September 20
Sunday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Give a Mass Offering
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
“The Lord is near to all who call upon him.”
Readings & Reflection
Our need for love and appreciation by others is unquestioned. This love and appreciation gives meaning and motion to our lives. In the gospel today, those hired first who labored under the heat of the day do not feel appreciated! Indeed, they feel cheated and used.
If we are honest, we too may feel cheated. Imagine the person in the family or the co-worker that always seems to have an easier time in life than you do. Do we accuse God of not being fair to us when this occurs? If we do, we must remember that someone else probably thinks the same about us. It is the old idea that the grass is always greener on the other side.
The workers in the gospel who worked the entire day may not have understood. The landowners, not offering them work, rejected them and caused them to suffer. Imagine how appreciated they felt when they received a full day’s pay!
Let us consider our own sin today. Christ forgives our sins; we know that. We will ultimately see the kingdom of God. Does it really matter if we feel appreciated all the time? Does it matter if those around us seem to have an easier life than we do? I suggest that it does not and should not matter. What is important is that we all appreciate the goodness of God.
Peace,
Fr. John Kurgan
Would you like to receive Readings & Reflections, and a link to join us for Mass? Subscribe to The Daily Bread newsletter.