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Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s parable is more about generosity of God than about working conditions. The story is more about the supreme goodness of God than about wage settlements.
The punch line of the parable is: “I intend to give this man who was hired last the same pay. I am free to do as I please with my money, am I not? Or are you envious because I am generous?” What we see here is the behavior of a large-hearted man who is compassionate and full of sympathy for the poor. One hour’s wage would not be enough to feed these families. So he pays them a full day wage.
If we cry for justice that we worked all day in the heat of the sun, then we miss the point of the parable. This is a story about God’s goodness not about labor-relation guidelines.
Jesus wants us to see that the owner is what God looks like. He is all goodness and compassion, all mercy and generosity. Jesus is telling us that when God does something, He does it in a big way—with extravagance and generosity, with flair and foolishness.
We need to praise God for always giving us more than what we are entitled to; for forgiving us more than we deserve; for blessing us with more than we are worthy of.
My friends, we need to pray each day and ask God that we may be more generous with each other—by not just forgiving offenses, but also by forgetting them; by not just fulfilling our duties, but by offering to do more; by not just doing what is expected of us, but also by doing the unexpected that delights people so much.
God Bless,
Msgr. Powell
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twenty fourth sunday in ordinary time
Today’s parable is occasioned by Peter’s question about the limits we should set on forgiveness: “How often must I forgive my brother?”
Jesus’ parable makes clear that we often times forget how extravagant God has been with the frequency and the immensity of his forgiveness to us. Perhaps this is because we become preoccupied with the pain other people inflict on us when they wrong us in some way.
Besides remembering our own sinfulness, Jesus insists that we forgive from the heart. We might wonder how we can do that.
C.S. Lewis says that loving our enemies does not mean feeling fond of them or pretending that they are not such bad people after all. Loving and forgiving our enemies does mean however, to wish that they were not so bad, to hope that they may be healed and cured and to will them good.
It was in this spirit that Jesus prayed on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
God Bless,
Msgr. Powell