2017September 24SUN25ORDA
IS 55:6-9
PS 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18 R. (18a) The Lord is near to all who
call upon him.
PHIL 1:20C-24, 27A
MT 20:1-16A
Good ….
Today we celebrate the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
and the Theme of the Readings is the
Generosity of God with his Love for human beings.
This Theme of God’s Generosity is the continuation of the theme last Sunday
about Forgiveness. God forgives us because he loves us. Love and Forgiveness are two sides of the
same coin. And as human beings we cannot live and prosper in this World
without Forgiveness since Forgiveness
like Love is a human character and a virtue.
Somebody came to me and asked: “Father,
a man who throughout his life lived a bad life and on his death bed received
Baptism, will he go to purgatory when he died?”
For those who think that faith is
their right, they will say that Yes he will pass through the purgatory but for
those who believe that faith is a gift from God, they will say that he is
Blessed and will be with God.
In the life of Jesus, this had
happened also when the One of those crucified with Christ, received Christ’s
Promise: “ Today, you will be with me in
Paradise.”
Jesus proclaims the Love and Mercy of God that when God forgives, He
also forgets all our sins and trespasses. This is what we called last
Sunday as Forgive and Forget. This is usually different from most of us. We find it hard to forgive because we do
not forget the hurts and pains done to us.
(I heard one story of a husband
talking about the problem with her wife. He says that when my wife gets mad at
she became ‘Historical”. Another tries to correct him that it is not Historical but Hysterical and The Man says no it is historical because
she tells me back all the sins and failures that I have done. “Historical” because the wife kept on those
sins and failures.
In Christian Forgiveness, we not only forget the sins and failures but
we removed them from our hearts. Since, those who keep the sins and hurts
in their hearts do not forgive as God forgives us. When God forgives, he
forgets the sins.)
This is also what the Gospel is telling us today that God is a generous
God, He gave the same usual daily wage even to the workers who worked for
an hour only. This generosity however is questioned by those who worked all day
and had the same daily wage. The said: 'These last ones worked only one hour, and
you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.'
These workers who complained
thought that they were entitled for
more as compared to the workers who work only for an hour. But the Landowner
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?
For the Landowner there was no injustice done since they were given the
agreed daily wage.
In this parable Jesus presents us
the generosity of God for all of us not only for the select few. And this generosity is extended to all
since Faith is given and preached to all and that Faith is not due to our
performance of doing good for so many hours and years but that Faith is a
generous gift from God that gives everyone a new life.
As Christians all we have to do is not grumble but to share our Faith to one another through the good works and service for those in need. Let us always remember
that Christian Life is a life in service
for others in need. And as St. Paul in the Second Reading proclaims : “Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy
of the gospel of Christ.” AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment