the landowner of a vineyard who came out to look for workers to his vineyard at different times of the day. When the time for paying wages came, the last to work received the same full days pay as those who came the earliest. The latter murmored complaints but they were reminded of the original agreement that the landowner had with them. How he uses his money is entirely up to his own discretion. Reflection: The values of the Kingdom are way beyond our understanding and ken. Whereas, we always put monetary or its equivalent value to the things that we di, heaven is happy to multiply the greatest good and joy without considering the cost and amount. This is the reason why the landowner, who is the image of God, paid all workers, regardless of the time spent in working, the same amount. He was happy to share his resources equally to all without regard to their outputs. This does not sit well with those who worked ahead. They felt cheated because they expended more energy, spent more time and experienced more discomfortbthan the others. They demanded a just compensation to their efforts. But come to think of it, when we are in Gods house everything will be shared equally. No one will have more than the others because there will be no basis for comparison. This will simply fade away. What will remain is the abundant love of God that can never be exhausted. There will always be something more left behind for others once we get our share. Response: Have I begrudged anothers generosity especially if I am not the recipient? Rather than griping about it, I should command and reinforce it so that generosity will grow in strength especially in the community that I live.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 12:05:23 +0000
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