The 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 1, 2023

Matthew 21, 28–32

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.”

The events in today’s Gospel Reading take place on the day after he has triumphantly entered Jerusalem.  The chief priests and the elders felt very much threatened by this outsider, this Galilean, who came into the city to cries of “Hosanna to the Son of David!”, acknowledging him as the Messiah.  Going into the Temple as into his own house, he overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and cast them out as though they were trespassers.  The chief priests and the elders challenged his authority, which he had demonstrated as divine time and again with his miracles.  The Lord in turn challenged them to state whether they believed the John the Baptist was from God — a challenge they failed to take up.  Now the Lord challenges them with a parable.

“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 Lord tells us that by this son he means “tax collectors and prostitutes” who resisted grace through their lives but then accepted it, repented, and conformed themselves to the Father’s will.  By speaking of the tax collectors the Lord includes all those who have preferred their will to the Father’s.  He also does this to shame the chief priests and the elders of the people, whom he likens to the second son who “did not go” to do the work the Father assigned him.  Jesus even makes the chief priests and elders acknowledge this through his question and their answer of “The first”.

The essence of the Christian life is confirming ourselves to the Father’s will with the help of the grace he himself provides.  That means first of all to obey his commandments and those of the Church which his Son came on earth to establish.  But it also means to confirm ourselves to the vocation to which he calls us and to the virtuous actions he wants from us personally.  He tells these things to us in such a way that we know it is him speaking, but we must listen for his voice.  We do this through leading prayerful lives which include the reading of the Holy Scriptures, through which the Holy Spirit teaches us.  The chief priests and the elders did not lead prayerful lives but noisy lives concerned primarily with minding their business interests, harassing other people in order to feel superior, and feasting.  Their initial “yes” meant nothing more than accepting the positions of authority offered to them; but they did not use their authority in service to others, as they were meant to do by the One who gave it to them.

Let us follow the example of the Lord Jesus, who, though in “the form of God” (Philippians 2, 6), lowered himself to serve us, in obedience to the Father.

 Saturday in the 25th Week of Ordinary Time, September 30, 2023

Luke 9, 43-45

While they were all amazed at his every deed, Jesus said to his disciples, “Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Momentous events precede that recorded here by St. Luke, used for today’s Gospel Reading.  In Luke 9, 12-17, the Lord Jesus feeds the five thousand.  From reading St. John’s account of this miracle we know that the Lord delivered his Bread of Life teaching at this time.  Following this, in Luke 18-21, the Lord asks the Apostles who they think he is, and Luke records Peter as saying, very simply, “The Christ of God”.  Following this, in Luke 9, 22-27, the Lord for the first time teaches his Apostles that he will be arrested, killed, and rise again.  Coupled with this he teaches that those who persevere in following him will attain eternal life.  In Luke 9, 28-36, the Evangelist gives his account of the Lord’s Transfiguration.  In Luke 9, 37-42 we learn how Jesus exorcised a demon from a child in a very dramatic scene.  And this brings us to the present Reading.  Throughout this chapter, the Lord has established himself as both divine, with power over the natural and the supernatural worlds, and that his divinity is cloaked in human flesh so that he can suffer and die — and then rise from the dead.  If we include the teaching of his coming Death at the end of the Transfiguration, which Luke omits but which Matthew and Mark tell of, during this short period the Lord has told them three times that his Death is near.  He hammers at this in order to warn the Apostles that his coming journey to Jerusalem will not end in reestablishing the kingdom of David but in what will seem a catastrophe.  This is the meaning of Luke’s pointing out that, “while they were all amazed at his every deed, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Pay attention to what I am telling you’.”

“But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it.”  What he was telling them openly and with assurance so starkly contradicted their expectations of him as the Messiah of Israel that they dismissed it so that it left not a mark on their thinking.  The scribes, the Pharisees, and the priests had put the picture of their Messiah in the minds of the people and reinforced it continually.  Not even the words of the Messiah himself could now persuade them otherwise.  Only after he rose from the dead and taught them did they accept them: “O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all things, which the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and so, to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24, 25-26).  

When we read the Lord’s words about his coming suffering and Death we ought to think of how he felt when he was speaking them.  He was looking at his Apostles, whom he loved, including Judas, and thinking of how they would abandon him and deny him.  His Heart must have weighed so heavily within him as he spoke.  He was going to do this in his love for them, a love they could not begin to understand.  He was looking down through the ages at us as well.  Let us return his love and never abandon or deny him with our thoughts and actions.

 The Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels

Friday, September 29, 2023

Daniel 7, 9-10; 13-14

As I watched: Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was bright as snow, and the hair on his head as white as wool; His throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire. A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat; Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him. The court was convened, and the books were opened. As the visions during the night continued, I saw One like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed. 

The date of this Feast (in the West) first belonged to St. Michael alone, with separate fears for St. Gabriel (March 24) and St. Raphael (October 24).  Devotion to him arose early in the Church with churches dedicated to him in what is now eastern Turkey, in Egypt, and in Constantinople.  Springs were said to have been caused or blessed by him which healed the sick.  Those in need of healing also slept overnight in his church in Constantinople in hopes of being cured.  His Feast in the West is known from about the year 500 through the prayers in an ancient sacramentary and certainly it was celebrated for some time before that.  It was around the year 500 that the archangel famously appeared at Mount Gargano in Italy.  While Gabriel is well-known for his appearance to the priest Zechariah and the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Gospel of Luke, and is thought to be the angel who spoke to St. Joseph in his dreams as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, he also is said to have made an appearance in Ezekiel 9, 4 where he marks the believing Jews with the letter tav [ת], which may indicates that he will be the angel in the last days of the world who will mark the true believers in Christ on their foreheads with the Sign of the Cross, thereby extending protection over them.  Raphael is principally known for his large part in the Book of Tobit in which he protects Tobiah on his journey, defeats a demon who was set to kill Tobiah on his wedding day, and heals the blindness of Tobit, Tobiah’s pious father.  For this he is regarded as a patron saint to be invoked by the sick.

The First Reading from the Book of Daniel presents the glory of the archangels along with all the choirs of angels.  The reading begins with a description of aspects of “the Ancient”, the Father: “His clothing was bright as snow, and the hair on his head as white as wool.”  St. John would later see the Lord Jesus in a vision appear very similarly so that it seems the appearance of the Father in Daniel is meant to confirm the divinity of the Son in Revelation 1, 13-14.  The white clothing (literally, “outer robe”) indicates priesthood and the white hair, the sign of an elder.  “His throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire.”  A throne of this kind shows that the one to be seated in it must be divine and have great power.  “A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat.”  To St. John, in his vision, this is revealed more clearly: “And from the throne proceeded lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God” (Revelation 4, 5).  (The “seven Spirits of God” is the sign of the Holy Spirit).  The flames, the thunder, and the lightning represent the divine power that belongs to God, and that he alone possesses.  

“Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him.”  Now we see the angels in all their glory and might gazing upon the face of God and pouring out their praise.  Almighty God’s greatness reveals something of the greatness of his heavenly ministers.  Among these are Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, who are “of the seven, who stand before the Lord” (Tobit 12, 15).

“The court was convened, and the books were opened.”  This indicates that the vision is of the end of the world and the great judgment.  Jesus describes this in Matthew 25 and it is also described in Revelation 20, 12-15.  It is thought that the Archangel Gabriel blows the trumpet to assemble the dead when the Lord Jesus comes in glory, as described in Revelation 11, 15.

“I saw One like a Son of Man coming, on the clouds of heaven.”  This is confirmed as referring to the final judgment in Revelation 1, 7: “Behold, he comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see him: and they also who pierced him.”  The clouds are thought by the Fathers to mean the hosts of the angels, for Jesus himself says, in a verse used in today’s Gospel Reading: “You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

“When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him.”  This prophesy is confirmed in John’s vision, recorded in Revelation 5, 11–12: “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the ancients (and the number of them was thousands of thousands), saying with a loud voice: The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”  And in Revelation 11, 15: “And the seventh angel [Gabriel, announcing the judgment] sounded the trumpet: and there were great voices in heaven, saying: The kingdom of this world is become our Lord’s and his Christ’s, and he shall reign for ever and ever. Amen.”

The glory of our God shines through the glory of his powerful angels, of whom the brightest are Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, whom we celebrate today and whose help we seek.

 Thursday in the 25th Week of Ordinary Time, September 28, 2023

Luke 9, 7-9

Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying, “John has been raised from the dead”; others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”; still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.” But Herod said, “John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him.

“Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening.”  St. Luke properly styles Herod as a terrace and not as a king as St. Mark does in Mark 6, 14.  This was Herod Antipas the son of Herod the Great, so-called, who had tried to kill the Infant Jesus.  The territory of Herod the Great was divided by the Romans into four parts and Herod Antipas received one of these, hence “tetrarch”.  He ruled over Galilee during the life of Jesus and eventually got his wish to see Jesus when Pilate sent Jesus to him, Herod being in Jerusalem at that time for the Passover.  Herod heard about Jesus and his miracles through travelers, friends — and spies, for Galilee was a tinderbox ever ready to blow up into revolt.  He put down more than one uprising during his reign.  

“He was greatly perplexed.”  The Greek word translated here as “was perplexed” means “was in difficulty, doubt, or trouble”.  That is to say, he was confused and deeply disturbed by what he heard.  Added to this, those who gave him news about Jesus gave their opinions that “John has been raised from the dead”, or that “Elijah has appeared”, or, more vaguely, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.”  Herod was not a religious man although he made a show of piety to the people.  However, people who are not religious are very often superstitious though they may strenuously deny it, and Herod was that.  It is interesting that none of the reports Herod received mentioned that he was from Nazareth.  Herod, who had killed John the Baptist, might have feared the latter’s ghost taking revenge in some way.  If he did not know Elijah the Prophet he could have found out easily and would have been daunted by his opposition to the kings of the time.  No one seems to have identified him to Herod as possibly the Messiah who would overthrow Roman rule and reestablish the Kingdom of Israel under the House of David.  Herod would have seen him as a distinct threat in that case.   As far Herod’s actual feelings, they seem similar to those which he had when he listened to John the Baptist when he had imprisoned him: “When he heard him, he was much perplexed; and yet he heard him gladly” (Mark 6, 20).  He heard the truth about the Kingdom of heaven and the punishment of hell and it made sense to him and he wondered what it be like to live righteously, but he would do nothing to begin to do this.  He would rather be deeply disturbed.  

“John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him.”  Herod had silenced one voice that warned him of the wrath to come, but another voice, a greater one, was now speaking.  St. Luke tells us that Herod “kept trying to see him” but it does not seem likely that Herod actually made a serious effort, for thousands of people came from all over the region to find him and did.  He could also have sent for him if he feared to leave his fortress stronghold.  The Lord, for his part, did not respect Herod and called him “that fox” (Luke 13, 32), a predator that attacked the defenseless.  

Finally, Herod did see him on the last day of the Lord’s life.  He wanted Jesus to perform miracles for him to see but the Lord remained silent and still in his presence, not deigning to speak to him.  Herod had his chance.  He could have asked him who he was, where he was from, and what he taught.  But Herod did not use the opportunity he had been given.  

People can look salvation in the face and mock it, as Herod did.  We must be aware of the growing hostility to our Faith and to belief in another world and pray for the conversion of those who hold such views.

 Wednesday in the 25th Week of Ordinary Time, September 27, 2023

Luke 9, 1-6

Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.” Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

“Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases.”  We should notice that “power” and “authority” do not mean the same thing.  For instance, an ordained Catholic priest has the power to confect the sacraments but unless his bishop grants him the authority (which is called “the facilities”) to confect them, he may not do so licitly.  The Lord Jesus gives the Apostles, in this Gospel Reading, the power as well as the authority required in order to expel demons and cure diseases.  Now, it is the Lord Jesus himself who gives them this power and authority.  He does not ask the Father to give it to them.  He gives it by the authority the Father gives him to do this.  But in so doing, also shows himself to be divine, for a mere man cannot do this.  “He sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”  In his merciful love for mankind, the Lord sends the Apostles to preach salvation to the towns and villages he may not visit during the short time of his Public Life, and to cure the sick in it.  In this way, he visits through the persons of the Apostles and not merely in message but in power, for they cure the sick in his name.  Jesus gives them the power and authority to cure the sick and expel demons for the good of those so afflicted, in order to show his love for them, and in order to provide signs of his power, of his divinity, so that the people might believe in him.  

“Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic.”  St. Paul gives a very graphic picture of his work as an Apostle: “(D-R): “in laborious work and pain, in much sleeplessness, in hunger and thirst, in going hungry often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11, 27).  The Apostles do not go before the people as conquerors in regalia but as lowly servants in order to show that they do not come in order to profit, but in order that the people before them may profit.  They live in poverty so that they might enrich, showing their sincerity.  They do not preach the Gospel for their own sake but endure all things in order to preach the Gospel for the sake of others.  “Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.”. That is, Accept whatever hospitality is offered to you, no matter how little it may be, and show your gratitude by continuing there as long as you remain in the town, bringing honor to those who help you — you who preach the Gospel and cure the sick in that place.  This is also a sign that the Apostles do not themselves seek honors or rewards for the good they do, but only glory for their Lord.

“And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.”  Some towns will not receive them, even to listen to what they have to say, and will not bring their sick to the, despite their spreading reputation as healers.  These already reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They choose ignorance and sickness rather than knowledge and grace.  It is one of the great mysteries why a person with nothing to lose by it but eternity to gain would reject the love of God.  We have to wonder at the hold that pride has on a person.  It is as though a person in a building consumed with fire refused to let a fireman help him down a ladder to safety, but would only leave if he could fly out of it on his own, like a bird.  He would rather die in agony than to give up his fantasy that he could take care of himself on his own terms, and that those who offer help at the peril of their own lives deserve their contempt.  Rejecting help, the Apostles were to leave them be and to go elsewhere, putting them out of their minds altogether, which is signified by their shaking the dust of the town’s streets from their feet.

“Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.”  The Apostles went willingly and with zeal.  They preached the simple message the Lord gave them and told the people about the Lord Jesus.  They quoted his sayings and maybe retold his parables.  They drew crowds who wanted to hear them and to be cured.

As baptized Christians, we are commissioned by Christ to carry his Gospel to others.  We do not all do so in the same way, for “there is a diversity of gifts” (1 Corinthians 12, 4) so that some preach, some instruct, some heal, and some pray — for without prayer, no grace is given and the works of the others are impossible to accomplish.  So let us know what our gifts are, our vocations, so that we may carry out the commission of our Lord and return to him in joy.

 Tuesday in the 25th Week of Ordinary Time, September 26, 2023

Luke 8, 19-21

The Mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.” He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”

“The Mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him.”  These words of St. Luke recall for us words that Jesus himself said: “No one can come to me, unless the Father, who has sent me, draw him” (John 6, 44).  Even the Virgin Mother was “drawn” to him.  The message of the Archangel Gabriel drew her to welcome the Holy Spirit in the conception of her Son.  Here, his Mother Mary and some of his male relatives from Nazareth had come to him at Capernaum.  His Mother came in order to follow him, giving up Nazareth entirely.  The motive for his brethren coming is less pious.  St, Mark records in his account of this visit, “And when his family had heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him. For they said: He is become mad” (Mark 3, 21).  Literally, “those of him”: the Greek text is not precise as to who is meant but seems to indicate members of his extended family since they came with Mary.  Now, a few of the Apostles such as James, the son of Alphaeus were related to him.  (We know that this James was related because he was called “the brother of the Lord”).  But St. John’s sad comment applies to the bulk of them: “For neither did his brethren believe in him” (John 7, 5).  “But were unable to join him because of the crowd.”  Luke does not indicate the Lord’s location during this time, but Mark does.  In the verse before St. Mark’s recounting of this visit by his Mother and brethren he writes, “Then he went home” (Mark 3, 19), meaning Capernaum.  He is evidently in Peter’s house again and crowds have come together to hear him.  They fill the house, the courtyard around the house, and the street beyond: “The crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat” (Mark 3, 20).

“Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.”  Luke now uses the word “brothers” to inform us as to whom had come up with Mary.  This is perhaps the only time in her life that a crowd notices her.  A handmaid is supposed to move quietly and quickly in performing her tasks, never drawing attention away from her master or mistress.  Now, we should see here that the male relatives send word to Jesus with the expectation that he would come out to them, or that he would dismiss the crowd so that they could speak privately with him.  They have no intention of waiting for the Lord to dismiss the crowd when he was ready and then to let him know that they had come.  We can imagine the Blessed Virgin attempting to restrain them from this mark of disrespect.

“My Mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”  The Lord Jesus seems to treat his Mother and brethren harshly, almost to disown them, by speaking in this way.  But in his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, St. Ambrose points out that with these words, the One who is to preach, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10, 37), himself practices his own law.  He obeys the Father and leaves all, including his beloved Mother, in order to spend himself for the salvation of the world.  And so he never singles her out for praise and does not speak to her from after the wedding at Cana until he hangs on the Cross, where he broadens her vocation so that she becomes the Mother of the Church.  

“His Mother and his brothers.”  In both the Greek and Hebrew languages, the word we usually translate as “brother” has a more general meaning so as to include any male relative or even fellow residents of a town or city.  Even so, the Greek Orthodox hold that these “brothers” are actually sons of Joseph in an earlier marriage in which the wife died.  But what this shows is that Mary was known to have preserved her virginity throughout her life, cIn fact, the only early Christian to challenged this was Helvidius, who lived in the late 300’s and whose assertion was thoroughly dismantled by St. Jerome, proving the traditional doctrine through minute and accurate examination of the Scriptures.

The Lord Jesus invites us — urges us — to become firm members of his family, to be his mother and brothers and sisters through our doing the will of our Father in heaven: the Lord’s natural Father, and our Father by his gracious adoption of us.

 Monday in the 25th Week of Ordinary Time, September 25, 2023

Luke 8, 16-18

Jesus said to the crowd: “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lamp-stand so that those who enter may see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care, then, how you hear. To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.”

“No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lamp-stand so that those who enter may see the light.”  The Lord points out a piece of common sense and an action performed in houses every day.  Many of the Lord’s teachings use very simple metaphors and similes.  He delights in simplicity.  One day, at the last judgment when all is revealed, we will look back at our lives and wonder at how simple God’s plan for us was.  He marks out such a direct path to our vocation and to heaven, but we insist on taking detours, alleged short-cuts, we make wrong turns — but it really is within the means of all of us to reach the goal of heaven.  It is likewise possible to take the Lord’s simple words here and try to put more into them than belongs there in order to validate some idea of our own.  In this verse the Lord is speaking after he has told the Parable of the Sower in which we learn about the reasons why the Lord’s preaching is not accepted or persevered in.  Now he continues to speak of his preaching, which he does either through his own mouth or through the Apostles and their successors in the years to come.  He calls it “a lit lamp”.  It is to be made known to all the world and not to some some fraction of it, as only to the Jews.  The “room”, then, means the earth.  The preaching is not to be concealed with a vessel of secrecy nor hid under the bed of obscurity — his words are not to be so confused by a preacher that they make no sense at all.  Those who rejoice in the name of “Christian” and preach the Gospel formally as well and those who do so by their ordinary words and actions must themselves be lit lamps after the manner of St. John the Baptist: “He was a burning and a shining light” (John 5, 35).

“For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.”  The one who believes and Jesus Christ and desires to be saved lives a life that will be examined closely by others: both by those who seek a good example to follow and by skeptics who search for hypocrisy and other flaws with which they will attempt to discredit the Lord’s teachings.  For, in this way, they let themselves off the hook of trying to live a virtuous life.  This is how we should understand the verse: “We are made a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men” (1 Corinthians 4, 9).  The Lord cautions: “Take care, then, how you hear.”  That is, Learn carefully what I am teaching you and observe me closely as a model for your lives.

“To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.”  The Lord speaks of our faith here, which lies as the source for our preaching and living.  The one who exercises his faith through good words and deeds will, in effect, receive more faith — he will become stronger in it.  The one whose faith is casual will lose it altogether.  That one may think to himself that he is a Christian and may even have received the sacraments, but “faith without works is dead” (James 2, 26).

Let us then so practice the Faith that it appears bright and glorious to the eyes of those around us.

 The 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday, September 24, 2023

Matthew 20, 1–16

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.”

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.”  We should notice here that the Lord Jesus is not talking here about heaven itself, for throughout the parable until the end, work is going on.  Laborers are hired for a time and then are paid.  This, instead, is about the Church, the Kingdom of God on earth, whose members work in the “vineyard” of the world.  The landowner is the Lord Jesus.  The marketplace to which the landowner goes to hire his workers is the Church.  The laborers are members of the Church.  “After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.”  These laborers are eager to do a full day’s work and so receive a full day’s pay for it.  They recognize that they must obtain food for themselves and that they cannot get it without working.  That is, these are those who wish to become saints so as to eat at the wedding feast in heaven, and they are willing to work hard to achieve this.  The work is great “but the laborers few” (Matthew 9, 37), and so the landowner goes to the marketplace throughout the day to hire more.  Those whom he hires at nine in the morning, then at noon, and at five in the evening are those with less ability or zeal, yet all are members of the Church who strive according to their ability and temperament for the Lord’s banquets.

“Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.”  At sunset, with the work done, all are paid.  The Lord rewards the workers according to his mercy and not according to the standards of the world: all gain eternal life.  He makes his mercy manifest to all  through rewarding first the last-hired — those with less ability or zeal to do the same amount and quality of work the first-hired had.  One of the first-hired complains about the seeming discrepancy in the amount of the rewards given out, but the Lord says to him, “You are not thinking the way God thinks but the way men think” (Matthew 16, 23).  The reward  of the first-hired is in now way affected by the reward of the last-hired.

Now, this may still seem unfair to us.  One way to think about our reward in heaven is of a glass that is filled with water.  It is a large glass and it is filled to the brim.  This glass is a great saint who persevered through persecution and finally suffered martyrdom for the name of Jesus.  As a result of the merit he has built up, so to speak, in his sufferings, his capacity for heaven grows.  We might think of his rank among the blessed as very high.  Another glass, smaller, is also filled to the top.  This is a saint who lived out a simple life in peaceful times, doing good and remaining faithful, and died in bed.  Both saints reign with Jesus in heaven, but one has a greater capacity for its joys than the other.  Both enjoy heaven to their fullest capacity.

Let us always strive for the higher place through persevering humbly in the vineyards of our Lord, working according to his direction: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Ephesians 3, 23-24).

 Saturday in the 24th Week of Ordinary Time, September 23, 2023

Luke 8, 4-15

When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable. “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold.” After saying this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”  Then his disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be. He answered, “Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.  This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. Those on the path are the ones who have heard, but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts that they may not believe and be saved. Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation. As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit. But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.”

St. Luke’s account of the Parable of the Sower runs twelve verses and St. Matthew’s (Matthew 13, 3-23) runs twenty-one.  This occurs largely because Matthew includes dialogue between theLord and his Apostles that Luke either did not hear about from his sources or that he did not think necessary for the Parable’s elucidation.  He may also have not included it in his account because it makes the Parable seem more about why the Jews, particularly, failed to believe in him, whereas Luke, writing for Gentile Christians, saw the lesson as applying to the Gentiles as well.  The question of why the whole world did not leap up at the coming of its Savior and be quick to believe in him puzzled those who did welcome him, and Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke include the Parable in their Gospels because in it the Lord explains the reasons very clearly.  

The Lord reveals the “seed” in his Parable as “the word of God”, which means the content of the Lord’s preaching.  The “sower” is to be understood as the Church, through which the word of God is preached and taught throughout the world by the Lord Jesus.  Alternatively, we can understand the sower as the Lord himself.  The word of God is “sown” in all places, whether likely to produce fruit or not.  Everyone in some way is given the opportunity to accept or reject the word of God.  Some reject his word out of hand because they have chosen to walk on the path of wickedness.  Others receive it at first when it is easy for them to do so but in the rockiness of life they give it up rather than allow it to sustain them.  Some receive it and try to make it fit in with other priorities.  These pick and choose which of Christ’s doctrines they will believe and practice.  They may produce fruit of a kind, but it is immature and amounts to the same worth as if they had not.  It is evident to the believer who these folks are because their works or lack thereof identifies them.  And it is necessary for the faithful to recognize these in order to do whatever is possible to bolster their faith.  These faithful are those who “have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.”  They are fertile soil in that they desire to live virtuous lives and are open to God’s word.  They bear fruit through perseveringly striving to bolster the faith of the weak, teaching it to children as well as adults, and by praying for the conversion of the world.

“Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.”  The Lord uses a figure of speech here: “the knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God” is revealed to the Apostles because they are so zealous for these mysteries that they have left everything behind in order to learn them.  “The rest”, that is, those who are not (yet) committed to the Lord and do not have the capacity for understanding the mysteries.  These, indeed, hear the parables but they do not ask the Lord what they mean: “they may look but not see, and hear but not understand”.  They ponder the parables for a time and then forget them as they go about their daily lives.

To those who are faithful, the Lord Jesus has revealed the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.  We marvel at them, meditate upon them, and hope one day to come face to face with the One who is at the heart of them.

 Friday in the 24th Week of Ordinary Time, September 22, 2023

Luke 8, 1-3

Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.

“Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God.”  The Lord Jesus relentlessly moved from one town or city to another, entering even inconspicuous villages.  Normally he would begin teaching about the Kingdom of God in the local synagogue on the Sabbath.  He might linger at a given place for a few more days, especially if numbers of the sick were brought to him for healing, and if the people pressed him to speak so that he would teach them outside the town where there was room for everyone.  St. Matthew gives the basic contents of his teaching: “Do penance, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4, 17).  From examples drawn from the Gospel of St. Matthew we know that he elaborated on what the Kingdom of heaven was like, and on how to live so as to gain it.  He also preached on the love of God the Father for his children.  Except on certain notable occasions, he did not teach about himself yet.  He did not stay in one place for very long, and most of the time he and his Apostles would have slept out-of-doors.  

However, from the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass, we learn that “Accompanying him were . . . some women . . . who provided for [him] out of their resources.”  That is, they followed the Lord and his Apostles in their own company, listened to him when he taught, and provided money for the food which the Lord and the Apostles ate most days.  Their number and make-up probably changed over time, with some women joining for a time and then returning home and some women continuously present.  The Blessed Virgin Mary would have gone along with them, undistinguished in any way except in her zeal to serve and in her piety.  Some of the other women may not have known who she was, as she never called attention to herself.  An eager Handmaid, she did not speak much, preferring to pay attention to all persons and things around her so that she might serve effectively.  Most of these women, though, “had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities.”  Like St. Peter’s mother-in-law when cured of her affliction, they rose up and served.  

“Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out.”  St. Mark also speaks of this woman as having seven demons expelled from her.  Both Evangelists make this almost casual allusion to what most have been a very dramatic event, but none of them record it.  St. John tells us that she stood with the Virgin Mary and St. John under the Cross at Golgotha, but does not mention this incident.  And all the Evangelists tell us that Mary Magdalene saw the Lord at the time of his Resurrection.  “Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza.”  In Luke 24, 10, we learn that she was one of those who came to the tomb of Jesus with Mary Magdalene to care for the Lord’s Body.  “Susanna”.  The Greek Orthodox Church hands on the tradition that she was one of eight women who bore spices and ointments to the tomb of Christ.  “And many others”.  Among these, we know that the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the Apostles James and John followed him, probably on a fairly regular basis.  There was also a “sister” (a female relative) of the Virgin Mary, also named Mary.

These women “provided for them out of their resources”.  None were rich except in faith, but several of them possessed some means, such as Joanna.  All helped to the extent that they could.  This is also the job of all the faithful: if we listen attentively to the Lord, follow him wherever he leads us, and provide for him and his Church out of our resources, whether through donations or by volunteering, then we shall also see the Risen Lord.