Homily OT (A) 25th Sunday - Laborers in the Vineyard

Core Message:

FOR THE MIND: What do I want them to KNOW?

· It’s NOT TOO LATE for anyone to reach the reward of the kingdom of heaven.

FOR THE HEART: What do I want them to FEEL?

· JOY because God is gracious and merciful

· DESIRE to labor out of LOVE for a God who is so good and generous

Homily

What will it take for some people to give themselves to God?

· Some are in the eleventh hour of their lives and still haven’t found him.

· As the days, months, and years go by, we agonize over our loved ones who are far from God.

When I entered the seminary, my grandfather was 87 years old, and he still wasn’t a Christian.

· TIME. WAS. TICKING. What would it take?

What will it take for some people to find the Master of the House?

· A desire for divine justice that will balance out our broken world? Maybe!

· A stern warning of the severe punishment that awaits the unfaithful? Maybe!

· The gentle power of God’s mercy? Yes! This above all.

The most persuasive force is the attraction of love.

· Gentle power: the paradox of the Cross!

· When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself.

Today’s Psalm sings about the deepest source of our JOY:

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy.

The Lord is good to all, compassionate toward all your works.

Herein lies the power to move mountains: DIVINE MERCY made manifest in Jesus!

· But have we let him lavish us with love?

· Or are we too busy grumbling?

Israel (described, by the way, as God’s vineyard in Isaiah 5) was great at grumbling!

· God had busted them out of slavery like a mighty warrior!

· But, as they wandered through the wilderness, they couldn’t look past their own noses to see (much less celebrate) their own liberty.

· Instead, they were consumed in complaints because they were looking more for the consolation of God than for the God of consolation.

In today’s parable, the early-birds grumble against the Master of the House.

· They, too, value the gift more than the Giver, not realizing that He is the greatest Gift of all.

· Their selfishness snuffs out their own joy even though they were the biggest beneficiaries of the Master’s generosity.

· How tragic to be self-absorbed! How sad and self-defeating!

· We’ve witnessed it a thousand times: pride kills joy. Indeed, the first will be last.

On the other hand, as the Second Reading shows, how glorious to discover mercy!

· How liberating to find redemption, even at the last hour!

· St. Paul would recall how he was like one untimely born (1 Cor 15:8), called by God at such a late juncture, compared to others.

· He may have punched in late, but he would not clock out too soon!

· Though he knew that “to die is gain,” he longed to labor as long as he could in God’s vineyard.

For to me life is Christ…If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me…

that I remain [in] the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.

My friend Francesca is one of the most fervent, joyful souls that I know.

· She was once a fashion model, but she gave that up to work for Catholic television.

· She is always saying, “How good it is to work in God’s vineyard!”

· She has learned to relish the paradox: his yoke is easy, his burden is light (Matt 11:30).

· Have we? Do we thank God for this gift: time to work for our wage before Pay Day comes?

My grandfather (87) was baptized along with a baby (2 months old)

· What a beautiful sight: God never gives up on us! It’s never too late to enter the kingdom.

· When do you want your true life to begin?

· How long will I stand idle when a great God of mercy is calling me to fruitfulness?

This is good news: everyone is invited; even the gentiles are offered a place in the kingdom

· In the new and everlasting covenant, Christ beckons one and all to come home to him.

· Yes, Israel is his firstborn son, but now God has opened wide the doors of his covenant family

· Slow to anger, rich in compassion: in the fullness of time, he took flesh, died, rose from the dead, and commissioned his church to baptize all nations.

· Immersed into divine life, we possess the pearl of great price. We have good news to proclaim.

Will we remain idle? Will we sit on our treasure?

· Or, moved by mercy and consumed with joy, will we cry out like the prophet:

· Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.

· In other words: TIME. IS. TICKING.

You who have been hired, what is the message a world in darkness needs to hear?

· God is powerful and can fix what is broken? Sure, that’s impressive.

· God is just and will punish the infidel? Ok, fear might motivate.

But do not empty the Cross of its power!

· God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy.

· This is what Christ’s Cross powerfully proclaims: the infinite love of God!

· When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself.

· Love Crucified, above all, has the power to move hearts.

Paradoxically, in mercy, we find true justice:

· As Saint John Paul II has said, “True mercy is, so to speak, the most profound source of justice. … love and only love (including that kindly love that we call “mercy”) is capable of restoring man to Himself.

Love is what restored my grandfather at 87 years old, and he rejoiced

· You should have seen him smile, soaked in his long white alb!

· His life was as new as the infant by his side!

· How sweet is God’s mercy! How dignifying to labor in love for his kingdom!

· I believe that each of us is called to bring that smile to someone’s face…

Which is why we must be fed from this altar with Bread that comes from heaven.

· As we walk through the wilderness, we need strength to do divine deeds.

· Let us not grumble for our God has been exceedingly good, despite our waywardness.

· Rather, may he consume us as we consume him.

· When we eat this bread and drink this cup, may we become what he is.

Ready your hearts now to receive him

· Pay Day is here and it is much more than a denarius you are about to receive.

· The God of consolation descends from his throne that his kingdom might come to your heart.

· At this Eucharist, may divine mercy flow out of from heaven and flood the earth that we might continue to labor in love.

Readings

Sunday, September 24, 2017 | Ordinary Time

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A | Roman Missal | Lectionary

First Reading Isaiah 55:6–9

Response Psalm 145:18a

Psalm Psalm 145:2–3, 8–9, 17–18

Second Reading Philippians 1:20c–24, 27a

Gospel Acclamation Acts 16:14b

Gospel Matthew 20:1–16a

First Reading

Isaiah 55:6–9

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found,

call upon him while he is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake their way,

and sinners their thoughts;

Let them turn to the Lord to find mercy;

to our God, who is generous in forgiving.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

nor are your ways my ways—oracle of the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways,

my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Response

Psalm 145:18a

18 The Lord is near to all who call upon him,

to all who call upon him in truth.

Psalm

Psalm 145:2–3, 8–9, 17–18

2 Every day I will bless you;

I will praise your name forever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord and worthy of much praise,

whose grandeur is beyond understanding.

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in mercy.

9 The Lord is good to all,

compassionate toward all your works.

17 The Lord is just in all his ways,

merciful in all his works.

18 The Lord is near to all who call upon him,

to all who call upon him in truth.

Second Reading

Philippians 1:20c–24, 27a

20 My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. 22 If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. 23 I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, [for] that is far better. 24 Yet that I remain [in] the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.

27 Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear news of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind struggling together for the faith of the gospel,

Gospel Acclamation

Acts 16:14b

14 One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.

Gospel

Matthew 20:1–16a

1 “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ 5 So they went off. [And] he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. 6 Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ 8 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.’ 9 When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. 10 So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, 12 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.’ 13 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? 14 Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? 15 [Or] am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Roman Missal

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Entrance Antiphon

I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord.

Should they cry to me in any distress,

I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever.

Collect

O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law

upon love of you and of our neighbor,

grant that, by KEEPING your PRECEPTS,

we may MERIT to attain ETERNAL LIFE[FADL1] .

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer over the Offerings

Receive with favor, O Lord, we pray,

the offerings of your people,

that what they profess with devotion and faith

may be theirs through these heavenly mysteries.

Through Christ our Lord.

Communion Antiphon [Ps 119 (118):4–5]

You have laid down your precepts to be carefully kept;

may my ways be firm in keeping your statutes.

Or: [Jn 10:14]

I am the Good Shepherd, says the Lord;

I know my sheep, and mine know me.

Prayer after Communion

Graciously raise up, O Lord,

those you renew with this Sacrament,

that we may come to possess your redemption

both in mystery and in the manner of our life.

Through Christ our Lord.

CCC

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

CCC 210-211: God of mercy and piety

210 After Israel’s sin, when the people had turned away from God to worship the golden calf, God hears Moses’ prayer of intercession and agrees to walk in the midst of an unfaithful people, thus demonstrating his love. When Moses asks to see his glory, God responds “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name ‘the Lord’ [Yhwh].” Then the Lord passes before Moses and proclaims, “Yhwh, Yhwh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”; Moses then confesses that the Lord is a forgiving God. (2116, 2577)

211 The divine name, “I Am” or “He Is,” expresses God’s faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men’s sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps “steadfast love for thousands.” By going so far as to give up his own Son for us, God reveals that he is “rich in mercy.”22 By giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus reveals that he himself bears the divine name: “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that ‘I Am.’ ” (604)

CCC 588-589: Jesus identifies his compassion to sinners with God’s

588 Jesus scandalized the Pharisees by eating with tax collectors and sinners as familiarly as with themselves. Against those among them “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others,” Jesus affirmed: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”365 He went further by proclaiming before the Pharisees that, since sin is universal, those who pretend not to need salvation are blind to themselves. (545)

589 Jesus gave scandal above all when he identified his merciful conduct toward sinners with God’s own attitude toward them. He went so far as to hint that by sharing the table of sinners he was admitting them to the messianic banquet.368 But it was most especially by forgiving sins that Jesus placed the religious authorities of Israel on the horns of a dilemma. Were they not entitled to demand in consternation, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” By forgiving sins Jesus either is blaspheming as a man who made himself God’s equal or is speaking the truth, and his person really does make present and reveal God’s name.370 (431; 1441; 432)

Notes

First and Last: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (link)

The house of Israel is the vine of God – who planted and watered it, preparing the Israelites to bear fruits of righteousness (see Isaiah 5:7; 27:2-5).

Israel failed to yield good fruits and the Lord allowed His vineyard, Israel’s kingdom, to be overrun by conquerors (see Psalm 80:9-20). But God promised that one day He would replant His vineyard and its shoots would blossom to the ends of the earth (see Amos 9:15; Hosea 14:5-10).

This is the biblical backdrop to Jesus’ parable of salvation history in today’s Gospel. The landowner is God. The vineyard is the kingdom. The workers hired at dawn are the Israelites, to whom He first offered His covenant. Those hired later in the day are the Gentiles, the non-Israelites, who, until the coming of Christ, were strangers to the covenants of promise (see Ephesians 2:11-13). In the Lord’s great generosity, the same wages, the same blessings promised to the first-called, the Israelites, will be paid to those called last, the rest of the nations.

This provokes grumbling in today’s parable. Doesn’t the complaint of those first laborers sound like that of the older brother in Jesus’ prodigal son parable (see Luke 15:29-30)? God’s ways, however, are far from our ways, as we hear in today’s First Reading. And today’s readings should caution us against the temptation to resent God’s lavish mercy.

Like the Gentiles, many will be allowed to enter the kingdom late – after having spent most of their days idling in sin.

But even these can call upon Him and find Him near, as we sing in today’s Psalm. We should rejoice that God has compassion on all whom He has created. This should console us, too, especially if we have loved ones who remain far from the vineyard.

Our task is to continue laboring in His vineyard. As Paul says in today’s Epistle, let us conduct ourselves worthily, struggling to bring all men and women to the praise of His name.

Aquinas on Grace and Merit

Whether a man in grace can merit eternal life condignly?

2283 Objection: 1. It would seem that a man in grace cannot merit eternal life condignly, for the Apostle says (Rm 8,18): "The sufferings of this time are not worthy [condignae] to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us." But of all meritorious works, the sufferings of the saints would seem the most meritorious. Therefore no works of men are meritorious of eternal life condignly. 2. Further, on Rm 6,23, "The grace of God, life everlasting," a gloss says: "He might have truly said: 'The wages of justice, life everlasting'; but He preferred to say 'The grace of God, life everlasting,' that we may know that God leads us to life everlasting of His own mercy and not by our merits." Now when anyone merits something condignly he receives it not from mercy, but from merit. Hence it would seem that a man with grace cannot merit life everlasting condignly. 3. Further, merit that equals the reward, would seem to be condign. Now no act of the present life can equal everlasting life, which surpasses our knowledge and our desire, and moreover, surpasses the charity or love of the wayfarer, even as it exceeds nature. Therefore with grace a man cannot merit eternal life condignly. On the contrary What is granted in accordance with a fair judgment, would seem a condign reward. But life everlasting is granted by God, in accordance with the judgment of justice, according to 2Tm 4,8: "As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me in that day." Therefore man merits everlasting life condignly. I answer that Man's meritorious work may be considered in two ways: first, as it proceeds from free-will; secondly, as it proceeds from the grace of the Holy Ghost. If it is considered as regards the substance of the work, and inasmuch as it springs from the free-will, there can be no condignity because of the very great inequality. But there is congruity, on account of an equality of proportion: for it would seem congruous that, if a man does what he can, God should reward him according to the excellence of his power.If, however, we speak of a meritorious work, inasmuch as it proceeds from the grace of the Holy Ghost moving us to life everlasting, it is meritorious of life everlasting condignly. For thus the value of its merit depends upon the power of the Holy Ghost moving us to life everlasting according to Jn 4,14: "Shall become in him a fount of water springing up into life everlasting." And the worth of the work depends on the dignity of grace, whereby a man, being made a partaker of the Divine Nature, is adopted as a son of God, to whom the inheritance is due by right of adoption, according to Rm 8,17: "If sons, heirs also." Reply to Objection: 1. The Apostle is speaking of the substance of these sufferings. 2. This saying is to be understood of the first cause of our reaching everlasting life, viz. God's mercy. But our merit is a subsequent cause. 3. The grace of the Holy Ghost which we have at present, although unequal to glory in act, is equal to it virtually as the seed of a tree, wherein the whole tree is virtually. So likewise by grace of the Holy Ghost dwells in man; and He is a sufficient cause of life everlasting; hence, 2Co 1,22, He is called the "pledge" of our inheritance.

Whether grace is the principle of merit through charity rather than the other virtues?

2284 Objection: 1. It would seem that grace is not the principle of merit through charity rather than the other virtues. For wages are due to work, according to Mt 20,8: "Call the laborers and pay them their hire." Now every virtue is a principle of some operation, since virtue is an operative habit, as stated above (Question [55], Article [2]). Hence every virtue is equally a principle of merit. 2. Further, the Apostle says (1Co 3,8): "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his labor." Now charity lessens rather than increases the labor, because as Augustine says (De Verbis Dom., Serm. lxx), "love makes all hard and repulsive tasks easy and next to nothing." Hence charity is no greater principle of merit than any other virtue. 3. Further, the greatest principle of merit would seem to be the one whose acts are most meritorious. But the acts of faith and patience or fortitude would seem to be the most meritorious, as appears in the martyrs, who strove for the faith patiently and bravely even till death. Hence other virtues are a greater principle of merit than charity. On the contrary Our Lord said (Jn 14,21): "He that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father; and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him." Now everlasting life consists in the manifest knowledge of God, according to Jn 17,3: "This is eternal life: that they may know Thee, the only true" and living "God." Hence the merit of eternal life rests chiefly with charity. I answer that As we may gather from what has been stated above (Article [1]), human acts have the nature of merit from two causes: first and chiefly from the Divine ordination, inasmuch as acts are said to merit that good to which man is divinely ordained. Secondly, on the part of free-will, inasmuch as man, more than other creatures, has the power of voluntary acts by acting by himself. And in both these ways does merit chiefly rest with charity. For we must bear in mind that everlasting life consists in the enjoyment of God. Now the human mind's movement to the fruition of the Divine good is the proper act of charity, whereby all the acts of the other virtues are ordained to this end, since all the other virtues are commanded by charity. Hence the merit of life everlasting pertains first to charity, and secondly, to the other virtues, inasmuch as their acts are commanded by charity. So, likewise, is it manifest that what we do out of love we do most willingly. Hence, even inasmuch as merit depends on voluntariness, merit is chiefly attributed to charity. Reply to Objection: 1. Charity, inasmuch as it has the last end for object, moves the other virtues to act. For the habit to which the end pertains always commands the habits to which the means pertain, as was said above (Question [9], Article [1]). 2. A work can be toilsome and difficult in two ways: first, from the greatness of the work, and thus the greatness of the work pertains to the increase of merit; and thus charity does not lessen the toil---rather, it makes us undertake the greatest toils, "for it does great things, if it exists," as Gregory says (Hom. in Evang. xxx). Secondly, from the defect of the operator; for what is not done with a ready will is hard and difficult to all of us, and this toil lessens merit and is removed by charity. 3. The act of faith is not meritorious unless "faith . . . worketh by charity" (Ga 5,6). So, too, the acts of patience and fortitude are not meritorious unless a man does them out of charity, according to 1Co 13,3: "If I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."

Tacklebox

Only Mercy restores Man

True mercy is, so to speak, the most profound source of justice. If justice is in itself suitable for “arbitration” between people concerning the reciprocal distribution of objective goods in an equitable manner, love and only love (including that kindly love that we call “mercy”) is capable of restoring man to Himself.[1]

~ John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, 14 (1980)

[1] John Paul II. (1980). Dives in Misericordia. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

[FADL1]Is this a commentary on the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard? Is “working” like “keeping precepts”? Is the “wage” like “merit”? Is the parable about “the kingdom of heaven” really about “eternal life”?

Matthew’s passage doesn’t have any of the following words: keeping, precepts, merit, eternal life.

Is the Collect completely disconnected from the Gospel?

No. The passage ends with “the last will be first, and the first last.” See Matthew 19:30. The passage of the Rich Young Man doesn’t just end in the same way; it was introduced in the same way, by a reference to the kingdom of heaven (cf. 19:23) or the kingdom of God. It was inherit eternal life.