October 1
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ez 18:25-28
Phil 2:1-11
Mt 21:28-32
by Br. Michael Taffe, OSB
The readings today, in my mind, focus on the virtue of
humility. The word, humility, comes from the Latin, humus, which means ground, earth, or soil. In essence, maintaining and cultivating the virtue of humility means that we have our feet on the ground; we know who we are in the sight of God and we are not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes with a false image of ourselves.
In the first reading, from the prophet Ezekiel, we are reminded that we are to live a life of virtue and if we don’t, we will die! We are the ones who, with grace, know what is right and wrong and we shouldn’t blame God when we do something bad. In the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians, we are also reminded that Jesus walked in humility, “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us the parable of the two sons. Both are asked to go out and work in the vineyard. The first responded, “no” and later went out. The second responded, “yes” and yet did not go out to work. Jesus tells us the meaning of the parable that often the obvious sinners such as tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of Heaven while more obvious righteous people are not!
St. Benedict, in his Rule for Monks, gives us a path to follow as we strive for union with Christ through humility. One of the longer chapters in the Rule, Chapter 7 On Humility, provides 12 steps of humility for the monk to follow as he strives to seek God. St. Benedict writes, “after ascending all these steps of humility, he will quickly arrive at the perfect love of God which casts our fear.” May these readings for this Sunday also help you cultivate this important virtue of humility.
September 24
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 55:6-9
Phil 1:20c-24, 27a
Mt 20: 1-16a
–Brother Bertrand Vogleweide, OSB
I find it amazing how we, as human beings, can be so
preoccupied with fairness, not in the sense of impartial and just treatment, but in the sense of each of us getting our fair share. Slice the hotdog in equal portions!
There is a song from the l970s by Seals & Crofts entitled “My Fair Share” with the refrain: “Lost without love and care, I must have my fair share. . . . fair is an honored promise, Justice if you’re still there. I will have my fair share.” The song goes on to explain that Justice is a lady in a long white gown. I will assume that the song refers to Lady Justice, the blindfolded woman who holds a set of scales, a symbol of justice, reigning over judgment of the dead by weighing their hearts. Or so it was with her in ancient Egypt. From Roman times onward, the scales represent impartiality, and the sword she carries symbolizes power. The song, however, circles back to “My Fair Share,” going to someone lost without love and care. Perhaps we all feel a bit lost and unloved. And maybe that’s why the vineyard workers in today’s Gospel felt cheated because everyone received the same wages, those who worked all day as well as those who worked only two hours. In this case, the hotdog in equal portions is not fair! And so it would seem that the Gospel story requires of us a magnanimity that goes beyond what most human beings demand for themselves. We must be generous, as God is generous, and uncomplaining about our portion.
September 17
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sir 27:30 to 28:7
Rom 14:7-9
Mt 18: 21-35
By Fr. Boniface Mugglie, OSB
That poor fool of a debtor! I must say, first, how weak
this translation is, obscuring the king’s generosity. “A huge amount”? Ten thousand talents is some 500,000 pounds, probably silver. Or, in modern terms, near a hundred million dollars? Anything that can be done to pay it is inadequate, whether selling the man and his whole family and property, or the man’s own efforts to pay it back in a human lifetime. And yet, the king writes the debt off. (I hope a modern banker will do that next time a loan comes due!) Having benefited from this astonishing mercy, the man bumps into a fellow servant who owes “a hundred day’s (unskilled) wages”–perhaps $5000 or $10,000? And, when the fellow servant uses his very same plea back to him, he refuses. He insists on immediate payment, with all the outcomes that he himself has just escaped. He doesn’t see the irony–perhaps not until the king restores his debt on the same terms his fellow servant received.
Our Christian faith has been said to be notable in its description of love as the highest human good. I find this only partially true. It is true that our faith holds up a radical love, love for all others, love even for those who do not love you. Then again, plenty of religions and philosophies have identified some form of love as the highest human good, from Greek philia to rabbinical debates (see Maimonides) to Hindu and Native American thought. The differences from Christian love include who is worthy of being loved, and how to serve them. The basic idea is not quite as rare as has been often claimed.
A better mark of our Christian faith is the duty to forgive–as in Peter’s question and this parable, and even in the prayer we repeat daily: the “Lord’s Prayer,” in which we ask our Father in heaven to “forgive us–as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” If we still refuse, we may regret being such a poor fool of a debtor.
September 10
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ez 33:7-9
Rom 13:8-10
Mt 18: 15-20
By Abbot Patrick Moore, OSB
The readings today tell us that we are called to be
watchers, spies, if you will, that is, spies for God, watching over those who stray. This makes a squirm a bit; it sounds too much like we’re supposed to butt into other people’s business. We all know we don’t like people who are critics and gossips and are eager to point out the faults of those around them.
The readings today tells us that somehow we are responsible for one another: we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. The basic law here is , as St. Paul describes it, “don’t owe anyone anything except to love one another.” And correction should stem from that. That is exactly what Jesus is telling us in today’s gospel. So how do we put that into practice? Well, we start with ourselves. The world is God’s, and God has not forsaken it. The fulfillment of the whole law is our love for one another; hence, justice and peace will come in our time only if we first of all watch ourselves and then one another.
We are not independent of one another; we are responsible for one another. Our very freedom depends on the degree to which we bind ourselves in service to one another. We are members of one another and ministers of the gospel to our friends and family, our co-workers and congregations. A concern for all things human, a love for all God’s creatures is what we are called to.
As with all things Christian, the task begins with the self–our care, our watchfulness, starts with you and me individually. If there is a word to describe it best, I think it would be responsibility: responsibility for our own actions and then for others’. Responsibility will entail maturity and pain, but we participate in God’s love and care for us as we learn to watch and care for one another.