Are you envious because I am generous? The owner says to those hired at sunrise who protested that they did not receive more. The exact translation of this is "Do you view my actions with an evil, jealous eye?" This occurs in the Gospel of Matthew where we also read, "If your eye causes you to sin, then pluck it out." Usually we transfer this phrase to a sexual connotation, but properly applied to the point of today's parable, the Lord is saying, "If you envy generosity to the less fortunate, than you cannot be a Christian." If we do not rejoice in the benefits given to others, then we cut ourselves off from the benefits we have received. As Christians our main concern must be to care for those who have less. That is mercy. “Are you envious because I am generous?” Envy and jealousy are horrible. The jealous person looks for ways to destroy another person’s life. The jealous person usually ends up destroying his own life. Or her own life. The jealous person does not appreciate his own gifts. He can only see the gifts that others have. He hates them for their gifts. And his hatred destroys him. Everybody is different. No two people are the same. We do not have the right to compare or contrast others to ourselves. This parable should also be applied to our view of our relationship to God. God loves the person who is faithful throughout the day. He loves cradle Catholics who practice their faith throughout their lives. He also loves those who come to him during the day and even in the evening. Many people respond to God’s mercy at the end of their lives. God loves them for taking a huge step away from their former lives and for falling into the arms of His Mercy. Literature presents Don Juan who refuse to reject his immoral lifestyle and would rather suffer hell than entrust himself to God[1]. It is a tremendous step of humility to turn from a sinful life and turn to the Lord. God loves those who take this step, even though they join St. Augustine in mourning, “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient ever new. Late have I loved you.”[2] What matters is that they are with him now. God loves cradle Catholics, and he loves converts. He loves those who practice their faith throughout their lives, and he loves those who return to the faith. We rejoice in those who join the faith or return to the faith. We don't consider ourselves superior to them because we are not superior to them. At the end of the gospel reading we come upon the phrase, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” We cannot impose our ways on the Lord. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord[3].” That is from our first reading. We cannot tell God how to be God. We have to do our best to respond to the call to labor in God's vineyard as we have received it. That call demands that we are open to God's mercy in our lives and that we become vehicles for God's mercy in the lives of others. That is Christianity! To act otherwise is to begrudge God for his generosity, or to be scripturally literal, to look upon God's goodness with an evil, jealous eye. The parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard calls upon us to ask God to help us be vehicles of His Mercy • AE
[1] Don Juan, also known as Don Giovanni (Italian), is a legendary, fictional libertine. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, El burlador de Sevilla y El convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest) by Tirso de Molina, and an 1787 opera, Don Giovanni, with music by Mozart and a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. By linguistic extension from the name of the character, "Don Juan" has become a generic expression for a womanizer, and stemming from this, Don Juanism is a non-clinical psychiatric descriptor.
[2] Confessions, Book 10: XXVII, XXXIII XXXIV.
[3] Isaiah 55:8.
…
Fr.
Agustin’s Schedule for September 19-20, 2020.
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saturday,
September 19, 2020.
4.00
p.m. Sacrament of Confession
5.30 p.m. English Mass
@
St. Peter Prince of the Apostles Catholic Church.
Sunday
September 20, 2020.
10.30
a.m. English Mass
@
Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church
(Outdoors
mass)
12.00
p.m. English Mass
@
Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church
(Main
church)
4.
00 p.m. Sacrament of Confession
5.00
p.m. English Mass
@
Trinity University
(Margarite
B. Parker Chapel)
…
XXV Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (Ciclo A)
Menos mal que Dios ni piensa como
nosotros ni usa nuestras medidas! Nosotros queremos un Dios que dé más a quien
más produce y menos a quien rinde menos, que lleve minuciosamente la
contabilidad de cuanto hacemos para pagarnos por ello de modo proporcionado,
equitativo... El Dios que nos presenta la parábola de este domingo es el Dios generoso, el Dios
que no condiciona sus dones a nuestros méritos, el Dios que no espera recibir
para dar, el Dios gratuito que nos ama por nosotros y no por lo que hacemos, el
Dios Padre que nos ha dado a su Hijo sólo porque nos ama y como muestra de su
amor. El Dios de la parábola es el Dios de los pobres, de los que nada tienen y
nada pueden darle, a quienes llama no para que le proporcionen beneficios, sino
porque no pueden proporcionárselo, a quienes ama quizá porque ellos no son
capaces, en su extrema pobreza, ni siquiera de amarle, no porque no quieran,
sino porque nadie les ha enseñado a conocerle y a amarle. El Dios de la
parábola, el Dios de Jesús, es el Dios de la recompensa gratuita, el Dios que
no está obligado a darnos nada y que, sin embargo, nos lo entrega todo, incluido
su propio Hijo. El Dios de la parábola es el Dios-Padre, el Dios-Amor que,
precisamente porque ama, no ve injusto dar a los rendimientos distintos
retribuciones iguales, porque no atiende al rendimiento, sino a las personas en
sí mismas, con sus necesidades y problemas, a sus hijos a quienes ama. Y
precisamente porque ama llama siempre, a todas horas. Buscar trabajadores al
final de una jornada, cuando es poco lo que pueden rendir, no se explica con
criterios de productividad. Pero es que el Dios de Jesús no la busca en
nosotros, nos busca a nosotros. Por eso espera constantemente, por eso nos
llama al comenzar la jornada, en medio de ella y cuando toca a su fin. Lo que
Él busca es nuestra disponibilidad, nuestra buena voluntad, para poder, por su
parte, mostrarnos la suya, el infinito amor que nos tiene.
¡Qué lejos está este Dios de lo que nosotros pensamos de Él! ¡Y qué lejos estamos nosotros de pensar y vivir como Él piensa y vive! Este ser de Dios, este comportamiento para con nosotros, debería ser nuestra meta en relación a Él y a nuestros hermanos: actuar por amor. Estar por encima del utilitarismo materialista que atiende, para dar, a lo que antes hemos recibido. Tener la gran libertad de dar lo nuestro, no a quien se lo merezca, sino a aquél que, por no saber, ni siquiera sabe mostrar amor y agradecimiento. Asi es el Dios que nos revela Jesús. Esta es la cima a la que siempre debemos caminar: "Ser perfectos como mi Padre celestial es perfecto". Y así, en la medida en que nos vayamos pareciendo al propietario de la viña, iremos construyendo en el mundo el Reino de los cielos del que hoy nos habla Jesús: "El Reino de los cielos se parece a un propietario..." • AE
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