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Message of the Day
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Nothing is too great and nothing is too small to commit into the hands of the Lord.
- A. W. Pink (1886-1952) (Begin with yourself and your life, and continue.)
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Readings of the Day
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Ez 34:1-11; Ps 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6 Mt 20:1-16 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." USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“You go to the vineyard too.” —Matthew 20:7
When we go out to work for the Lord, Jesus doesn’t promise us a place to lay our heads (Lk 9:58). Working in the
vineyard for Jesus isn’t the place to be focused on what’s in it for us. The Lord knows our hearts. He knows how easy it is for us to be distracted by our self-interests. Before Jesus started His public ministry, He was confronted with the temptations of the devil to focus on how He could profit from His ministry (Mt 4:3-9). Satan tried to entice Jesus to take His eyes off His Father and put them on Himself. Jesus triumphed over these temptations by fixing His eyes completely on His Father’s
will (Mt 4:10).
Let’s spend our day and our lives preoccupied with making a return to the Lord for all the good He has done for us (Ps 116:12). In focusing on giving all to Jesus, we paradoxically increase our own reward; this is because God cannot be out-given, for He is exceedingly generous (see Mt 19:29; Heb 6:10; Mt 10:41-42). However, once we entertain the thought of giving more to God so that we will receive more, we begin a downward
spiral in which we focus increasingly on ourselves and lose focus on the Lord and His beloved flock. The Lord calls us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His way of service (Mt 6:33), and leave the rest in His loving hands (Mt 6:34). We are to focus on giving the Master a fruitful harvest and increasing His joy (Mt 25:21). Don’t think, “What’s in it for me?” Beg the Father for the grace to instead think, “What’s in it for
Jesus?” Prayer: Father, may I decrease so that Jesus may increase (Jn 3:30). Promise: “For thus says the Lord God: I Myself will look after and tend My sheep.” —Ez 34:11 Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
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Readings from Jesus Alive in Our Lives, by Philip St. Romain. Ave Maria Press, 1985. Contemplative Ministries, Inc. 2011. Part Three, Gift of the Spirit Chapter : The Holy Spirit and Christian
Theology - Selected quotes
What, then, of the Spirit?
As these Jewish Christians reflected on their experiences in the light of their Hebrew scriptures, they undoubtedly made a connection between the passage in Jer. 31 cited above and
the coming of the Spirit. It was the Spirit, they saw, who gave one this inner knowledge, wisdom, and power. They read what we now call Isaiah 11 in a new light as well, I’m sure, recognizing that the transformative gifts mentioned there in connection with the Messiah were happening in them as well. Then there was the prophet Joel, whose writings about the new age to come included the following: I will pour out my spirit on all
mankind.
Your sons and daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall dream dreams,
And your young men see visions.
Even on the slaves, men and women,
Will I pour out my spirit in those days.
(Joel 3:
1-2) This passage is cited in Peter’s address to the crowd shortly after the initial outpouring of the Spirit, and the community continued to see its realization in their midst thereafter.
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