Sunday Meditation: The Confrontation Parable

In the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time of Year A, Jesus comes to what amounts to a final confrontation with the temple elders.  He has entered Jerusalem as a messiah, He has taught as a prophet, He has violently cleansed the Temple with one of authority, He has made claims of hypocrisy against the elders, He has told them a parable of their disobedience, and now He will tell them a parable of their wickedness and God’s condemnation.  This will be the final straw for the religious hierarchy. 

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants is not opaque.  The reference to Isaiah would have been widely known, especially to religious authorities.  The allegorical identifications are obvious.  The vineyard stands for Israel, the tenants in the parable stand for the religious leaders, the servants who are sent before the son are the ancient prophets, and the son who will be killed is the Son of God.  The parable becomes a clear indictment of the religious leaders.  Three years ago I embedded Dr. Brant Pitre’s explanation of the parable and it’s still worth going back to. 

Above I referred to this as Jesus’s final confrontation with the religious leaders, but perhaps the best characterization would be as “a decisive confrontation.  When asked by Jesus what the owner of the vineyard will do, one (or several) of the religious leaders heedlessly says the owner will put the tenants “to a wretched death.”  At that point Jesus has raised the stakes to an existential level, and the only way for the elders to win would be to put Jesus to death.  Or so they think.  Jesus concludes His exchange with “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you.”  Though it’s not in today’s lectionary passage, Matthew includes this coda to this section:

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them.  And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet (45-46). 

That is the exegesis of this Gospel reading.  I’ve noticed in my survey of homilies on this passage, the homilists may explain the rudiments of the exegesis, but the better homilies will tend toward the pastoral application for the congregation.  Are you like the religious leaders not bearing fruit?  Will you be put to a wretched end after your time has run out?

 

 

Today’s Gospel:

 

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:

"Hear another parable.

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,

put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.

Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.

When vintage time drew near,

he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.

But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,

another they killed, and a third they stoned.

Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,

but they treated them in the same way.

Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking,

'They will respect my son.'

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,

'This is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.'

They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?"

They answered him,

"He will put those wretched men to a wretched death

and lease his vineyard to other tenants

who will give him the produce at the proper times."

Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

by the Lord has this been done,

and it is wonderful in our eyes?

Therefore, I say to you,

the kingdom of God will be taken away from you

and given to a people that will produce its fruit."

~Mt: 21:33-43

 

 

Dr. Matthew Patrick Barber, a Catholic theologian with the Augustine Institute who I have heard speak elsewhere but only now discovered has a YouTube channel, finds a theological wrinkle that I did not hear elsewhere.

 

Dr. Barber:

And let's talk about the end of the parable. We read, "The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit." Now, this has often been read in terms of what is called replacement theology, and that is the idea that God is rejecting the Jewish people and now replacing Israel with a gentile church.  There are lots of problems with that reading. For one thing, it imagines that the early believers in Jesus, the early followers of Jesus, stopped seeing themselves as Israelites, as Jewish.  That's incorrect. When you read the New Testament, you see Paul, for example, is emphatic on this point. And in the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus speaks of how the disciples will be punished in the synagogues. This is really important. For example, in Matthew 23, Jesus is condemning Pharisees for various things. And he says that he will send prophets and wise men and scribes. And says, "And some of them you will flog in your synagogues." That's Matthew 23:34.  Now, some will seize on the language there of their synagogues as evidence that the readers of the Gospel of Matthew no longer see themselves as Jewish. These approaches take their synagogues to imply the Jewish synagogues, right?

 

So what does it mean then when Jesus says the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to others? Who is the you Jesus is speaking to there? Well, it's important. Matthew makes it clear at the end of the scene, the end of the

Chapter 4: Leadership replacement story. Jesus tells the parable. We read, "Now the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this parable and they knew that he was speaking about them." So the point is not that the kingdom is being taken away from the Jews in general and given to non-Jewish people. The point is that the leaders are being replaced and they know the story is being told about them.  So the question is who are the new leaders? And I think it's clear the new leaders are the apostles. This is already suggested by a close reading of the gospel Matthew and other places. In Matthew 19 Jesus says that the 12 the 12 apostles will sit on 12 thrones and judge the 12 tribes. They are the eschatological judges, the eschatological leaders of Israel. Moreover, there are some fascinating parallels. I don't have time to get into all of this, but in Matthew 16, Jesus is talking to Peter and in Matthew 23, Jesus condemns the the Pharisees. There's some interesting connections here. Jesus gives to Peter the keys of the kingdom.  In Matthew 16, and Matthew 23, we read that the Pharisees literally key shut the kingdom. They lock people out of the kingdom. In Matthew uh 16, Jesus gives to Peter the authority to bind and loose. And in Matthew 23, the Pharisees bind heavy burdens. So there's a parallel there between Matthew 16, Matthew 23, I think the larger point is that the kingdom is being taken away from these leaders and given to new leaders that Jesus has appointed.

I have to admit, I was under the impression it was replacement theology.  That is brilliant. 

 

For the pastoral homily I’m going to turn to a Franciscan given that today happens to also be the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on the 800^th anniversary of his passing.  Let’s turn to Fr. Jonathon St. André, TOR of Franciscan University, who combines this homily with St. Francis.

 

Fr. Jonathon:

So I think I hit the jackpot today. I get to share reflection with you not only on the 27th Sunday in ordinary time but also on October 4th which is the feast of our holy father St. Francis of Assisi in the Jubilee year of St. Francis.  Last night in many places throughout the world was celebrated the transitus a beautiful prayer service where we commemorate Francis's death and passing into eternal life. And this is not just a celebration for Franciscan friars or sisters, but it's for everyone for the gift of St. Francis to the church and the gift of the gospel. And the gospel today for the 27th Sunday in ordinary time is the parable of the landowner.  And we hear about this land owner and he has builds a vineyard, puts a hedge around it, uh builds a well within it, then goes away on a journey and as it says he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.  Then he sends his servants as we know in the parable to come back and to reclaim the produce from the tenants. And of course the story goes that the tenants reject the servants who come and reject the overtures of the master to claim what is rightly his own.  There's a lot of ways we could go into this parable, but one of them that really strikes me today is to recognize that we are tenants of the Lord's vineyard. That we everything we have been given is from the Lord. Our bodies, our minds, our souls, it is all his. It belongs to him. In fact, St. Francis himself would say, "You only possess one thing, your sins.  That's the only thing that's our own.  Everything else is God's." And so, it makes sense that everything we do in our life would return, give an abundant return to the Lord…

 

Interestingly one of the main themes of the life of St. Francis was living penance. And we hear that word penance and sometimes we can think of that as what we say or do after our confession or we can think of it as a penitential practice in our life or what the attitude we should have during Lent and all those are true but a deeper fuller scriptural sense of penance means a love of God and a love of neighbor. It means an openness to conversion from our sins. It means a closeness to the Eucharist. And interestingly St. Francis says penance is about producing fruits.  So it matches the parable here. What are the fruits? The fruits of the Holy Spirit. The fruits of the Holy Spirit should be visible in our life. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control.  That people should see that we are living our lives in such a way that the kingdom of God is bearing fruit in us, that we the tenants of the vineyard are helping and cultivating the vines so that the new wine of the Holy Spirit is pouring out of us is pouring out upon people is pouring out upon the church.  So on this feast of St. Francis of Assisi. And at this occasion when we hear the parable of the landowner and in this time when we're called to recognize how am I a good tenant of what the Lord has given me in my life, we should ask ourself, how am I showing forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit?

 

That is excellent.  I hope to have a blog post during the week on the 800^th anniversary of St. Francis’ passing into new life.

 

 

Sunday Meditation: “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit."

 

 

For the hymn, how could we not have the “Prayer of St. Francis”?

 

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love

Where there is injury, Your pardon Lord

And where there's doubt, true faith in You

 

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there's despair in life, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, only light

And where there's sadness, ever joy

 

Oh Master, grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul

 

Make me a channel of Your peace

It is pardoning that we are pardoned

In giving to all men that we receive

And in dying that we're born to eternal life

 

And in dying we are born to eternal life

Eternal life

 

I love this hymn, and St. Francis of Assisi is one of the greatest saints ever. 

 

Devotional: Litany to the Holy Archangels

Today is the Feast of the Archangels.  We know of three archangels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael.  We know of these three because they are mentioned in holy scripture but there is no reason known why there are not more. 

We know St. Michael as a warrior against demons, evil spirits, and Satan himself.  We know of St. Gabriel the messenger who announced to the Blessed Virgin the bearing of the incarnation.  St. Raphael we know as the angel of healing in the Book of Tobit.  There are others mentioned in non-canonical books, but the Catholic Church does not recognize them.  If you want to know more about the three recognized archangels, Church Pop has a guide.

I came across this wonderful Litany to the Holy Archangels today as I was reading up on them.  I had never seen this prayer and thought I would share it.  It has prayer lines to each of the three and concludes with a specific prayer to each.

 

St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, pray for us.

 

 

LITANY TO THE HOLY ARCHANGELS,
ST. MICHAEL, ST. GABRIEL & ST. RAPHAEL.

Lord, have mercy on us!      Christ, have mercy on us!

Lord, have mercy on us! Christ, hear us!               Christ, graciously hear us!

God, the Father of Heaven, Creator of every spirit, have mercy on us!

God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, on whom the angels desire to gaze, have mercy on us!

God, the Holy Spirit, felicity of the blessed spirits, have mercy on us!

Holy Trinity, one God, glory of the holy angels, have mercy on us!

Holy Mary, Queen of the heavenly spirits, pray for us!

St Michael, prince of the celestial host, pray for us!

Chief of the angels of peace, pray for us!

Most strong in combat, pray for us!

Conqueror of the ancient serpent, pray for us!

Defender at all times of the people of God, pray for us!

Who did expel Lucifer and his confederates from Heaven, pray for us!

Who receives souls at their departure, and conducts them to Paradise, pray for us!

Solace of the faithful, pray for us!

Protector of those who are devout to you, pray for us!

St Gabriel, who revealed to Daniel divine secrets, pray for us!

Who declared the birth and ministry of St John the Baptist, pray for us!

Who announced the Incarnation of the Word, pray for us!

Guardian of the Holy Virgin, pray for us!

Attendant of the infancy of the Saviour, pray for us!

Who consoled Christ in his last agony, pray for us!

Faithful minister of Christ, pray for us!

St Raphael, angel of health, pray for us!

St Raphael, one of the seven spirits who stand before the Throne, pray for us!

Faithful conductor of Tobias, pray for us!

Who did compel the devil to flee, pray for us!

Offeror of our prayer before the Lord, pray for us!

Curer of blindness, pray for us!

Helper in tribulation, pray for us!

Consoler in necessities, pray for us!

Making joyful your devoted clients, pray for us!

Holy Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, pray for us!

Christ Jesus, beatitude of the angels, spare us!

Christ Jesus, glory of the heavenly spirits, hear us!

Christ Jesus, splendor of the celestial armies, have mercy on us!

TO ST. MICHAEL:

O God, who did render blessed Michael, your archangel,
victorious over the proud Lucifer and the wicked spirits,
we beseech you that combating under the Cross,
and ever adopting his maxim ‘Who is like God?’
we may be victorious over all our enemies,
and delivered from all impediments;
regulate our lives according to your will and commandments.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

TO ST. GABRIEL:

O God, the lover of the salvation of mankind,
who did commission blessed Gabriel,
assisting before Your throne,
to announce to the ever glorious Virgin,
the mystery of Your blessed Son’s becoming man,
we beseech You,
that recurring to his intercession,
we may be helped in all our wants,
spiritual and temporal.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.



TO ST. RAPHAEL:

O God, who in your ineffable goodness
has rendered blessed Raphael the conductor of your faithful in their journeys,
we humbly implore You that we may be conducted by him in the way of salvation,
and experience His help in the maladies of our souls.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

 

Sunday Meditation: A Change of Mind

In the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time of Year A, we have to understand that the lectionary has jumped.  Last Sunday Jesus was in journey toward Jerusalem.  Today we jump into Holy Week.  Because the preceding passages were provided at or around Palm Sunday—the entry into Jerusalem on donkey, the cursing of the fig tree, the cleansing of the Temple—we may find the context of today’s reading dislocated.  So, refresh yourself on the context.  Today’s reading locates Jesus on the Tuesday of Holy Week.

Given that Jesus has violently overturn the tables at the Temple, the elders confront Jesus and demand by what authority has he done this.  Here he brings up John the Baptist and whether the Jewish religious leaders had accepted John.  This is critical because Jesus cites John the Baptist again in today’s passage.

As a parable, the Parable of the Two Sons, as I said three years ago, is not difficult.  The first son, at first disobedient, repents and responds to what he was asked to.  The second son, openly agreeable but shamefully reprehensible, had no intention of doing what he promised.  Jesus makes clear—something he doesn’t always do in His other parables—that the first son stands for the sinners who listened to John the Baptist and the second the religious authorities who agreed but didn’t obey John the Baptist.

I also find it interesting that Jesus asks the elders for their opinion.  Jesus asks lots of questions throughout the Gospels, 339 by one count, but opinion type questions are not that common, and opinion on moral scenarios are even less so.  “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:15) may be asking for their opinion, but it’s not over ethics.  The question of which of the two sons was righteous echoes the question at the end of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, “Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” (Lk 10:36-37) with the slight difference that the one of the Good Samaritan was to instill a sense of repentance while the one of the two sons was to implicate sin.

 

 

 

Today’s Gospel:

 

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people:

"What is your opinion?

A man had two sons.

He came to the first and said,

'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'

He said in reply, 'I will not,'

but afterwards changed his mind and went.

The man came to the other son and gave the same order.

He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go.

Which of the two did his father's will?"

They answered, "The first."

Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you,

tax collectors and prostitutes

are entering the kingdom of God before you.

When John came to you in the way of righteousness,

you did not believe him;

but tax collectors and prostitutes did.

Yet even when you saw that,

you did not later change your minds and believe him."

~Mt: 21:28-32

 

 

Here is someone new to my embedded homilies, Dr. Nina Heereman.  This is not a homily but an exegesis since she is not at and cannot deliver from a pulpit, but still well explained.  She is a professor of Sacred Scripture at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California.  I quoted Dr. Heereman last Sunday, but this is the first time I’m providing a link.  Her explanations do run longer than most I embed but well worth listening to.

 

Dr. Heereman:

Here comes Jesus question. The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?  Was John's baptism something he did commissioned by God in the name of God or just on his own human account?  So they argued with one another and said, "If we say from heaven, she will say to us, then why did you not believe him?" This is the important point. If we say it was from heaven, he's going to say to us, "Why did you not believe him?" What would believing have meant? Believing John the Baptist would have meant believing what John was saying. Number one, repent. Receive the baptism of repentance and prepare yourself for the reception of the Messiah from believing in John would also follow recognizing the one that John announced which is Jesus… Had they believed in John the Baptist, had they had eyes to see, they would have already known in which authority Jesus was doing these things. Because if they   understood who John was, namely as the Lord  said earlier, Elijah, who is to come just before the Messiah, they would have understood Jesus' messianic pedigree, right? He's the son of David.  He's done all all through the gospel, we saw him working all these signs that hint to him being the promised son of David. And one of the foundational things that the son of David, the Messiah, was expected to do was precisely to cleanse the temple. So had they just observed him, they had enough indications that Jesus was the Messiah. But in refusing to listen to Baptist, they implicitly already rejected Jesus.

So Jesus has essentially told the elders by what authority, His divine authority.  Dr. Heereman continues.

 

Typical Jesus puts out the parable and then he lays out a trap for the high priests and they fall straight into it and by doing so they condemn themselves. They said the first, what's the first?  The first is the guy who first said to the father, "No, I don't care to work in the vineyard." But then he repented. Important word in the Gospel   of Matthew and he went. So the first son is very clearly an image for the sinner who doesn't care about God's commandments. Who doesn't even who doesn't care about serving God at all in his   life. But then the moment of repentance comes and he gives his life to serve the Lord. And so the so Jesus says to them truly amen which means what I'm going to say is as solid as a rock. You can build your life on this truth. I say to you the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. The before doesn't mean the tax collectors and the harlots precede the high priests.  It means they go and the high  priest don't because they are the second son who said yes sir but they didn't go be Jesus explains.  So why are the tax collectors entering heaven and they don't? Because John came to you to you high  priests everyone by the way of righteousness and you did not believe him. That's when they refused salvation. But the tax collectors and the harlots believed him and they converted and changed their lives and went to work in the vineyard. And even when you saw the tax collectors and the harlots repenting, you did not afterward repent and believe in him. The most powerful sign that John the Baptist was preaching and acting with divine authority was the fact that the most um that the worst sinners in the understanding of the first century, meaning the tax collectors, the one who collaborated with the Romans and the harlots, which were the epitome of sinful women in the  first century, those two heard the word of John the Baptist and converted.

John the Baptist is not just a throw in within this passage but critical to understanding it.  I bet not too many homilies pointed that out.

 

For the pastoral homily, I turn once again to Cardinal Blase Cupich.

 

Cardinal Cupich:

We have this parable of Jesus of the two sons and they differ not only in terms of how they ultimately respond to the father's demand to go into the vineyard.  But we also see that there are other aspects that differentiate them from each other.  The first and the oldest says no.  But the words of the father continue to ring in his ears moving him to change his mind.  It is that sense of continually listening to where God is calling us that is so important for a virtuous life.  We have a lot to learn I think from our Jewish brothers and sisters who pray what they call the Shemma here. O Israel Shemma Israel.  And it is listening to the voice of God that he alone is the Lord of all.  That regular kind of listening, allowing the voice of the Lord to be in our hearts is so important.  But it's also important for us to attend to the voices of people who have made a difference in our lives.  Especially parents, elders, teachers, coaches, people who have left us with a legacy of learning that shapes our lives.

It is so important to listen to the voice of God.  And how do we find the voice of God?  We read the Gospels.  St. Jerome famously said, “Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.”  Cardinal Cupich continues.

 

The second son also teaches us something for words don't seem to mean anything.  Not only does he listen, but his word means nothing as well. He says, "Yes, I'll go in." But doesn't and that of course is a very dangerous kind of life to have where the words of God, the words of others, the advice of others is just easily dismissed and we live in our own bubble.  You know, they tell us that the word sincere comes from two Latin words sin and cherus, without wax.  It referred to artists who carved marble statues and sometimes they made a mistake or maybe they didn't put in the work of shining the marble and so they would put wax over it either to cover the mistakes or to brighten up the statue.  But a person or who was an artist who did not use wax was sincere.  That I think also says a lot to us about sincerity in life. We are sincere not when we're waxing over things and polishing things just to make ourselves look good, but that we are true to our words.  Words make a difference. Keeping our word is something that defines our integrity.

 

Yes, like the parables of Jesus, we have much to learn from these two sons.  To listen to the voice of others and to count the importance of speaking words with sincerity.

A life of integrity is a life of sincerity.  Stay true to your word.

 

 

Sunday Meditation: “Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him."

 

 

For the hymn, let’s listen to, “Lord Accept The Gifts We Offer.”

 

1. Lord accept the gifts we offer;
   At this Eucharistic feast.
   Bread and wine to be transformed now
   Through the action of your priest (Priests)
   Take us too, O Lord, transform us
   By your grace in us increased.

 

2. May our souls be pure and spotless.
   As the host of wheat so fine,
   May all stain of sin be crushed out,
   Like the grape that forms the wine,
   As we, too, become partakers
   In this sacrifice divine.

 

3. Take our gifts, almighty Father
   Living God eternal true
   Which we give through Christ our Saviour
   Pleading here for us anew.
   Grant salvation to all present.
   And our faith and love renew.

 

Take us too, O Lord, transform us!

 

Faith Filled Friday: The Four Levels of Prayer

I am not speaking about the four types of prayer: adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving. 

I am speaking about the levels of prayer. 

1.      Vocal Prayer

2.      Affective Prayer

3.      Simple Union

4.      Close Intimate.

 

The terms have been called by different names.  These are the terms I wish to use.  Let’s understand them.  Some have more gradations of levels, but they all seem to reduce to these four.

Vocal prayer is somewhat misnamed.  Vocal prayer are formulated prayers that are fixed and shared.  The Our Father is a vocal prayer.  Vocal prayer has nothing to do with whether one articulates it through speech.  One can articulate it through speech or run it in one’s head silently. 

Affective prayer is a prayer one spontaneously says.  It is usually generated on the spot and is an expression of the heart, of the moment, and of one’s interior disposition.  It can be a complex set of paragraphs, fragments of speech, or disjointed thoughts. 

Simple union is a level of prayer that requires no articulation.  It is sort of living interaction with God without the need to say anything.  The prayer is the living out of life in a sort of dance with the other. 

Close intimate prayer is not just a dance with God but a living in union with God.  What you express is God’s expression and what God expresses comes through you.

Pope St. John Paul I, Albino Luciani, the Holy Father who was pope for only a month, oftentimes referred to as “the smiling pope,” created visual examples of all four levels of prayer.  These are great examples.  [By the way, I got this from an article, “ Combat For Contemplative Life: Return to the Sources” by Sister Gabriela of the Incarnation, O.C.D. at the Where Peter Is website.  She cites the source: Albino Luciani, Giovanni Paolo I, “Opera Omnia.” Vol IX, pp. 333-4, Edizioni messaggero padova, 1989.]

The Father is celebrating his name day: they have organized a little party at home. The moment arrives: he already knows what they have planned, and he says: ‘Now let’s see what they do for me!’ First comes the youngest of the children: they have taught him a poem that he has memorized. ‘Bravo!’ says the Father, ‘I’m so pleased, you’ve done yourself proud, thank you, my boy.’ He recited it from memory.

The little one leaves, and the second son steps forward; he is already in middle school and he disdains the thought of learning something by heart; he has prepared a polished little speech, his own stuff, out of his own thoughts. Maybe it’s short, for he gets bogged down in the oratory. ‘I would never have believed,’ says his father, ‘that you were so good at making speeches!” And his father is delighted: look at those beautiful thoughts! Then he also steps aside…it wasn’t a masterpiece, but still….

Third, the young lady, the daughter. She has simply prepared a bunch of red carnations. She says nothing. She doesn’t say a word in front of her Father, not a single word: but she’s moved, she blushes so much that it’s hard to say which are redder, she or the carnations. And her father says to her: ‘It’s easy to see that you love me, you are so rosy and so deeply moved’. But never a word. However he appreciates the flowers, especially because he sees her so moved and so full of affection.

Then there is the mother, his bride. She doesn’t give anything. She looks at her husband and he looks at her: just a glance. They know so many things. That look evokes a whole past, a whole lifetime. The good, the bad, the joys, the sorrows of the family. There is nothing else. These are the four types of prayer.

What is interesting is the progression.  There is a difference in relationship the further one goes with the four level, so that the littlest with vocal prayer is the less mature while the wife's simple glance is the most mature.

Of course that doesn’t mean that if one is at the full intimate level one doesn’t perform the other three.  The further along one is in one’s prayer life, one has all tools available for use.

Sunday Meditation: The Generosity of Grace

For the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time in Year A, Jesus gives another parable, that of the Workers in the Vinyard.  There is a lot to this parable.  The context goes back to last Sunday’s parable from Matthew’s chapter 18 where Jesus concludes the Community Discourse on the requirement to forgive.  Then we have chapter 19 where Jesus provides his discourse on divorce, the requirement to be as children, and the response to the rich young man on being perfect.  That is all skipped in the Sunday lectionary, which brings us today to chapter 20, a parable which illustrates God’s generosity of grace.  In some ways Jesus is continuing His Community Discourse in these two chapters.  The only shift I think from chapter 18 in these last two chapter is that Jesus shifts from requirements to counsels. 

As an allegory, the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard sets up the landowner as God, work in the vineyard as doing God’s work, and the day’s pay as a reward in salvation.  God extends His grace to all who do His work, whether for working all day or for just an hour.  I did not embed Fr. Geoffrey’s Plant’s homily on today’s Gospel, but I want to quote his conclusion:

 

The workers who were employed early in the morning trusted in what they had done. They had laboured for twelve long hours and assumed that God rewards people according to what they have earned. The longer they had worked, the greater they believed would be their reward. But Jesus overturns that expectation. The owner of the vineyard is not an accountant carefully calculating what each worker deserves. He is astonishingly generous. The workers hired at the eleventh hour have no achievements on which to rely. They have nothing to bring except their need. They can only trust in the goodness of the landowner. That is how God's grace works. Grace that can be earned is no longer grace. Grace that can be calculated is no longer grace. Grace that can be claimed as a matter of entitlement is no longer grace. God's grace is not a wage paid for work performed. It is a gift, freely given to those who are willing to receive it. Whether we labour in the vineyard for one hour or for twelve is not ultimately decisive.  God gives salvation as an unmerited gift. 

In some respects, this parable with the workers who worked all day as disgruntled with the owner’s generosity reminds me of the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke’s Gospel.  The workers who worked all day express the same sort of injustice as the older brother with the prodigal brother.  Both parables show God’s generosity as being primary over God’s justice.  It’s interesting to note that Matthew the tax collector provides a parable with money while Luke seems to focus more on family dynamics. 

Three years ago I embedded a homily on this passage from Bishop Barron who emphasized St. Catherine of Siena’s famous quote, “All the way to heaven is heaven” in explaining this passage. 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Gospel:

 

 

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."

~Mt: 20:1-16

 

 

 

Though not a homily, let’s turn to Dr. Brant Pitre for the exegesis.

 

Dr. Pitre:

So just a little bit of background here with the cultural setting that Matthew is imagining.  Here is a situation where you have a wealthy land owner in this case the owner of the vineyard who would hire out day laborers; that was very common in first century Judaism, so a day laborer was a person who would go out into the marketplace of some public place and wait around for the hopes that some wealthy landowner might come and hire them for a temporary job and basically the idea would be is that you'd be hired for one day you'd go out to the field or in this case to a vineyard during the harvest season and you'd work for a day's wage and then you'd be paid that day, so it was sort of a contract work you know just temporary work like a temp worker.

Dr. Nina Heereman, professor of Sacred Scripture at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California, in her explanation of this passage, makes the observation that Jesus and His earthly father Joseph could have been such day laborers waiting to be picked up for a day’s work.  I thought that a great observation.  Dr. Brant continues.

 

Around sunset time the owner of the vineyard says to call the laborers and give them their wages but start with the last and then go toward the first.  So I want you to feel the force of this difference.  Between the first and the last minute, guys who were working the fields is pretty grave when you really put it in context the men who were called last worked from 5 p.m. to 6 o'clock they worked for one hour right in the cool of the evening the men who were called first worked from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. so they pulled a 12-hour shift in the heat of the day as they said in the scorching heat harvesting the grapes.  Okay and as the owner of the vineyard starts to pay out he starts with the guys who were hired at five o'clock and he gives them one Denarius.  Now as soon as the guys who started at 6:00 a.m. see that, their natural assumption is going to be well these guys got paid a Denarius for one hours work then I should make at least twelve times as much because I work 12-hour shift and instead the master gives them each the exact same one Denarius no matter how long they worked.

 

His response to them is the key.  He says to them first and foremost I'm not unjust because you agree lead with me for a Denarius so I haven't given you any less than you said you would work for.  So he hasn't shortchanged them anything, that's the first point.  The second point is he says I can give whatever I want to whomever I want, in other words am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  So another important point here is that the owner of the vineyard here is not being unjust because it's his money; he can give however much he would like to whomever he likes for whatever amount of work that they've that they performed right, and then the third point is something very interesting there he says or do you begrudge me my generosity.  Right and now that's a English translation; the literal Greek here is it says this is your eye evil.  Because I am good literally is your eye evil because I am good; the imagery there is of an envious eye so you'll see this in the gospel sometimes or the New Testament talk about the lust of the eyes, that's the sin of envy.  It's seeing someone else's possessions something belongs to someone else and desiring to take it for yourself right as if it belongs to you, and so with what the master is saying here is that you are angry because I am generous because your heart is envious for that which does not belong to you that money is his it's not yours it doesn't belong to you have no right to judge how he distributes it right now what does Jesus up to in doing this well

It is an important element of the parable that the early on workers visually see the latter brought on workers get paid a full day’s wage.  A significant part of the parable is understanding the sin of envy as coming through the eyes. 

Let’s turn to Fr. Charlie Bouchard O.P. for the pastoral homily.  He gives a fascinating example out of literature, the short story by Flannery O’Conner, “Revelation.”

 

Fr. Bouchard:

The readings today, the first reading and the gospel, especially, both give us examples of what biblical scholars sometimes refer to as a biblical reversal.  In other words, we start out seeming to go in one direction, but then God's plan turns things around and changes the outcome into a way that we didn't expect.  This is an example, of course, of the first reading saying that God's ways are not our ways.  And the Bible is full of these stories of biblical reversals.

 

There is an author by the name of Flannery O'Connor, who some of you have probably heard of.  She wrote stories, almost all of which take place in the Deep South, and they portray life in the South, which is maybe in the early part of the 20th century might seem a little strange to us who did not grow up down there.  But she has one story that I think is a perfect example of this biblical reversal that we're talking about.  It's a story called “Revelation,” and it's about a person named Mrs. Turpin, who lives on a farm, and she's a rather not very pleasant person.  The story portrays her as being very judgmental and kind of pompous. She looks at the poor around her, and she kind of disparages them.  She looks at the blacks around her in a very uh, discriminating uh, racist society, and she judges them very badly. 

 

And then at the very end of the story, she has this revelation, which is obviously where the title of the story came from.  And she is on her farm out over the pig pen of all things, this dignified woman standing near the pig pen.  And she has this great vision, this revelation of the end times of what God's judgment is going to look like.  And the story tells us that she looks up and sees this vision, this vast swinging bridge extending upward from the earth through a field of living fire.  Upon it, the author tells us, is a vast horde of souls, rumbling toward heaven.  There are whole companies of white trash, clean for the 1st time in their lives, and bands of poor blacks in white robes, and battalions of freaks and lunatics, shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs.  And bringing up the end of the procession, was a tribe of people whom she recognized at once, as those who, like herself and her husband, had always had little of everything, and the God given wit to use it right.  She leaned forward to observe them closer.  They were marching behind the others with great dignity, accountable as they had always been for good order, and common sense, and respectable behavior.  They alone were on key. 

 

Yet she could see by their shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were being burned away.  In this passage, to me, has always been just an immense theological statement about these biblical reversals.  Mrs. Turpin, who always thought that, you know, she was maybe not the greatest in the world, but certainly somebody who had it together in God's sight.  Somebody who did the right thing, who had common sense, who dressed properly, and yet she was very judgmental.  And so in this judgment scene, she sees all these people that she had really despised and had no use for, marching up to heaven in all their eccentricity, clapping and singing, and being off key perhaps.  Then she sees herself and her husband and others like them, the proper citizens of the town, who are also marching toward heaven.  But they alone were on key, even though they were at the end of the procession. 

 

And it's an example of how God's generosity really exceeds God's justice.  That God extends this grace of salvation, not only to those who appeared to have earned it, although they were at the very end of the line, but also to those who, perhaps in the judgment of some, did not earn this grace or did not merit salvation.  Those who live difficult, troublesome lives, those who couldn't pay their bills, those whose clothes weren't washed, all of those that Mrs. Turpin had disparaged, were really going 1st into heaven. The last ones we thought that would have been there.  They are the 1st in line, and she and her husband follow at the very end. 

“The last will be first, and the first will be last.” 

 

 

 

Sunday Meditation: “What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?”

 

 

This is such a beautiful and appropriate hymn, “Open My Eyes, Lord.”

 

 

Open my eyes, Lord,

Help me to see

Open my eyes, Lord

Help me to see Your face

Open my eyes, Lord

Help me to see

 

Open my ears, Lord

Help me to hear Your voice

Open my ears, Lord

Help me to hear

 

Open my heart, Lord

Help me to love like You

Open my heart, Lord

Help me to love

 

Lord, let me love like You.