Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 133

Reading 1

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 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.
 

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18

R. (18a) The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
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.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
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.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
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.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
 

Reading 2

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.
 

Alleluia

Cf. Acts 16:14b

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Open our hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
 

Gospel

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,
the landowner 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,
the landowner 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."

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 

We learn through Sacred Scripture that God is constantly calling us to repentance and redemption. This goes for everyone, all those who live and have lived. There is also a warning within the words,

 

“Call Him while He is near.”  

 

Regarding presence, God is everywhere and permeates throughout His creation. The question of nearness comes about because of the state we could find ourselves in. In fact, the following question could be a very good one to initiate a spiritual reflection of sorts on the status of our relationship with Him:

 

“How near are we to God.”

 

The nearness is not one that God always chooses. We are infused with a soul, a spark of divinity, which indicates that we are created in His image and are His children. It is by our own actionsand where we choose to focus our attention that indicates the nearness of God. There might be times where God withdraws His presence for us, but these times are for a specific purpose, including spiritual growth and an enrichment of our faith. Beyond that, we have full control of our relationship with Him.

 

A good question to ask is,

 

“How is your relationship with your personal Jesus?’

 

Personal Jesus sounds just exactly what it is. With our personal Jesus, the one we pray to and listen to, we can call out to Him, when He is near and we are in right relationship with Him. We do not have to go anywhere. Our personal Jesus will respond if we are seeking Him, giving us what we need and want, It is guaranteed that, when we call to Him, there will be a response. This response might come in different forms, so we then must recognize the form it is coming to us in, then we have to react to it. Many will ask how do we recognize something that is so broad-based and general? This is where a reliance on Jesus and the receiving of the Holy Spirit comes into play, along with an opportunity to pray in our room; unlicking a flow of love and support that eventually leads to a massive spiritual experience..

 

A relationship with our personal Jesus puts all of us on a level playing field. No one is better than the other and, as Christians, we are pursuing the same things. We constantly have one leg in this world (God’s Creation,) and one that is rooted in the spiritual realm with God. Seeing this, it can be argued that each will affect each other in a particular way through two interactions: one with Jesus, and the other with everyone else. We have the capably of being  the closest of friends to both Jesus and everyone else we come into contact with. It is our approach that matters and the willingness to have Jesus dictate the terms of our conduct. When others witness our surrendering to the will of God, it will have a profound effect on them and , God willing very soon, have an effect on us.

To all those who make it a point to embrace God and  humble themselves in this world, will bear much fruit and have their hearts lifted. We cannot do the right thing, pray, and do things in the name of God without experiencing the positive influence it will have on us. Acknowledging these things, and striving forward to find God will always put ourselves in a better place. Everything, I mean everything, gets better when God is factored into the equation.

 

It doesn’t matter when we come to God. It doesn’t matter when we hear His voice It only matters that we do. Our suffering and pain, usually self-inflicted, will be lifted and a new life will be revealed to us. A new life with our God. A new life with Jesus.

 

Deacon Tom

 

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 130

Reading 1

Sirach 27:30—28:7

Wrath and anger are hateful things,
yet the sinner hugs them tight.
The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance,
for he remembers their sins in detail.
Forgive your neighbor’s injustice;
then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.
Could anyone nourish anger against another
and expect healing from the LORD?
Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself,
can he seek pardon for his own sins?
If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath,
who will forgive his sins?
Remember your last days, set enmity aside;
remember death and decay, and cease from sin!
Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor;
remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

R. (8) The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

Reading 2

Romans 14:7-9

Brothers and sisters:
None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.
For if we live, we live for the Lord,
and if we die, we die for the Lord;
so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
For this is why Christ died and came to life,
that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Alleluia

John 13:34

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment, says the Lord:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Matthew 18:21-35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive?
As many as seven times?” 
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. 
That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants. 
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. 
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt. 
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan. 
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount. 
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused. 
Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison
until he paid back the debt. 
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair. 
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! 
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt. 
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

 

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 

We as Christians know that nothing evil comes from God. These things have their origins in this world from us and are a product of Original Sin. We opened the gate and allowed these things, and they now pollute this world and are the biggest obstacle to us and a relationship with God. Taking a step back from God’s creation and looking at ourselves for a moment, the same can be stated regarding us: our conflicts and the disordered things that preoccupy us are a product of ourselves; our thoughts and our actions. If we took a piece of paper and wrote two headings at the very top of it, POSITIVE EMOTIONS and NEGATIVE EMOTIONS, then listed all of our emotions under the two catagories, we can then define the origin of these very easily: The positive ones originate from God and the negative ones originate from inside of ourselves. Just as no evil comes from God, nothing bad or negative comes from Him either. We are the originators of evil through of our decision to utilize our free will to become gods ourselves. Created in His image, we as human beings have a propensity to acts like gods ourselves, trying to be masters of our own destiny while ignoring the true creator: God himself. The Letter of James says,

 

“all good giving and every perfect gift* is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change. He willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

 

 If every Perfect gift comes from the Father, then God must be perfect in order to bequeath a perfect spiritual gift on someone. Something perfect can only come from something else that is perfect. Psalm 136 tells us,

 

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever."

 

God, being good, and we being His children thus mandate us to give Him praise and worship in reaction to His presence and the way He brough this entire universe into existence. This aligns us, who constantly battle between good and evil, to that which is right, true and is representative of the perfect which is God Himself.

 

Being created and brought into this world, our starting point was the perfect good because we are created in His image. It is then, through our life that we have slowly become corrupted and overwhelmed by this world and its stain of sin. The struggle between the spirit and the flesh is alive and well. The Apostle Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans:

 

“If you live according to the flesh, you will die.”

 

The statement is explicit and leaves no doubt. There is redemption through Jesus Christ, but we must follow that which has its origins in the spirit, which is God. Jesus Christ suffered and died for us so that we receive eternal life. This sacrifice was not earned but freely given to us through His Divine Mercy and the wantonness of the Father to enter into a relationship with us; loving us first and wanting to be loved by us who are His children.

 

Jesus dying for us, forgiving our sins, and offering us eternal life provides us a model of how to conduct ourselves in the world. This Christian Conduct will separate us from the actions and behaviors of others, serving as a model of behavior which will let our faith shine through and serve as an example for others to follow. Forgiveness and acceptance is part of our spiritual foundation and is necessary to live a life the way God intended and the way God expects us to as Christians. The Book of Sirach addresses this in the First Reading today:

 

“Forgive your neighbor’s injustice;
then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.
Could anyone nourish anger against another
and expect healing from the LORD?”

 

Anger is one of the negative emotions that have its origin in us, rather than God. Keeping that emotion and refusing to forgive someone else yet expecting God to forgive our sins is hypocritical. It is also an action that can be considered a sin. Jesus gives a warning to those who expect mercy while refusing to give mercy to others:

 

“I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?”

 

Withholding forgiveness and instead displaying anger is something that separates us from God and also can bring about His condemnation. The Crucifixtion teaches us that we should be ready to sacrifice ourselves selflessly in the service of Jesus Christ and that we must forgive the transgressions of others who have aggrieved us in some way or another. This is an example of Jesus’ Divine Mercy which pours into God’s creation constantly. We are included in that creation; thus we are receivers of that mercy. As a result, we must be conduits of that same  mercy, paying it forward at all times.

 

Not only do we have to forgive our brothers, but we must do it from the heart. This requires a lot of work from individuals such as us who just might do some things begrudgingly because we have to instead of doing it because we want to. True forgiveness must come inside of ourselves. If we cannot do this, then the problem lies somewhere within ourselves and our relationship with God. This is a sin and must also be addressed in the proper context.

 

If God is the perfect good, then we as Christian must strive to be a part of that perfect good. We cannot embrace things of this world or even thoughts of this world, while claiming to love God. Loving God means we are trying not to enact all those emotions from the NEGATIVE EMOTIONS side of our list. We try to stay on the positive side while seeking the Lord. There is no way of finding Him on the dark side of the list. God is the true light that overcomes the darkness. We can, if we want to, let that light shine through us and affect everyone we interact with, especially ourselves.

 

Deacon Tom