Book of Isaiah 55,6-9. Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts; Let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.
Psalms 145(144),2-3.8-9.17-18. Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD and highly to be praised; His greatness is unsearchable.
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.
The LORD is just in all his ways and holy in all his works. The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.
Letter to the Philippians 1,20c-24.27a. Brothers and sisters: Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, (for) that is far better. Yet that I remain (in) the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 20,1-16a.
Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. (And) he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.' When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? (Or) am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Today’s passage from the Gospel (cf. Mt 20:1-16) recounts the parable of the labourers called to put in a day’s work by the owner of the vineyard. Through this narrative, Jesus shows us the surprising way God acts, represented by two of the owner’s attitudes: the call and the recompense.
First of all, the call. Five times the owner of the vineyard goes out and calls people to work for him: at six, at nine, at twelve, at three and at five in the afternoon. The image of this owner, who goes out numerous times to look for day labourers for his vineyard, is touching. That owner represents God who calls everyone and calls always, at any hour. Even today, God acts this way: he continues to call anyone, at whatever hour, to invite them to work in his Kingdom. This is God’s way, which, in our turn, we are called to receive and to imitate. He does not stay shut in within his world, but “goes out”: God always goes out, in search of us; he is not closed up — God goes out. He continually seeks out people, because he does not want anyone to be excluded from his loving plan.
Our communities are also called to go out to the various types of “boundaries” that there might be, to offer everyone the word of salvation that Jesus came to bring. It means being open to horizons in life that offer hope to those stationed on the existential peripheries, who have not yet experienced, or have lost, the strength and the light that comes with meeting Christ. The Church needs to be like God: always going out; and when the Church does not go out, she becomes sick with the many evils we have in the Church. And why are these illnesses in the Church? Because she does not go out. It is true that when someone goes out there is the danger of getting into an accident. But better a Church that gets into accidents because she goes out to proclaim the Gospel, than a Church that is sick because she stays in. God always goes out because he is a Father, because he loves. The Church must do the same: always go out.
The owner’s second attitude, representing God’s, is his way of compensating the workers. How does God pay? The owner agrees to “one denarius” (v. 2) with the first workers he hired in the morning. Instead, to those he hired later, he says: “Whatever is right I will give you” (v. 4). At the end of the day, the owner of the vineyard orders that everyone be given the same pay, that is, one denarius. Those who had worked since morning are outraged and complain against the owner, but he insists: he wants to give the maximum pay to everyone, even to those who arrived last (vv. 8-15). God always pays the maximum amount: he does not pay halfway. He pays everything. Here we understand that Jesus is not speaking about work and fair wages — that is another problem — but about the Kingdom of God and the goodness of the heavenly Father who goes out continually to invite, and he pays everyone the maximum amount.
--> In fact, God behaves like this: he does not look at the time and at the results, but at the availability; he looks at the generosity with which we put ourselves at his service. His way of acting is more than just, in the sense that it goes beyond justice and is manifested in Grace. Everything is Grace. Our salvation is Grace. Our holiness is Grace. In giving us Grace, he bestows on us more than what we merit. And so, those who reason using human logic, that is, the logic of the merits acquired through one’s own greatness, from being first, find themselves last. “But, I have worked a lot, I have done so much in the Church, I have helped a lot and they pay me the same as this person who arrived last…”. Let us remember who was the first canonized saint in the Church: the Good Thief. He “stole” Paradise at the last minute of his life: this is Grace. This is what God is like, even with us. Instead, those who seek thinking of their own merits fail; those who humbly entrust themselves to the Father’s mercy, rather than being last — like the Good Thief — find themselves first (cf. v. 16).
May Mary Most Holy help us to feel every day the joy and wonder of being called by God to work for him, in his field which is the world, in his vineyard which is the Church. And to have as our only recompense his love, friendship with Jesus.
FAUSTI - "Your eye is bad, why am I Good?" He asks those who would like to be first, He who gives attention to the last. The first are last and the last first also in spiritual goods. One who leaves everything to work in the vineyard, like Peter and companions, receives a great recompense, as already said (19,27-29). This parable shows us that it is a gift of grace granted to all, beginning with the last ones. The Lord, the One who is Good, does to perfection what He says to the rich young man: He gives everything that is His to the poor. The vineyard is the people, called to bear the fruits of the Kingdom, which are the love of God and neighbor. The Lord goes out constantly, at all hours, to call us and call us back. Our entire day - the history of each and every one of us - is only a constant call to bear fruit. This parable destroys at its root the logic of possession and claim: no one can claim credits for what is a pure gift of grace. The first called, both in Israel and in the Church, are like Jonah: they are gloomy to see that God is "merciful, clement, patient and of great love" (Gen 4:2). They are attached to their spiritual goods, like the rich young man to material goods. They are like Paul, who glorified himself for his irreproachability in the righteousness of the law (Phil 3:3-6); they are like the elder brother, who is angry to see that the Father is good to his younger brother (Lk 15:28). This parable is a Gospel in nuce , similar to Luke 15,1... It is at contrast with the ethics of capitalism, whether material or spiritual. It is not against the law or justice - to the workers of the first hour it is given what is right - but it accentuates the grace. God's Law and justice are those of love and liberality; His retribution exceeds all merit: it is a reward, given by mercy to all. The first ones called to work in the vineyard are in danger of rejecting the Lord, because He is magnanimous towards the last ones. For all, Salvation is the gratuitous Love of the Father. One cannot kidnap it with cunning or conquer it with sweat: it is grace. The eternal life that the rich young man wants to have (19:16), can be obtained not by doing something more, but by leaving everything. One must leave not only material goods, but also spiritual goods. The Kingdom is of the poor in spirit (5:3), of the one who has become like a child and welcomes it as a gift of the Father to the sons in the Son. The privilege of the little ones and the last ones is that, not meriting it, they understand that it is a gift. The others - the rich ones in spirit - will welcome it only if, unlike the elder brother, they will accept the younger one, only if, unlike those who have worked since dawn, they are happy that their brothers of the last hour have their own salary as sons. The passage is divided into two parts: there are five different calls from dawn until one hour before sunset (v.1-7); at sunset there is the reward, starting from the last ones who receive the same compensation accorded with the first ones, who, of course, complain (v. 8-16). The fulcrum is the reproach to one of the workers of the first hour, who does not accept that the Lord treats those of the last hour like him. Jesus brings back on earth what was at the "beginning". The Father's way of acting, Who is benevolent with all His children, even with those who do not deserve it. The Church, if she seeks salvation from her own works, knows that she no longer has anything to do with Christ, she has decayed from grace (Gal 5:4). Christians, aware that they have been saved by grace (Eph 2:5), laying down bitterness, indignation, anger, clamor, slander and all forms of malice, be benevolent to each other. Let them grace one another as God has graced them in Christ (Eph 4:31).
With this parable, Jesus brings to the collective level what in Luke (15) was the different reaction to the father of two brothers, the younger and the elder, both far from accepting his love as a gift without conditions or measures. This is the analysis of our behavior: people devoted to praise, grateful for the Hourly Calling, or insipient people who do not accept God's gift in order to live in the logic of master/slave relationship and rivalry, with calculations on what is not ours but what we receive as sons? As Paul teaches, "We are no longer slaves but sons; if we are sons, we are also heirs by the will of God" (Gal. 4:9). "Knowing that man is not justified by the works of the Law (...and therefore not even by the time he has labored...!) but only by Faith in Jesus Christ...who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not cancel the Grace of God; for if justification comes from the Law, Christ died in vain" (Gal 2:20-21). God only awaits the gratitude of His children, of His beloved children, to whom He offers the call to live in His family, sooner or later, and the gift of sharing in the Life of His Son, Crucified for us and Risen, now and forever!
Book of Isaiah
RispondiElimina55,6-9.
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near.
Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts;
Let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so high are my ways above your ways
and my thoughts above your thoughts.
Psalms
145(144),2-3.8-9.17-18.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
His greatness is unsearchable.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
Letter to the Philippians
1,20c-24.27a.
Brothers and sisters: Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.
If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose.
I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, (for) that is far better.
Yet that I remain (in) the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.
Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
according to Saint Matthew 20,1-16a.
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.'
So they went off. (And) he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o'clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?'
They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.'
When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner,
saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.'
He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
(Or) am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?'
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."
POPE FRANCIS ANGELUS 20 September 2020
EliminaDear Brothers and Sisters,
Good morning!
Today’s passage from the Gospel (cf. Mt 20:1-16) recounts the parable of the labourers called to put in a day’s work by the owner of the vineyard. Through this narrative, Jesus shows us the surprising way God acts, represented by two of the owner’s attitudes: the call and the recompense.
First of all, the call. Five times the owner of the vineyard goes out and calls people to work for him: at six, at nine, at twelve, at three and at five in the afternoon. The image of this owner, who goes out numerous times to look for day labourers for his vineyard, is touching. That owner represents God who calls everyone and calls always, at any hour. Even today, God acts this way: he continues to call anyone, at whatever hour, to invite them to work in his Kingdom. This is God’s way, which, in our turn, we are called to receive and to imitate. He does not stay shut in within his world, but “goes out”: God always goes out, in search of us; he is not closed up — God goes out. He continually seeks out people, because he does not want anyone to be excluded from his loving plan.
Our communities are also called to go out to the various types of “boundaries” that there might be, to offer everyone the word of salvation that Jesus came to bring. It means being open to horizons in life that offer hope to those stationed on the existential peripheries, who have not yet experienced, or have lost, the strength and the light that comes with meeting Christ. The Church needs to be like God: always going out; and when the Church does not go out, she becomes sick with the many evils we have in the Church. And why are these illnesses in the Church? Because she does not go out. It is true that when someone goes out there is the danger of getting into an accident. But better a Church that gets into accidents because she goes out to proclaim the Gospel, than a Church that is sick because she stays in. God always goes out because he is a Father, because he loves. The Church must do the same: always go out.
The owner’s second attitude, representing God’s, is his way of compensating the workers. How does God pay? The owner agrees to “one denarius” (v. 2) with the first workers he hired in the morning. Instead, to those he hired later, he says: “Whatever is right I will give you” (v. 4). At the end of the day, the owner of the vineyard orders that everyone be given the same pay, that is, one denarius. Those who had worked since morning are outraged and complain against the owner, but he insists: he wants to give the maximum pay to everyone, even to those who arrived last (vv. 8-15). God always pays the maximum amount: he does not pay halfway. He pays everything. Here we understand that Jesus is not speaking about work and fair wages — that is another problem — but about the Kingdom of God and the goodness of the heavenly Father who goes out continually to invite, and he pays everyone the maximum amount.
--> In fact, God behaves like this: he does not look at the time and at the results, but at the availability; he looks at the generosity with which we put ourselves at his service. His way of acting is more than just, in the sense that it goes beyond justice and is manifested in Grace. Everything is Grace. Our salvation is Grace. Our holiness is Grace. In giving us Grace, he bestows on us more than what we merit. And so, those who reason using human logic, that is, the logic of the merits acquired through one’s own greatness, from being first, find themselves last. “But, I have worked a lot, I have done so much in the Church, I have helped a lot and they pay me the same as this person who arrived last…”. Let us remember who was the first canonized saint in the Church: the Good Thief. He “stole” Paradise at the last minute of his life: this is Grace. This is what God is like, even with us. Instead, those who seek thinking of their own merits fail; those who humbly entrust themselves to the Father’s mercy, rather than being last — like the Good Thief — find themselves first (cf. v. 16).
EliminaMay Mary Most Holy help us to feel every day the joy and wonder of being called by God to work for him, in his field which is the world, in his vineyard which is the Church. And to have as our only recompense his love, friendship with Jesus.
FAUSTI - "Your eye is bad, why am I Good?" He asks those who would like to be first, He who gives attention to the last. The first are last and the last first also in spiritual goods. One who leaves everything to work in the vineyard, like Peter and companions, receives a great recompense, as already said (19,27-29).
RispondiEliminaThis parable shows us that it is a gift of grace granted to all, beginning with the last ones. The Lord, the One who is Good, does to perfection what He says to the rich young man: He gives everything that is His to the poor. The vineyard is the people, called to bear the fruits of the Kingdom, which are the love of God and neighbor.
The Lord goes out constantly, at all hours, to call us and call us back. Our entire day - the history of each and every one of us - is only a constant call to bear fruit.
This parable destroys at its root the logic of possession and claim: no one can claim credits for what is a pure gift of grace.
The first called, both in Israel and in the Church, are like Jonah: they are gloomy to see that God is "merciful, clement, patient and of great love" (Gen 4:2).
They are attached to their spiritual goods, like the rich young man to material goods. They are like Paul, who glorified himself for his irreproachability in the righteousness of the law (Phil 3:3-6); they are like the elder brother, who is angry to see that the Father is good to his younger brother (Lk 15:28).
This parable is a Gospel in nuce , similar to Luke 15,1... It is at contrast with the ethics of capitalism, whether material or spiritual.
It is not against the law or justice - to the workers of the first hour it is given what is right - but it accentuates the grace. God's Law and justice are those of love and liberality; His retribution exceeds all merit: it is a reward, given by mercy to all.
The first ones called to work in the vineyard are in danger of rejecting the Lord, because He is magnanimous towards the last ones. For all, Salvation is the gratuitous Love of the Father.
One cannot kidnap it with cunning or conquer it with sweat: it is grace.
The eternal life that the rich young man wants to have (19:16), can be obtained not by doing something more, but by leaving everything. One must leave not only material goods, but also spiritual goods.
The Kingdom is of the poor in spirit (5:3), of the one who has become like a child and welcomes it as a gift of the Father to the sons in the Son. The privilege of the little ones and the last ones is that, not meriting it, they understand that it is a gift.
The others - the rich ones in spirit - will welcome it only if, unlike the elder brother, they will accept the younger one, only if, unlike those who have worked since dawn, they are happy that their brothers of the last hour have their own salary as sons.
The passage is divided into two parts: there are five different calls from dawn until one hour before sunset (v.1-7); at sunset there is the reward, starting from the last ones who receive the same compensation accorded with the first ones, who, of course, complain (v. 8-16).
The fulcrum is the reproach to one of the workers of the first hour, who does not accept that the Lord treats those of the last hour like him.
Jesus brings back on earth what was at the "beginning". The Father's way of acting, Who is benevolent with all His children, even with those who do not deserve it.
The Church, if she seeks salvation from her own works, knows that she no longer has anything to do with Christ, she has decayed from grace (Gal 5:4).
Christians, aware that they have been saved by grace (Eph 2:5), laying down bitterness, indignation, anger, clamor, slander and all forms of malice, be benevolent to each other. Let them grace one another as God has graced them in Christ (Eph 4:31).
With this parable, Jesus brings to the collective level what in Luke (15) was the different reaction to the father of two brothers, the younger and the elder, both far from accepting his love as a gift without conditions or measures. This is the analysis of our behavior: people devoted to praise, grateful for the Hourly Calling, or insipient people who do not accept God's gift in order to live in the logic of master/slave relationship and rivalry, with calculations on what is not ours but what we receive as sons?
RispondiEliminaAs Paul teaches, "We are no longer slaves but sons; if we are sons, we are also heirs by the will of God" (Gal. 4:9).
"Knowing that man is not justified by the works of the Law (...and therefore not even by the time he has labored...!) but only by Faith in Jesus Christ...who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not cancel the Grace of God; for if justification comes from the Law, Christ died in vain" (Gal 2:20-21).
God only awaits the gratitude of His children, of His beloved children, to whom He offers the call to live in His family, sooner or later, and the gift of sharing in the Life of His Son, Crucified for us and Risen, now and forever!