DAILY READING and REFLECTIONS For Sunday, September 21, 2014 25th Week in Ordinary Time - Psalter 1 (Green) Readings: Is 58:6-9; Ps 145:2-18; Phil 1:20-27; Mt 20:1-16 Response: The Lord is near to all who call upon him. Rosary: Glorious Mysteries Verse Highlight: The last will be first, and the first, last. SAINT OF THE DAY: Saint Matthew; Apostle Patron Bankers St. Matthew, one of the twelve Apostles, is the author of the first Gospel. This has been the constant tradition of the Church and is confirmed by the Gospel itself. He was the son of Alpheus and was called to be an Apostle while sitting in the tax collectors place at Capernaum. Before his conversion he was a publican, i.e., a tax collector by profession. He is to be identified with the Levi of Mark and Luke. His apostolic activity was at first restricted to the communities of Palestine. Nothing definite is known about his later life. There is a tradition that points to Ethiopia as his field of labor; other traditions mention of Parthia and Persia. It is uncertain whether he died a natural death or received the crown of martyrdom. St. Matthews Gospel was written to fill a sorely-felt want for his fellow countrymen, both believers and unbelievers. For the former, it served as a token of his regard and as an encouragement in the trial to come, especially the danger of falling back to Judaism; for the latter, it was designed to convince them that the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus, our Lord, in Whom all the promises of the Messianic Kingdom embracing all people had been fulfilled in a spiritual rather than in a carnal way: My Kingdom is not of this world. His Gospel, then, answered the question put by the disciples of St. John the Baptist, Are You He Who is to come, or shall we look for another? Writing for his countrymen of Palestine, St. Matthew composed his Gospel in his native Aramaic, the Hebrew tongue mentioned in the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Soon afterward, about the time of the persecution of Herod Agrippa I in 42 AD, he took his departure for other lands. Another tradition places the composition of his Gospel either between the time of this departure and the Council of Jerusalem, i.e., between 42 AD and 50 AD or even later. Definitely, however, the Gospel, depicting the Holy City with its altar and temple as still existing, and without any reference to the fulfillment of our Lords prophecy, shows that it was written before the destruction of the city by the Romans in 70 AD, and this internal evidence confirms the early traditions. READINGS FROM THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE: READING 1, Isaiah 55:6-9 6 Seek out Yahweh while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near. 7 Let the wicked abandon his way and the evil one his thoughts. Let him turn back to Yahweh who will take pity on him, to our God, for he is rich in forgiveness; 8 for my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares Yahweh. 9 For the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts. RESPONSORIAL PSALM, Psalms 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18 2 Day after day I shall bless you, I shall praise your name for ever and ever. 3 Great is Yahweh and worthy of all praise, his greatness beyond all reckoning. 8 Yahweh is tenderness and pity, slow to anger, full of faithful love. 9 Yahweh is generous to all, his tenderness embraces all his creatures. 17 Upright in all that he does, Yahweh acts only in faithful love. 18 He is close to all who call upon him, all who call on him from the heart. READING 2, Philippians 1:20-24, 27 20 all in accordance with my most confident hope and trust that I shall never have to admit defeat, but with complete fearlessness I shall go on, so that now, as always, Christ will be glorified in my body, whether by my life or my death. 21 Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would be a positive gain. 22 On the other hand again, if to be alive in the body gives me an opportunity for fruitful work, I do not know which I should choose. 23 I am caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and to be with Christ, and this is by far the stronger desire- 24 and yet for your sake to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need. 27 But you must always behave in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come to you and see for myself or whether I only hear all about you from a distance, I shall find that you are standing firm and united in spirit, battling, as a team with a single aim, for the faith of the gospel. GOSPEL, Matthew 20:1-16 1 Now the kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He made an agreement with the workers for one denarius a day and sent them to his vineyard. 3 Going out at about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place 4 and said to them, You go to my vineyard too and I will give you a fair wage. 5 So they went. At about the sixth hour and again at about the ninth hour, he went out and did the same. 6 Then at about the eleventh hour he went out and found more men standing around, and he said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day? 7 Because no one has hired us, they answered. He said to them, You go into my vineyard too. 8 In the evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his bailiff, Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last arrivals and ending with the first. 9 So those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came forward and received one denarius each. 10 When the first came, they expected to get more, but they too received one denarius each. 11 They took it, but grumbled at the landowner saying, 12 The men who came last have done only one hour, and you have treated them the same as us, though we have done a heavy days work in all the heat. 13 He answered one of them and said, My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on one denarius? 14 Take your earnings and go. I choose to pay the lastcomer as much as I pay you. 15 Have I no right to do what I like with my own? Why should you be envious because I am generous? 16 Thus the last will be first, and the first, last. REFLECTIONS: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) OPENING PRAYER: Oh Father, your Son Jesus, whom you have given to us, is our kingdom, our richness, our Heaven; He is the Master of the house and of the earth in which we live and He goes out continuously to search for us, because He desires to call us, to pronounce our name, to offer us His infinite love. We will never be able to pay Him back, never repay the superabundance of His compassion and mercy for us; we can only tell him our Yes, ours: “Here I am, I come”, or repeat with Isaiah: “Here I am Lord, send me!”. Lord, allow this word to enter into my heart, in my eyes, into my ears and that it changes me, transforms me, according to this surprising incomprehensible love that Jesus is offering me today also, even at this moment. Lead me to the last place, to mine, that which He has prepared for me, there where I can truly and fully be myself. Amen. ON READING 1: Isaiah 55:6-9 (Epilogue: Invitation to Partake of the Banquet of the Lords Covenant) The Israelites are called to conversion. In order to return to their homeland, they must return to God, must seek him (vv. 6-7). And the Lord, who allows himself to be found and who does not judge in the way that men do, is willing and able to grant forgiveness (vv. 8-9). In other words, the call to repentance is grounded on the goodness of God who will abundantly pardon (v. 7). Man, for his part, should grasp this opportunity that God offers him. So, the words in this passage are a constant encouragement to begin and begin again in the pursuit of virtue: To be converted means to ask for forgiveness and to seek out the strength of God in the Sacrament of reconciliation, and thus begin again, advancing step by step every day, learning to overcome ourselves, to win the spiritual battles that we face, and to give of ourselves joyfully, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7) (Bl. John Paul II, Novo incipiente, 8 April 1979). And St. Augustine, apropos of conversion, wrote: Do not say: Tomorrow, I will he converted; tomorrow, I will give thanks to God; and all my sins, todays and yesterdays, will be forgiven. It is true that God promises forgiveness for your conversion; but He does not promise tomorrow for your delays (Enarrationes in Psalmos, 144, 11). The words of v. 8 are echoed by St Paul in Romans 11:33, and are a reminder to us of just how narrow-minded we can be and how we can fail even to imagine the great things that God has in store for us. ON READING 2: Philippians 1:20-24, 27 (St. Pauls Own Circumstances - Continued) Christ will be honored in my body: whether he lives (because that will allow him to keep up his apostolic work) or whether he has to face martyrdom: in either case he is able to bear witness to Christ. Every Christian is linked to Christ through Baptism (cf. Rom 6:5) and this union is strengthened by the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 10:16-17). A believer, therefore, should aspire to identify with Jesus to such an extent that he can say with the Apostle, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20). Everything anyone has is a gift from God; and a Christians life in the body, with any suffering he experiences, and even death, identifies him in some way with Christs own life: this identification is the goal of every Christian. StPaul expresses a desire to depart and be with Christ: the Greek verb he uses has the sense of casting off (like a boat before it leaves harbor) or upping stakes (like an army decamping): he sees death as a liberation from earthly ties, which allows him immediately to be with Christ. These words indicate that those who die in grace do not have to wait until the Last Judgment to enjoy God in heaven. This was the teaching of the Church, based on Sacred Scripture, at the Second Council of Lyons: the souls of those who after holy Baptism have acquired no stain of sin at all, and those who having incurred the stain of sin are cleansed . . . are received immediately into heaven (Profession of Faith of Michael Paleologue). The Apostle is in two minds. But his desire to be with Christ does not inhibit his generous work for the good of souls: he wants to stay in the world, in order to continue working for the conversion of the Gentiles and to look after the Christian communities which he has founded, which are going from strength to strength. In spite of his uncertainty about his future, St. Paul is inclined to think that he will be allowed to continue his work to the spiritual advantage of the Philippians and the other churches. Death is gain, because, for a person who dies in the grace of God, it means p entering into the joy of the Lord, seeing him face to face (cf. 1 Cor 13:12) and enjoying what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor 2:9). This desire to enjoy God in heaven caused St Teresa of Avila to say: I am living and yet I am not really living, for I place my hopes on such a higher life that I am dying because I do not die (Poems, 2). Christ himself, our teacher of salvation, shows us how useful it is to leave this life; when his disciples became sad because he told them that he was going away, he said to them, If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father (Jn 14:28), thereby teaching themshould rejoice rather than be sad (S.t Cyprian, De Mortalitate, 7). Faith shows us that death is the definitive step into eternal life. However, to have a well-grounded hope of attaining that goal we need to remember that for us, to live is hrist here on earth also. For one thing, supernatural life is the life of grace, and this has been won for us by Christ; also, knowing and loving Christ should be our life-purpose. A Christian has to try to see that his life is fruitful in terms of holiness, and that he uses all ordinary events and all his activities to draw others towards Christ. So, if you have encountered Christ, Bl. John Paul II exhorts, live for Christ, live with Christ, and bear witness to him; proclaim this in the first person singular: For me to live is Christ. That is what true liberation also consists of--proclaiming Jesus Christ freed from attachments and present in men who are transformed and become a new creation (Homily, Santo Domingo Cathedral, October 1984). The Greek term translated here as let your manner of life be has a more specific meaning Live like good citizens. The inhabitants of Philippi enjoyed Roman citizenship and were very proud of this (cf. p. 101 above). However, in addition to whichever positions they ha e in society, C ristians are citizens of heaven (cf. Phil 3:20), and therefore they should lead a life worthy of the gospel of Christ, like good citizens of the Kingdom of God where Christ reigns as king (cf. Jn 18:37), by loyally obeying his laws--the new law of grace contained in the Gospel. However, being a citizen of heaven is quite compatible with being a citizen of human society: to acknowledge God is in no way to oppose the dignity of man, since such dignity is grounded and brought to perfection in God. Man has in fact been placed in society by God, who created him as an intelligent and free being; but over and above this he is called as a son to intimacy with God and to share in his happiness. (The Church) further teaches that hope in a life to come does not take away from the importance of the duties of this life on earth but rather adds to it by giving new motives for fulfilling those duties (Vatican II, Gaudium Et Spes, 21). A truly Christian life in the middle of the world speaks to all, Christians or no, of the presence of God and of his plans for the salvation of all mankind. Moreover, what does much to show Gods presence clearly is the brotherly love of the faithful who, being all of one mind and spirit work together for the faith of the Gospel (cf. Phil 1:18 ) and stand out as a sign of unity (ibid.). This is essential to the effort to spread the Kingdom of God, for every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste (Lk 11:17). The early Christians really did put this teaching into practice: they were of one heart and soul (Acts 4:32). ON THE GOSPEL: Matthew 20:1-16 (The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard) This passage places us within the section of the Gospel of Matthew, which directly precedes the account of the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus. This section begins in 19, 1, where it is said that Jesus definitively leaves the territory of Galilee to go to Judea, beginning in this way the path to get close to Jerusalem and this is concluded in 25, 46, with the account on the coming and the judgment of the Son of God. More in particular, chapter 20 places us also along the road of Jesus towards the holy city and its temple, in a context of teaching and of polemics with the wise and the powerful of the time, which he carries out through parables and encounters. This parable is addressed to the Jewish people, whom God called at an early hour, centuries ago. Now the Gentiles are also being called -- with an equal right to form part of the new people of God, the Church. In both cases it is a matter of a gratuitous, unmerited, invitation; therefore, those who were the first to receive the call have no grounds for complaining when God calls the last and gives them the same reward -- membership of His people. At first sight the laborers of the first hour seem to have a genuine grievance--because they do not realize that to have a job in the Lords vineyard is a divine gift. Jesus leaves us in no doubt that although He calls us to follow different ways, all receive the same reward -- Heaven. In the image of the vineyard, apparently very simple and ordinary, Scripture condenses a very rich and profound reality, always more dense in significance, gradually as the texts get closer to the full revelation of Jesus. In the first book of Kings, chapter 21, is narrated the violent attack against Naboth, a simple subject of the corrupt King Ahab, who possessed a vineyard, planted, unfortunately, precisely next the to palace of the King. This account makes us understand how important the vineyard was, an inviolable property: for nothing in the world Naboth would have given it up, as he says: “Yahweh forbid that I should give you my ancestral heritage!” (I Kings 21, 3). Out of love for it, he lost his life. Therefore, the vineyard represents the most precious good, the family heritage, in a certain part, the identity itself of the person; he cannot sell it, cede it to others, barter or trade it for other goods, which would never succeed to equal it. It hides a vital, spiritual force. Isaiah 5 tells us clearly that under the figure of the vineyard is signified the people of Israel, as it is written: “Now, the vineyard of Yahweh Sabaoth is the House of Israel; and the people of Judah the plant he cherished” (Is 5, 7). The Lord has loved these people with an infinite and eternal love, sealed by an inviolable covenant; He takes care of it, just as a vine-dresser would do with his vineyard, doing everything possible so that it can bear more beautiful fruit. Each one of us is Israel, the whole Church: the Father has found us as dry, arid land, devastated, filled with rocks, and he has cultivated it, he has dug around it, fertilized it, watered it always; he has planted us as a chosen vineyard, all with genuine vines (Jer 2, 21). What else could he have done for us, which he has not done? (Is, 5, 4). In his infinite lowering, the Lord has become vineyard Himself; He has become the true Vine (Jn 15, 1ff), of which we are the branches; He united himself to us, just as the vine is united to its branches. The Father, who is the vine-dresser, continues his work of love in us, so that we may bear fruit and he waits patiently. He prunes, He cultivates, but then he sends us to work, to collect the fruits to offer to him. We are sent to his people, to his sons, as sons that we are ourselves, as his disciples; we cannot draw back, refuse, because we have been created for this: that we may go and bear fruit and that our fruit may remain (Jn 15, 16). Lord, turn to us; look down from Heaven and visit your vineyard (Psalm 79, 15). The promise: one denarius The Master of the vineyard establishes as the payment for the work of the day a denarius; a good sum, which allowed to live with dignity. More or less it corresponds to the drachma agreed upon by the old Tobit with the one who accompanied his son Tobias towards the Media (Tb 5, 15). Denarius: a silver coin bearing an image of Caesar Augustus (Matthew 22:19-21). But in the evangelical account this denarius is immediately called by another name; by the Master; in fact, he says: “that which is just I will give you” (v4). Our inheritance, our salary is what is just, what is good: the Lord Jesus. He, in fact, does not give, does not promise other than himself. Our reward is in Heaven (Mt 5, 12), with our Father (Mt 6, 1). It is not the money, the denarius which was used to pay the tax per-capita to the Romans, on which was the image and the inscription of King Tiberius Caesar (Mt 22, 20), but which is the face of Jesus, his name, his presence. He tells us: “I am with you not only today, but all days, until the end of the world. I myself will be your reward”. The text offers to our life a very strong energy, which springs from the verbs “to send, to order” to go”, repeated twice; both concern us, they touch us deeply, they call us and put us in movement. It is the Lord Jesus who sends us, making of us his disciples: “Behold, I send you” (Mt 10, 16). He calls us every day for his mission and repeats to us: “Go!” and our happiness is hidden precisely here, in the realization of this Word of his. Also where he sends us, in the way in which He indicates it, towards the reality and the persons whom He places before us. The Jewish method of calculating time was different from ours. They divided the whole day into eight parts, four night parts (called watches) and four day parts (called hours)--the first, third, sixth and ninth hour. The first hour began at sunrise and ended around nine oclock; the third ran to twelve noon; the sixth to three in the afternoon; and the ninth from three to sunset. This meant that the first and ninth hours varied in length, decreasing in autumn and winter and increasing in spring and summer and the reverse happening with the first and fourth watches. Sometimes intermediate hours were counted -- as for example in verse 6 which refers to the eleventh hour, the short period just before sunset, the end of the working day. Words of utmost importance, true and very much present in our experience of daily life; we cannot deny this: they dwell in our heart, in our thoughts, sometimes they torment us, disfigure us, get us terribly tired, drive us away from ourselves, from others, from the Lord. Yes, we are also among those workers who complain and grumble, murmuring against the Master. The rumor of the murmuring comes from very far away, but equally it succeeds to join us and to insinuate our heart. Israel in the desert murmured heavily against its Lord and we have received as inheritance those thoughts, those words: “The Lord hates us, that is why he brought us out of the land of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites and to destroy us” (Dt 1, 27) and we doubt concerning his capacity to nourish us, to lead us ahead, to protect us: “Can God make a banquet in the desert?” (Ps 78, 19). To murmur means not to listen to the voice of the Lord, not to believe anymore in his love for us: Therefore, we become scandalized, upset, strongly against the merciful Lord and we get angry against his way of acting and we wish to change it, to make it smaller according to our own schema: He went to the house of a sinner! He eats and drinks with tax collectors, with sinners!” (Lk 5, 30; 15, 2; 19, 7). If we listen well these is the secret murmuring of our heart. How to heal it? Saint Peter suggest this way: “Practice hospitality with one another, without murmuring” (I Pt 4, 9); only hospitality, that is acceptance can, little by little, change our heart and open it to be receptive, capable of bearing within it persons, situations, the reality which we find in life. “Accept one another” says Scripture. And it is precisely like that: we have to learn to accept, above all, the Lord Jesus, as He is, with his way of loving and of remaining, of speaking with us and of changing us, of waiting for us and of attracting us. To accept him is to accept the one who is at our side, who comes to meet us; it is only this movement which can overcome the harshness of murmuring. Murmuring is born from jealousy, from envy, from our evil eye, as the Master of the vineyard says, Jesus himself. He knows how to keep us inside, he knows how to penetrate our look and reach our heart, in the spirit. He knows how we are, he knows us, loves us; And it is out of love that He brings out of us the evil within, takes off the veil from our evil eye, he helps us to become aware or conscious of how we are, of that which is within us. At the moment when he says: “Perhaps your eye is evil?” as he is doing today in this Gospel, He heals us, he takes the balm and spreads it, takes the clay made with his saliva and puts it on our eyes, to the very depth. The Vulgate, other translations and a good many Greek codices add: For many are called, but few are chosen (cf. Matthew 22:14). FINAL PRAYERS: Thank you, Oh Father, for having revealed to me your Son and for having made me enter in his inheritance, in his vineyard. You have rendered me a branch, have rendered me a grape: now I only need to remain in Him, in you and allow myself to be taken as good fruit, ripe, to be placed in the press. Yes, Lord, I know it: this is the way, I am not afraid, because you are with me. I know that the only way to happiness is the gift of self to you, the gift to the brothers. That I may be a branch, that I may be good grapes, to be squeezed, as you wish! Amen. Make us worthy, Lord, to serve persons throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love give them peace and joy. Amen. -- Mother Teresa of Calcutta It is by God’s mercy that we are saved. May we never tire of spreading this joyful message to the world. -- Pope Francis Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. -- St. Jerome The Father uttered one Word; that Word is His Son, and He utters Him forever in everlasting silence; and in silence the soul has to hear it. -- St. John of the Cross
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 00:03:58 +0000
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