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Facebook @FloridaCatholic Sept. 18-24, 2020
SUNDAY WORD and SCRIPTURE
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Thursday, Sept. 17 1 Cor 15:1-11; Ps 118:1B-2, 16AB-17, 28; Lk 7:36-50 Friday, Sept. 18 1 Cor 15:12-20; Ps 17:1BCD, 6-7, 8B AND 15; Lk 8:1-3 Saturday, Sept. 19 1 Cor 15:35-37, 42-49; Ps 56:10C-12, 13-14; Lk 8:4-15 Sunday, Sept. 20 Is 55:6-9; Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18; Phil1:20C-24, 27A; Mt 20:1-16A Monday, Sept. 21 Feast of St. Matthew, apostle and evangelist Eph 4:1-7, 11-13; Ps 19:2-3, 4-5; Mt 9:9-13 Tuesday, Sept. 22 Prv 21:1-6, 10-13; Ps 119:1, 27, 30, 34, 35, 44; Lk 8:19-21 Wednesday, Sept. 23 Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina, priest Prv 30:5-9; Ps 119:29, 72, 89, 101, 104, 163; Lk 9:1-6 Thursday, Sept. 24 Eccl 1:2-11; Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12- 13, 14 AND 17BC; Lk 9:7-9 Friday, Sept. 25 Eccl 3:1-11; Ps 144:1B AND 2ABC, 3-4; Lk 9:18-22 Saturday, Sept. 26 Eccl 11:9-12:8; Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 AND 17; Lk 9:43B-45 Sunday, Sept. 27 Ez 18:25-28; PS 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14; PHIL 2:1-11 OR 2:1-5; Mt 21:28-32
SCRIPTURE readings
SUNDAY WORD
Father Alfredo Hernndez
J O A N N A V A L C A N A O B E Y E C A R D A N O N H O A X P R I E S L A D D N E E W H E N J A M E S S A C R E D S P A I N L A W A R I S E S C H E A P M E T E R S I N B O N D D E C A Y N I N E C O G J A S O N L A S S O D R E A M S H A B O N K E Y C E N S U S T A S T E D E A D R T E E L S E S P E N T A B E L A V E R T O R S O M A I M L A D S Y E M E N I N N S
m o c . s c i l o h t a c r o f s e m a g d r o w . w w w
Sunday, Sept. 20 Is 55:6-9; Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18; Phil1:20C-24, 27A; Mt 20:1-16A
That's not fair!" This is a common response to the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Mt 20:1-16). No matter how Jesus tries to explain it, how can the workers who only spent an hour in the field get paid the same as those who worked all day long? Where's the justice? Yet as we read in our first reading from the prophet Isaiah, God's ways and thoughts are far beyond our ways and thoughts (Is 55:8). Among Jesus's listeners and among the readers of Matthew's Gospel there must have been some who were jealous of the tax collec- tors and prostitutes Jesus had for- given and brought into his group of disciples. But with his wonder- ful and amazing gaze, God is gen- erous to each and every one of us. He does not want to leave anyone out. Even today, we can sometimes be jealous of those who experience deathbed conversions and seem to make it into heaven just the same as those who have struggled to live their whole lives in faithfulness. What are we missing when we take this attitude? First, as Jesus clearly indicates, we're missing the point that it's up to God to give what he wills to all who come into his vineyard: "Are you envious because I am generous?" (Mt 20:15) In the end, to allow God to be generous is to allow him to be generous to us as well-especially in his mercy towards us. I re- member hearing a wise priest say once: "When I die, I'm not going to say to God, 'Please be fair.'" The Catechism of the Catholic Church, citing Vatican II's Lumen Gen- tium , describes the Church using many images. One of these im- ages is relevant to our topic: "The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God-. That land, like a choice vineyard, has been planted by the heavenly cultivator. Yet the true vine is Christ who gives life and fruitfulness to the branches, that is, to us, who through the Church remain in Christ, without whom we can do nothing" (CCC #754; Lumen Gentium #6). When we think of the Church as the vine- yard and Christ as the vine giving us life, the dynamic of this parable changes. The complaining day laborers of this parable have been compared to the elder son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:29-30). In both cases, the argument ends up being: "I've been working so hard, and your generosity to the other blockheads is unfair to me." In both cases, the point the com- plainers miss is that working in the vineyard is good. It is a blessing to be working with and in Christ in the Church. There is a price, no doubt, and in the succeeding pas- sage in Matthew, Jesus will predict his passion for the third time (Mt 20:17-19). But no one who joins Christ in the Kingdom will say that he or she wished to have spent less time in Christ's vineyard on earth. Rather, he or she will realize that in Christ's vineyard on earth one al- ready begins to taste heaven. A question to widows or widow- ers from long and happy marriages might help us. Let's say you were married 60 years: if you were given a chance to say that you could have met your spouse 40 years later than in reality and you would have been just as happy for twenty years with him or her as you were in your last 20 years of marriage, would you
God is generous to each and every one of us
ever forgo the first 40 years-even if there were tough moments along the way? Would you not rather choose more time together, even with challenges? In today's Second Reading (Phil 1:20c-24; 27a), St. Paul wonders whether continuing to live out his mission on earth is best for him. He certainly knew that being in the vineyard was good as much as he would rejoice in the life of heaven: For to me life is Christ, and death is gain" (1:21). Today's readings invite us to rejoice in God's gen- erosity towards others instead of resenting it. Even more, they help us to see that we are truly blessed by every moment we spend in the vineyard of the Lord: "For to me life is Christ."
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Father Alfredo Hernandez is Acting Rector/President of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boyton Beach.
Pope Francis: Protests must be nonviolent; governments must respect rights
CINDY WOODEN
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY Expressing his concern about demonstrations tak- ing place in many countries around the world, Pope Francis appealed for nonviolence, dialogue and the guarantee of civil rights. In these weeks, we are witness- ing numerous popular protests all over the world - in many places - expressing the increasing unrest of civil society in the face of particu- larly critical political and social sit- uations," the pope said Sept. 13 after reciting the Angelus prayer. While I urge the demonstrators to present their demands peace- fully, without giving in to the temp- tation of aggression and violence," he said, "I appeal to all those with public and governmental responsi- bilities to listen to the voice of their fellow citizens and to meet their just aspirations, ensuring full respect for human rights and civil liberties." The pope did not mention any specific city or country. However, two days earlier he had dispatched his foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, to Minsk, Belarus, to show his closeness to the people and his support of the local church. Thousands of people have been demonstrating daily since Presi- dent Alexander Lukashenko, in power already for 26 years, claimed Aug. 9 that he had won reelection again. Hundreds of people have been arrested, and the country's main opposition leaders have been forced into exile. Pope Francis also may have had in mind the ongoing protests in the U.S. over police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and more than a year of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. In areas where there are protests, the pope asked Catholic communi- ties, and especially their pastors, "to work for dialogue - always in favor of dialogue - and in favor of recon- ciliation." Also after his recitation of the Angelus, the pope spoke to visitors in St. Peter's Square about the fires Sept. 9 that destroyed the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, displacing some 12,000 asylum-seekers and, as the pope said, leaving them "without a shel- ter, even a precarious one."
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