OT XXVI [A] Ez 18:25-28; Phil 2:1-11; Mt 21:28-32 

Today's gospel, although very short, is really a key teaching in Christ's gospel.  It goes to the heart of what Our Lord was doing and saying. Jesus taught several times about the danger of a mere outward observance of religion.  Much more important (and ultimately the only thing that really matters), is that one is faithful to the truth of God's message by DOING God's will, irrespective of whether one SEEMS to be living up to the message or not.  Appearances can (so often) be quite deceiving.

  This parable of the two sons – one disobedient and the other obedient draws a contrast between the early response of the two sons to the father’s request to “go and work in the vineyard today” and their actual response at the end of the story. The son, who refused at the beginning, relents and then does the job. The other son acquiesces without any protest when first asked but then chooses to do nothing. Our Lord poses this question to His disciples, “Which of the two did the father’s will?” And just like the disciples, our answer would be “the first.”

The lesson in this parable is restated by our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘It is not anyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord” who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in Heaven’. It is no use simply saying that Christ is our ‘Lord’; we have to acknowledge and express it in our behaviour.

The actions of both sons show that no position is written in stone and that they are subject to change - sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. The change that we are looking at as instrumental to our salvation is repentance. If sin is clearly demonstrated as disobedience, the first son, after open refusal, repents of his sin—better late than never—and goes to work for his father. He overcomes and changes from bad to good.

Repentance can change the outcome of the story of every man or woman, even the greatest sinner. What is repentance? it means “to change our mind.” So, when the Lord says, “Repent and believe in the gospel,” He is basically saying: change your mind about sin and return to God by believing the good news! In order to be saved, we must repent. Repentance means not just running back to God but running away from anything that would keep us from God. Our call to repentance is really our call to conversion. It is our call not just to change but to become our most authentic selves as children of God.

For us Catholics, repentance is not just a private act of contrition where we confess our sins to God directly and hope for His forgiveness. Many often wonder whether God has truly forgiven their sins or continues to hold them against them. There seems to be no way of verifying except to rely on our gut feelings. But the good news is that we do not have to speculate as to whether our sins have really been forgiven or we remain entrapped. One of the most important sacraments, the sacrament of penance, provides a penitent with an objective confirmation. This sacrament is so underappreciated and so under-utilised for our growth in holiness. It is important to remember that long lines for holy communion are not the barometer for a spiritually vibrant church unless it is matched by long lines to the confessional.

Most of us know what it means to live with regret. Lost opportunities may never be recovered. But not in the area of grace. God offers us countless opportunities before our death to repent, to amend our lives, to change our decisions and to remake our path before it is too late. As the prophet Ezekiel warns us in the first reading: “When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin and dies because of this, he dies because of the evil that he himself has committed. When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live. He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins; he shall certainly live; he shall not die.”

What is clear from this Gospel and from the First Reading is that God is primarily concerned with our present relationship with him. As far as the past is concerned, God has a very short memory.  In fact, we might say he has none at all. This is the “injustice” of God that Ezekiel mentions. We remember the man who was crucified with Jesus on Calvary. He was a major criminal, a brigand, a robber, and perhaps a murderer. There, in the very last moments, while hanging on the cross, he asks pardon and forgiveness — “Jesus, remember me when you enter into your Kingdom.” The reply comes instantly, without any qualifications whatsoever, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” The forgiveness he receives is immediate and total. The readings tell us that it is never too late for God’s mercy. Peter knew that when he repented of his denial of his Lord. 

Let us ask the Lord to help purify our inner life… and make our inner attitudes match our outward words and actions so that everything we do, in thought, word and action, be motivated by a true love of God and the Love of neighbours as ourselves.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 OT: XXV-A: Is 55:6-9   Phil 1:20-24.27   Mt 20:1-16

The parable about the workers sent out at different times to work in the vineyard has always caused big problems for readers of the Gospel. Is it right for the owner of the vineyard to pay the same wage to those who have worked for only an hour and those who have worked the whole day? Does this not violate the principle of just recompense? Today, workers' unions would rise up together to denounce any owner of a company who did this.

Justice and Fairness mean a day’s wage for a day’s work. That principle does not seem to be upheld in this parable. We find the owner going out at dawn to get workers, and he makes an agreement with each one of them for a wage of one denarius. The vineyard owner went out five times during the day to hire workers.  It was normal for workers to gather at a crossroads or a marketplace waiting to be hired. Apart from the first group, the labourers were not promised a fixed payment but simply a just wage. When the foreman starts payment of the wages, we are kept in suspense because the labourers are paid in the opposite order in which they were employed. The master’s generosity, which is a pleasant surprise to the latecomers, becomes a cruel disappointment to the early birds when they also receive the same wage. They expected that they would be paid more because they worked more. Technically, this was not unjust because it was what all agreed to. Personally and practically, however, this would have seemed unjust.  Either those who were hired first should have been given more, or those hired later should have received less.

The key of the parable, then is the statement that the last will be first and the first will be last.  In the kingdom of heaven, justice and fairness do not follow worldly values. In the kingdom of heaven, everything is done by grace and not by merit.  The righteousness we have developed in the world will not bind God in the kingdom of heaven. God does not call everybody at the same time. Truly, the righteousness of the Lord is not the righteousness of man. The Lord God gives to those that He pleases, in the amount that He chooses. He is free to do what he wants with what belongs to him, namely His grace. The Lord God is just and fair in all His dealings, and no one will ever go unrewarded for his works that are accredited to him.

The owner of the vineyard knows that the workers of the last hour have the same needs as the others who were hired at the beginning of the day; they, too, have children to feed. By giving everyone the same wage, the owner of the vineyard shows that he is not only taking account of the merit of the workers but also their needs. Our capitalistic societies base recompense on merit (often more nominal than real) and on seniority in work, and not on the person's needs. When the young worker or professional has the most need for his family and for a house, his pay is the lowest, but when he is at the end of his career when he has less need (especially in certain social categories), he has arrived at the stars.

The root of the early workers’ indignation came not from an exploitive wage scale but from seeing the good fortune of others whom they felt were not deserving of the same. The landowner had not been unjust; he had every right to do what he wanted with his money. The real problem is that the grumblers harbour envy. The master’s generosity is an expression of gracious freedom, not callous arbitrariness, while workers’ complaints are an expression of their lovelessness, not of their unfair treatment.

The only wage that is given to everyone is the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus has brought to the earth; it is the possibility of entering into the messianic salvation to be a part of it. The parable begins by saying that "the Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn ...

 

A full wage is offered to each of us, whether one has served Him for a whole lifetime or has turned to Him only at the eleventh hour. The story shows us how God looks at us, sees our needs, and meets those needs.  The question in God’s mind is not, “How much do these people deserve?”  but, “How can I help them?  How can I save them before they perish?”  It is all about grace and blessings.

 

This parable teaches us to be generous rather than go for strict justice. We can be generous in the way we give someone encouragement and a kind word when that person is feeling down, even though that person might not be one of our best buddies. We can be generous in the way we give our time to help someone going through a rough patch. When someone says something that offends us, we can be generous in our reaction, sympathize and understand rather than give back the hostility or injury just as it was given to us. When we have fallen out with someone or believe we have been unfairly treated, we can be generous in our willingness to reach out, make amends and restore friendships. When someone really annoys us and gets under our skin, we can be generous with our patience and kindness, dealing with that person in a way that reflects the generous nature of God. When we see people who lack the bare necessities needed for a happy and healthy life, we need to be generous with what we have been given by our generous God. May the Lord give us the grace to be generous as He is generous, giving not as others deserve but as they need.

 OT XXIV [A]: Sir 27:30–28:7; Rom 14:7-9; Mt 18:21-35

A captive was once brought before King James II of England. The King chided the prisoner: “You know that it is in my power to pardon you?” The scared, shaking prisoner replied, “Yes, I know it is in your power to pardon me, but it is not in your nature.” –The prisoner had the keen insight to know that unless we have had a spiritual rebirth, we have no nature to forgive. Forgiveness is a Christian virtue and is the hallmark of our Christian faith and practice. Forgiving the other in the full sense is a form of loving and caring.

In the first reading of today, Sirach tells us that we must forgive our neighbor if we want God to forgive our own sins. We must be merciful if we want to obtain mercy from God. We must not seek revenge on a neighbor lest God should take vengeance on us. 

Today’s Gospel opens with one of Peter’s straightforward questions, asking the Lord how often he ought to forgive. If he forgives seven times, was it sufficient? According to the rabbinical tradition, forgiveness apparently extends to three offences, and the fourth offence calls for punishment.  Good-hearted Peter doubles the forgiveness of the rabbis and adds one for good measure, and considers himself very generous. To his surprise, Jesus is not impressed and tells him that it is not seven but seventy-seven.  Luke makes it further more difficult to count, saying seventy times seven. In other words, you may not attach a number, a limit, to the times you forgive.

Along with the command to forgive, man must also be given a reason to do so. It is what Jesus did with the parable of the king and his two servants. The parable makes clear why one must forgive: because God has forgiven us in the past and continues to forgive us. He cancels a debt of ours that is infinitely greater than the one a fellow human being might have with us.

Saint Paul could say: "as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive" (Col 3:13). The Old Testament law, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," has been surmounted. The criterion no longer is: "Do to someone what he has done to you"; but, "What God has done to you, you do to the other."

 

Perhaps it is hard to forgive because we have been expecting in the human that which is found only in the divine. Admittedly, it is hard to forgive when the faults of our enemies are so clear to us, and the pain of the injury we have suffered at their hands runs deep. The parable tells us to focus elsewhere - not on the failings and limitations of man but on the immense mercy of God - the ocean of God’s mercy.

This is how we all live. We live under the mercy of God. He has been so good to all of us. When we consider what we have received, the call to be merciful to others is a tiny reflection of God's great gift to us. Living under His mercy, we must bring his mercy and compassion to others. Today's readings encourage us to recognize what we have received, to bask in the mercy of God, and to extend this mercy to others.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is such a central quality in the Kingdom of God that Our Lord even incorporates it into the Great Prayer he taught his disciples to recite: "Forgive us our sins, according to how we forgive others." (Or to put it another way, "Lord, don't forgive us our sins unless we forgive others who hurt us."

In our daily lives, we encounter situations that test our capacity to forgive. Perhaps someone has betrayed our trust, hurt us deeply, or wronged us repeatedly. Yet, we must remember that the forgiveness we offer is not condoning the wrongdoing but freeing ourselves from the burden of bitterness and anger.

Something within us seems to feel that we have a right to continue in our anger towards someone who has hurt us badly. After all, we didn't create the situation. The other person did. We didn't attack the other person. The other person attacked us. We were the victims, not the aggressors. Our lives would have been significantly different if that other person had not said or done this or that. And so, we attempt to justify our anger, our grudge.

In the book of Genesis, we encounter the story of Joseph, who forgave his brothers after they had sold him into slavery out of jealousy. Despite their betrayal and cruelty, Joseph forgave them when he had the power to seek revenge. He said to them in Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Joseph's forgiveness is a profound example of letting go of resentment and trusting in God's greater plan.

In conclusion, the passage from Matthew 18:21-35 teaches us that forgiveness is not optional but a divine mandate. It calls us to forgive as we have been forgiven, extending mercy to others as God has extended it to us. 

As we go forth from this place today, let us carry with us the wisdom of Jesus' teaching and the inspiration of these examples. Let us strive to be agents of forgiveness and reconciliation, knowing that when we forgive, we reflect the heart of our loving and merciful God.

 

 

OT XXIII [A]: Ez 33:7-9; Rom 13:8-10; Mt 18:15-20

Fr. Avery Cardinal Dulles wrote a book called ‘The Models of the Church’.  Fr. Dulles was the son of the famous John Foster Dulles, the famous secretary of State in 1950s under President Eisenhower. It is him, the Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC. named after. Fr. Avery Dulles was raised a Presbyterian but then turned agnostic. He attended Harvard University when, one day, he went for a walk along the Charles River. He saw a beautiful flowering tree, and as he stared at it, he sensed a profound presence of God. He decided to search for a way to come closer to God, became a Roman Catholic, and later became a Jesuit priest. He was a great scholar, particularly of Ecclesiology, the study of the Church. He was an advisor to the Vatican and to the American bishops. He was also a deeply spiritual man. In 2001, Pope St. John Paul II named him to the College of Cardinals when he was in his 90s. He passed away in 2008.

In his book Models of the Church, Cardinal Dulles presented models or modes of understanding the Church. He explains that the Church cannot be defined by any one model but by all models seen together. He presents five models but notes that there are many other models he could also have explained. The five models he presents begin with the Church as an Institution. This considers the importance of the Church structure, the hierarchy, bishops, priests and deacons, and the Church’s magisterium or teaching authority. The Church, seen as an institution, is responsible for the unity of what Catholics believe and how they live throughout the world. From the Vatican to the Dioceses to the parishes, the Church has a hierarchical structure.

Focusing on only the aspect of the Church as an institution would end up ignoring the Church as the People of God, Dulles' second model. Here, we understand the vital role of the laity, especially the faith formation and charitable organisations, St. Vincent De Paul, Knights of Columbus, Women Who Care, etc., ministries led by the people.

But the Church is not just an institution and ministries led by the laity; it is a place of profound prayer. The Church is where Jesus united his people in the sacraments. This mode or model considers the worship of the Church, the liturgy.

 A fourth model flows from the directive of the Lord to go out into the world and proclaim the Gospel.” This would be the Church as herald of the Gospel, its evangelical, missionary work. Our Masses end with the call to go out and bring the Lord to the world. Dulles’ final model is the Church as Servant, caring for the presence of Christ in those who reach out for help. The Catholic Church is the most charitable organization in the world. At the conclusion of his work, Cardinal Dulles emphasizes that the Church is not just one of these models but all of the models he presented united together as well as many, many more models. It is in this light that we can consider today’s Gospel as the Church of Mercy.

Chapter 18 of the Gospel of Matthew is often called the Dissertation on the Church. In the section we have in today’s Gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples on how to care for those who turn from Him, turn from the Church. “If your brother sins against you....tell him, just the two of you. To be done privately instead of publicly. Something which is hard to do in an age of social media and public shaming and trolling. If that doesn’t work, visit him with two or three other witnesses. If that still doesn’t work, have the Church contact him. If he still refuses to change, then the Church should consider him an outsider. These steps really have to do with Mercy. The person who approaches the brother who has sinned is basically saying, “Look, you have gone in the wrong direction. I know you. I know this is not you. You are better than that.” The person is being offered forgiveness and mercy by the one he has offended and, by extension, by the Church. If the person continues to offend or is obstinate in holding on to his sin, then two or three should approach the fellow, saying, “We miss you; you belong with us. We need you to be with us. Turn from your ways and know that the mercy of God is there for you.” If the person remains obstinate, then perhaps a representative of the entire Church, a deacon, priest or bishop, might help the person understand why his actions are offensive. If the person still refuses to receive the mercy and forgiveness of the Church, he will no longer be part of the Church. Still, the mercy of God is always available for him in the Church. At every Mass, we pray that those who have been away from the Church may come back home. We always pray for the conversion of sinners, beginning, of course, with ourselves.

“Whoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” When the Church binds someone to itself, that person is part of the earthly Church and the heavenly Church. When the Church recognizes that someone is no longer part of the Saved Community on earth, then that person is no longer part of the Saved Community in heaven. But mercy is always there for that person. Many would construe this as a command to excommunicate the person. But let us consider how our Lord dealt with the pagans and tax collectors. He came to bring the gospel to them, heal them, reconcile and save them. Even should this last point be deemed a form of ex-communication, the Church teaches that ex-communication is not meant to be punitive but is regarded as an act of charity and a means of saving the soul of the person by demonstrating the eternal consequences of his action. Should a person die in mortal sin, he would be eternally separated from God. Excommunication gives a taste of this.

Through all the readings today, the Church is reminding us of our responsibility of correcting erring brothers. Ezekiel says that if we do not do that, God will hold us responsible for the death of the sinner. Today, let’s pray that the Lord may give us the wisdom, courage and patience to bring back those turning away from the Church, helping them open themselves to acknowledging their faults.

 OT XXII [A] Jer 20:7-9; Rom 12:1-2; Mt 16:21-27

Prophet Jeremiah, who lived 600 years before Christ, began his ministry among a people who had become so hardened by the numbing effects of their sinful ways that they no longer believed God, nor did they fear Him. Jeremiah preached for 40 years, and not once did he see any real success in changing or softening the hearts and minds of his stubborn, idolatrous people. The other prophets of Israel had witnessed some success, at least for a little while, but not Jeremiah. He was speaking to a brick wall, to people who simply didn’t care about God or their religion. Judged by this world’s standards, Jeremiah’s life was a failure. History shows that he gave them fair warning, but the people of Israel ignored him and went on to suffer disaster. They lost everything. Their nation was torn asunder, their temple destroyed, and their leaders were carried off into captivity by their enemies.

In the Gospel of today, Jesus teaches the disciples about the suffering Messiah who will suffer, die and rise again.  Peter could not understand why Jesus must suffer and die and tried to admonish him. He receives the reprimand from Jesus and also receives the correct teaching about the cross. Jesus tells his disciples that they have to deny themselves, carry the cross and follow him to be his followers. The fate of the Master must now be the fate of the disciple, for this is what it means to “follow” Christ.

For us Christians, all our suffering should be seen in the light of Christ’s suffering. Others may deal with suffering differently. Jesus did not passively submit to suffering. That would be useless. He accepted suffering purposefully. If St. Paul taught us anything, he taught us that. Not only did he preach that, but he lived it out, suffering as he did great suffering in multiple ways. In the second letter to the Corinthians ch. 11, he enumerates them in detail. He said, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church… (Col 1:24)

What’s lacking is our personal presentation of Christ’s sufferings to the people for whom He died, all of us. Christ’s afflictions are lacking in the sense that they are not seen and known among the nations of people worldwide. Those sufferings must be carried by us, by you and I, who are ministers of the gospel. Thus, in living out Christ’s life, we fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ by extending them to others in our own sufferings that share in Christ’s.

In another passage, St. Paul writes: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For, as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort, too.  (2 Cor 1:2-5)

What does that mean for us? It means that taking up one’s cross and following Christ does not indicate that we are passively submitting to oppression, discrimination, and abuses in their varied forms. That was the constant message of John Paul II, a message that he personally lived out. We can be comforted in the knowledge that our own personal sufferings can be given meaning, infinite meaning and purpose because we can make them a part of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice.

In this gospel, Jesus is stating that sacrifice is the key to anything good. The work of Satan is to distract us from sacrifice. Jesus does not ask us to deny “what we are,” but “what we have become.” We are images of God. Thus, we are something “very good,” as God himself said, immediately after creating man and woman. What we must deny is not that which God has made, but that which we ourselves have made by misusing our freedom -- the evil tendencies, sin, all those things that have covered over the original nature.

In the midst of the many voices clamouring for our time, our money, our allegiance and our attention, we are called to choose the cross; we are called to choose Christ, to the complete dispossession of all else. In His call to authentic discipleship, Christ challenges our most precious loyalties. As there can be no other gods before the God of Israel, there can be no other loves before Christ. The life we long for, the changes we want, comes only through the cross — no other way!

St John Vianney leaves us with this wonderful wisdom: “On the Way of the Cross, you see, my children, only the first step is painful. Our greatest cross is the fear of crosses. . . We have not the courage to carry our cross, and we are very much mistaken, for whatever we do, the cross holds us tight - we cannot escape from it. What, then, have we to lose? Why not love our crosses and make use of them to take us to heaven?”

In closing, let’s reflect: Does my faith give me anything more than a feel-good spirituality? Do I have enough Faith to offer up a genuine sacrifice for Christ’s sake, his gospel and his kingdom? From which angle do I approach the crosses of my own life, like Peter or Jesus?