PRI Reflections on Scripture | Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

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Gospel

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, he 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, he 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.”

Reflection

We see the same theme about having to change your way of understanding and seeing. And one of the things that we get caught up in is merit. If we do a lot, we should get a lot. And in life is not that way and the kingdom it's not that way, and so Jesus is trying to say, look, not everybody is going to have to do as much as someone else might have to do, but that’s up to me.

I'm the one in charge. I will tell you. I will show you. I am saying to you, let go of comparison. Don't compare yourself to others. It's not the way in which God is working. He's not engaged with each one equally, but each one is unique. Each story is unique, and God works with each of us where we are.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank you for the gift of understanding that you continually call us into. We need your wisdom, we get caught up in our own mind, our own way of thinking. Awaken us to a new way of thinking, to the way in which the kingdom is intended to be lived. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Kyle Cross