[Salvation]

Regnum Christi

The Idle Apostle?

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

September 21, 2014. Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 20:1-16a

Jesus told his disciples this parable: "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o´clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ´You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.´ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o´clock, he did the same. And about five o´clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ´Why are you standing here idle all day?´ They said to him, ´Because no one has hired us.´ He said to them, ´You also go into the vineyard.´ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ´Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.´ When those hired about five o´clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ´These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.´ But he replied to one of them, ´Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?´ So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, you are the author of life and the giver of all that is good. You are the Prince of Peace and my mainstay. You are my healer and the cure itself. I need you, and I need to give you. I love you and commit myself to you entirely, knowing you could never let me down or deceive me. Thank you for giving me your very self.

Petition: Lord Jesus, help me to work in your vineyard alongside you.

1. The Call to Work in the Vineyard: The landowner needs workers for his vineyard. Going out to the marketplace, where there are all kinds of people, he invites all the workers he can find. We are all invited to be apostles in the Lord’s vineyard. Some might think they don’t have enough talent, others that they are just too young to be able to do anything for Christ, and still others that the task is just too much for them. But Christ doesn’t ask for excuses; he asks for workers, generosity and good will. He will take care of the rest. He doesn’t call the prepared; he prepares the called. He is the one who produces the fruits, not us. What a joy and privilege to be called by the Lord to be a worker in his vineyard, especially when we fulfill our task out of love.

2. Turning the Tables: We complain so easily about the problems we see around us: the lack of values, the violence, the evil people do…. Then in our prayer we say to God, “Look at the world. Why don’t you do something about it?” If we were to listen a little more closely to God in prayer, we would probably hear him reply, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” Perhaps we never knew there was something we could do. Perhaps we never had the courage to face the situation and address the matter seriously. Idleness is the one thing the Lord cannot understand. “You also go into the vineyard.” Some are called early; some are called later. It doesn’t matter when, what does matter is to respond the moment we are called.

3. The Surprising Salary: Go ahead and ask the question…. Peter did, in the passage just prior to this parable (Matthew 19:27-30): What can I expect from this? Christ is the best bargain in the marketplace. He promises us the full wage, even if we were called at the last hour. Whatever we “sacrifice” for him, he promises us 100% in this life plus eternal life. So really, the sky is the limit. We have to ask ourselves: What am I willing to give Christ? A few meager dollars, a few fleeting moments of my day, only my “leftover” time? Christ never obliges; he only invites. It is important never to forget that by helping God to save souls we save our own. This is the way to build up a treasure in heaven.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, today I hear your call more clearly than ever. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work in your vineyard. For you I am willing to do anything. I know there will be moments of difficulty and weakness. Give me your grace and strength, and then ask of me what you please. Make me your apostle.

Resolution: I will give as much of today as possible to God by living each moment and activity with intensity and purity of intention. I will offer it all to God out of love.

By Father Barry O’Toole, LC

[Salvation]

Forsaking Me, Seeking Him

Dr. Mark Giszczak

September 21, 2014
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Isaiah 55:6-9
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092114.cfm

One of my favorite quotes says, “The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity” (Leonard Ravenhill). Since we are finite, limited beings, our opportunities are always constrained by time. In fact, it usually seems like there isn’t enough time to do all the things we want to: to exercise, to start a new hobby, to finish an old one, to clean the garage, to organize the drawers. The list goes on. Fortunately, most of the things we put off indefinitely are not that important. We can afford to procrastinate. But in this Sunday’s first reading, the prophet Isaiah warns us that we can’t afford to miss the time-limited opportunity to turn to God. While we have the chance, we should take advantage of it.

Context

This passage falls in the latter part of Isaiah, a favorite stomping ground for the Lectionary. The prophet is conveying the merciful compassion of the Lord who invites his sinful people back to him despite their sins. He calls out, “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!” (Isa 55:1 NAB). This chapter is an invitation to return to God, to repent, to draw near to the one who offers his mercy to those who desperately need it. The Lord’s offer of mercy forecasts a brighter future, but it also draws on themes from the past. The new era to which God invites his people is one that actually renews his “everlasting covenant” with David (55:3). The power of the invitation lies in restoration: God will not cast aside his unfaithful people, but restore them to a loving, covenantal relationship with him.

Forsaking and Seeking

Every turning toward involves a turning away. While Isaiah invites us to “seek” God, that seeking involves a “forsaking.” He announces, “Let the wicked forsake his way…” (55:7 RSV). Just as when Jesus calls his followers, he begins with repentance (“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Matt 3:2) and asks them to leave behind their old priorities and take up their crosses (Matt 10:37), so Isaiah bids the would-be follower to leave behind his old ways. In the same way that pursuing one opportunity of a lifetime involves giving up and forsaking many other possibilities, so turning toward God involves turning away from our old “ways” and “thoughts.” Only by letting go of self-oriented concerns, our sins, our habits of selfish thinking, are we able to open our hearts to the God who invites us away from our boxed-in world of self into a beautiful friendship with him.

Is God Near?

Isaiah makes a big deal about finding God “while he may be found” (55:6 RSV). That might seem odd, since elsewhere the Scripture affirms that God is omnipresent: “If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!” (Ps 139:8 RSV). If God is everywhere, what does it mean for him to be “near” only at certain times? In this case, Isaiah is pointing out that God’s nearness is something he initiates by invitation. God is near because he is giving his people an opportunity to return to him. The opportunity is only temporary. God’s nearness to us, the availability of his presence, the prospect of relationship with him lasts only for a time. In the New Testament, St. Paul affirms the urgency of the moment of opportunity: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2 RSV). The opportunity Isaiah forecasts, Jesus announces, and Paul emphasizes is the same: the opportunity to repent of sin and turn to God so that he might heal us and draw us into communion with himself. St. Jerome says that the limited time is “while you are in the body, when you have an opportunity for penance.” After death, repentance and conversion are no longer possible, so now is a good time, the only time, to turn to God since “he will abundantly pardon” (Isa 55:7 RSV).

High Thoughts

People love to quote this line from Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord” (Isa 55:8 RSV). Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean what we usually think it means. The typical context in which the passage is quoted indicates that God is saying how superior his ways of doing things are over ours—that his acts and decisions are so far beyond our comprehension that they are rightly called inscrutable. Now I don’t mean to suggest that this idea is incorrect (see Rom 11:33 on God’s inscrutable ways), but that’s not what Isaiah means to say here. The “ways” and “thoughts” of God are being compared to the “way” and “thoughts” of the wicked mentioned in v. 7. And in the following verses, we get a description of the effectiveness of God’s word—how it is powerful, irrevocable and always accomplishes its purpose (vv. 10-11). Putting all of this together, we can see that Isaiah is decrying the ineffectiveness, purposelessness, futility of the ways and thoughts of the wicked. Then when he proclaims that God’s ways are “above” our ways, he is emphasizing the effectiveness of God’s intentions. His acts, his aims, his goals come to fruition. While our purposes can be vain and futile, his always succeed.

Conclusion: Responding to the Call

We can apply two principles from this reading. First, we should constantly remember that this life is an opportunity to turn to God—a time-limited, temporary chance to repent and come to love him in a covenantal relationship. While we have the chance, we might as well take advantage of it since God will not be “near” forever. Second, part of the beauty of turning away from our ways to God is that we give up on the futility of self-seeking and sin, the utter silliness of pursuing our own plans apart from God, of trying to be like God on our own. By turning toward him, we get caught up in his superior “ways” and “thoughts.” Our feeble, ineffective self-seeking is turned inside out, transformed into a selfless life of love, lived out in relationship with the One whose ways truly are higher than ours. As the Second Vatican Council taught, man “cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself” (Gaudium et Spes, sec. 24).