Celebración de la palabra

Sunday September 20

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1. An Unbelievably Good God
2. God Is Grace

Greeting (See First Reading)

“Seek the Lord while he is still to be found,
call to him while he is still near,” says the prophet.
God himself goes out to seek you,
says the message of today.
May the Lord find you and stay always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction
1. An Unbelievably Good God
When you come to think of it, often we cannot understand God’s goodness. Why is he so patient with sinners? Why does he give his gifts to people who, in our opinion, do not deserve them, or waste them? But God’s ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not always our thoughts. Let us ask the Lord Jesus in this Eucharist that our thoughts and actions may become more like those of God.

2. God Is Grace
God is scandalously just and good, because God is grace. He is so good that at times we cannot understand him. Why is he so lenient with notorious sinners? We forget how lenient he is with us, sinners too. Let us open our hearts to his mercy and goodness. He gives without our asking. He gives for free. He gives more richly than we dare to expect. The first and the last receive his love. The first and the last are invited to his table. Let us join Jesus in thanksgiving.

Penitential Act

We may have questioned at times
God’s generosity and merciful love
and envied the gifts he gave to others.
Let us ask the Lord to forgive us.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, in your mercy
you keep forgiving sinners:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, in your generosity
you keep giving rich gifts to us and to others,
knowing well that often we will not use them:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, in your patience
you keep inviting us to think and act
in your own inimitable ways:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Forgive us Lord, that all too often
we fail to understand your astonishing goodness.
Be patient with us, Lord,
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray to God that he may attune
our thoughts and actions to his own
(pause)
Lord our God, you say of yourself
that you are good with a love
that surpasses even justice.
Thank you for accepting the little ones as much as the great,
those who turn to you at the last hour
as well as the laborers who have toiled all their lives.
Open us more to the free gifts of your grace,
make us accept them with gratitude
and appreciate how liberally you give to others.
Turn our ways into your ways of love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

First Reading: Seek the Ways of the Lord

God is high above us, yet very close to us. We should seek him and learn to think and act in God’s ways.

Reading 1: IS 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 PS 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.

Second Reading: For Me, “Life” Means Christ

For Paul, it doesn’t matter much whether he lives or dies. Alive, he serves Christ; by dying he will be with Christ. But he is willing to continue working in the service of the Gospel.

Reading 2: PHIL 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 ACTS 16:14B

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

Gospel: God Is Generous to All

God’s generosity surpasses our human reasoning. He gives everybody a chance to enter his kingdom; he lets us share in his life, not because we deserve it but because he is good.

Gospel: MT 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."

Commentary

The Green-eyed Monster
A priest friend gave me permission to tell his story. When he was a seminarian back in the 1950's and 1960's he frequently found himself in a gloomy mood. This happened especially when he was on retreat or not busy with other things. He would find himself feeling empty inside, looking at others and wondering if they were talking against him. He often doubted if he belonged and wondered if he should leave the seminary. This continued to happen to him as a priest. He would have these bouts of gloom lasting two to four weeks and then they would lift again. During these times, he would appear normal to others who would not notice that there was anything wrong.
In 1979 he took the Summer Institute of Pastoral Counseling run by Fr. Ruben Tanesco, S.J. at Ateneo de Manila. There he became aware that what he was having were bouts of depression and he discovered that the reason for them was his jealousy. He discovered that because of his poor self-image and fear of being nobody he was always comparing himself with others who seemed to be doing well in the things in which he felt he did badly. He felt jealous of those who were more relaxed, more competent, more gifted. But because he was a priest, a so called "good person" he could not admit to himself or to others that he was jealous. Because he could not admit the feelings his whole affective or feeling system would go askew - exactly what happens when one is depressed. During his course, he became aware of and began to accept his jealousy. He would say to himself, "There you go again you jealous b-!" and since then he assured me he has never again experienced depression.
Jealousy, the green-eyed monster, is one of the most pervasive and destructive vices. It is not a monopoly of any group. Recently, I was able to arrange for some trustee prisoners to work on a construction job so as to be able to earn something to help their families. Within a few days the Governor got a phone call complaining about their being allowed to work outside the prison. It later transpired that the call was made by another prisoner who was jealous of them.
However, jealousy is especially the vice of so called 'good people.' They do not indulge in stealing or killing or sexual misbehavior, so they think that they are deserving of special stroking from the Lord. They become very sensitive to who is and who is not getting that stroking. A loving and sacrificing daughter is looking after her old mother. On Christmas day her mother will not eat as she waits for a phone call from another daughter who is married in the United States. The daughter caring for her mother gets madly jealous that her mother gives such importance to the other daughter who has had the best of everything in life, as she sees it, while she has sacrificed so many things to serve her mother and does not get a word of thanks. The scene is similar to the story of the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son. He is angry and jealous that his father can welcome and forgive the son who was not good like him.
There was a Señora in one of the parishes in which I was stationed who was famous for her generosity. All was well till she heard that another Señora was equally generous! Jealousy is the issue in the Gospel today. It is jealousy which arises as a result of God's unlimited generosity. The laborers who had worked in the vineyard from the early morning were the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham and Isaac. Those who worked for the final hour were the latecomers, the non-Jews or Gentiles now being accepted into the church.
The church of Matthew's time was having a lot of trouble because the Jewish Christians found it hard to accept that the Gentiles could be promised the same rewards as they expected to get. So Matthew tells this story of God's incredible and uncontrollable generosity. The master gives the same reward to the latest comers as he gives to those who had worked all day. This makes those who had worked longest feel very jealous and angry. The point being made is that we must not be trying to limit God's generosity and determine who are deserving of it.
This is still a prevalent attitude. We think we deserve God's goodness because of our goodness and our prayer. We are jealous when others who do not seem to be as good as us or to pray as much as us have good fortune. We often rejoice in hearing of the misfortunes of others who seem to be better than us. Because of our poor self images we are ever wasting our energies in comparing ourselves with others instead of pausing to count the wonderful blessings that we have most definitely received. We are like a swimmer who is struggling to keep his head and shoulders above the water because of his fear. Of course, the wisest and less exhausting thing for him to do would be to keep as much as possible under water letting only his nose emerge to breathe from time to time.
One of the difficulties about the traditional ways of describing prayer in stages, or as mansions, is that it may cause us to be self-consciously looking at what stage we are in. If we see prayer as climbing a ladder we will be self-consciously observing where we are on the ladder. John Main used to be amused by the brochures brought out by some schools of spirituality in which they gave beginner, advanced and more advanced courses. The Spirit cannot be possessed, quantified, or measured and so the presence of the Spirit cannot be packaged for a consumer market. The remarkable thing about Christian meditation - the practice of saying the mantra or prayer word for 20 to 30 minutes twice a day is that it is so simple and so difficult. It is so simple that anyone can do it and yet it is so difficult that nobody can do it, in the sense of doing it for long without distraction. Meditation is a humbling way of prayer, a way of prayer in which there is a letting go of all desires, even the desire to pray well or to possess God. As the desire to be better than others is the root of jealousy, the abandonment of desire is its antidote. Freedom from jealousy is a great freedom. It can be a release from competitiveness with the outside world and from depression within us.

Intercessions

Let us pray to God our Father whose generosity is always greater than we expect or can imagine. Let us say:
R/ Lord, your love is everlasting.

– That the fresh faith of new converts may wake up and inspire those born in Christian families, let us pray:
R/ Lord, your love is everlasting.
– That there may be more justice in our world but that justice may always be imbued with much love, let us pray:
R/ Lord, your love is everlasting.
– That Christians may contribute to our world a sense of giving out of pure generosity and goodness, and a sense of joyful celebration, let us pray:
R/ Lord, your love is everlasting.
– That in our human community everyone may be accepted as he or she is; that we may not exclude anyone from our love and that we may learn to forgive everyone, let us pray:
R/ Lord, your love is everlasting.
– That in our Christian communities we may not be jealous of each other’s gifts and talents but use ours and let others use theirs in the service of the unity and growth of all, let us pray:
R/ Lord, your love is everlasting.

Lord, we still have to learn much from you. Make us generous like you, that we may live fully and bring others to life, through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

Generous Father,
in these signs of bread and wine
you give us, weak and tired as we are,
your Son as our companion.
We open ourselves to his strength and love.
May he help us in the heat of the day
to bear the burdens of our struggles
and to seek your will in all we do.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

Our own hands are empty as we stand before God. But he is good and loves us. He has given us his Son Jesus Christ who brought us God’s mercy. Through him we now give thanks to our Father.

Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer

We rely on the generosity of our Father in heaven
as we pray to him in the words of Jesus. R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us Lord, from the evil of sin
and keep us from applying to you
our human thoughts and norms.
Enlarge our hearts to the dimensions
of your own generosity without limits,
that we may prepare with hope and joy
the full coming among us
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus the Lord,
who gives himself freely
to the strong and the weak.
Happy are we
that he is our life and joy. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

Generous Father,
in this Eucharist we have experienced again
that life and all that we are
is nothing else that a gift from you.
May the challenging word of your Son
stir us to accept and serve our neighbor
as you have accepted and loved us
without any merit on our part.
And may the body of your Son
give us the courage to put his word into practice.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Blessing

In this Eucharist we have been with Jesus.
He spoke to us,
we sat with him at table,
and if we are open to him,
he has filled us with his gifts of strength
and compassion and the power to forgive,
he has made us capable of love.
All for free.
Let us be thankful for these gifts and use them.
May almighty God bless you,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Let us go in peace and seek the ways of the Lord. R/ Thanks be to God.