Vol. 38  No. 51             SEPTEMBER 18, 2011               Cycle  A    XXV  SUNDAY  OF  THE  YEAR   Do you grudge my generosity?     ENTRANCE ANTIPHON I am the Saviour of all people, says the Lord. Whatever their troubles, I will answer their cry, and I will always be their Lord. PENITENTIAL RITE God’s generosity transcends human generosity. In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, Jesus faces up to his critics. What Jesus teaches us is that the infinite mercy and love of God are for all people. His mercy and love cannot be earned or merited or bought with any price. Our “work” is to accept it gratefully and respond to it—by being faithful to our Christian vocation, by loving sincerely and caring for one another, especially the needy. Let us ask forgiveness, from God and one another, for our failures. (Pause) I confess… Glory to God… OPENING PRAYER Father, guide us, as you guide creation according to your law of love. May we love one another and come to perfection in the eternal life prepared for us. Grant this… FIRST READING (The prophet tells the exiles in Babylon to turn to the Lord for mercy, for He is generous and forgiving.) A reading from the Book of Isaiah   (55:6-9) “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” This is the Word of the Lord PSALM    (144) Response: The Lord is close to all who call him. I will bless you day after day and praise your name for ever. The Lord is great, highly to be praised, his greatness cannot be measured. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love. How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures. The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds. He is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts. SECOND READING (St Paul, writing from prison, confesses that he is torn between two desires: to die and be with Christ, and to continue working for his people.) A reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Philippians   (1:20-24,27) Christ will be honoured in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! Alleluia! (Lk 19:38) GOSPEL (The parable of the labourers in the vineyard, in which all of them receive the same wages, reveals the generosity of God, which surpasses human standards and justice.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew (20:1-16) Jesus said to his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place; and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing; and he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the labourers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you, and go; I choose to give to this last as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.” This is the Gospel of the Lord I believe in God,/the Father Almighty,/ Creator of heaven and earth./ I believe in Jesus Christ,/his only Son, our Lord./ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit/ and born of the Virgin Mary./He suffered under Pontius Pilate,/was crucified, died, and was buried./He descended to the dead./On the third day he rose again./He ascended into Heaven,/and is seated at the right hand of the Father./He will come again to judge the living and the dead./I believe in the Holy Spirit,/the Holy Catholic Church,/the communion of saints,/the forgiveness of sins,/the resurrection of the body,/and the life everlasting./ Amen. PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Cel: Dear brothers and sisters, let us not grudge God’s goodness to others, knowing that we too don’t deserve His favours, and stand more in need of mercy than of His justice. We call out in prayer to our heavenly Father, saying: Response: Lord, graciously hear our prayer. 1. For all the leaders of the Church: that they may prove themselves faithful workers in the Lord’s vineyard and prove worthy of their stewardship. 2. For the unemployed, who cannot find work, for those who have lost their job, and those who are retired: that they may trust in the loving Providence of God. Lord, show your care and protection for them in time of distress. 3. For the disabled and the sick: that they may experience God’s loving presence and comfort in moments of loneliness and pain. 4. For the employers and employees: that there may be good relationship among them and justice may be practised in all their dealings. 5. For all of us gathered in this holy assembly: that we may serve God out of love, and that our love may be reflected in our dealings with others. (Pray for local and personal needs) Cel: Merciful Father, open our minds and enlarge our hearts, so that we may think and act more like You. Teach us to practise justice and fairness in all our dealings with our workers. We ask this...   PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Lord, may these gifts which we now offer to show our belief and our love be pleasing to you. May they become for us the Eucharist of Jesus Christ your Son, who is Lord for ever and ever. PREFACE   (P 30) Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. Out of love for sinful man, he humbled himself to be born of the Virgin. By suffering on the cross he freed us from unending death, and by rising from the dead he gave us eternal life. And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven we proclaim your glory and join in their unending hymn of praise: All: Holy , holy, holy… COMMUNION ANTIPHON You have laid down your precepts to be faithfully kept. May my footsteps be firm in keeping your commands. (Ps 118:4-5) PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Lord, help us with your kindness. Make us strong through the Eucharist. May we put into action the saving mystery we celebrate. We ask this…     LITURGY AND LIFE “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Is 55:8-9). These words of the Prophet set the theme for today’s liturgy of the Word. In Isaiah, the wicked are asked to abandon their ways and seek the Lord. The Yahweh will take pity on them because He is rich in forgiveness. This is so much unlike the way humans think and act. People today, as in the time of the Prophet, would use all the means to take revenge. Forgiveness, today is a rare virtue. God, on the contrary, has the unlimited capacity to show his mercy and forgive wrongs. God’s thoughts and actions are different from ours. But when we forgive others we imitate God, who is rich in mercy and forgiveness. We see God’s thoughts and actions active in St Paul. The reality of death was staring him in the face as he was chained and confined to a dungeon. But we see a tremendous serenity enveloping him even in those circumstances. Death was not something he was afraid of. In fact he had a strong urge to be united with his Lord in heaven through the passage of death. But there was also an urgent need to continue to work for his people. Most people are afraid to die because for them life means being successful, being influential, being famous, being rich in material possessions; and death is the end to all these. But for St Paul, life or death, it is Christ that matters. In the Gospel, the parable of the vineyard is an example of how God thinks, acts and deals with us differently from our ways. We can clearly see how our way—an hour of work equals an hour’s wages—are not the ways of God, a full day’s wages for an hour of work. Jesus, through this parable, reveals a compassionate, merciful and generous God. The landowner goes to the market to hire workers at various hours of the day, even at the 11th hour. At the end of the day, he gave them equal wages, irrespective of the hours they worked. It is out of pity and compassion that the landowner is moved to hire labourers at the third, sixth, ninth and eleventh hours, and then pay wages for a full day’s work. This is a landowner, who understands that a family is waiting in desperation for the return of the father, who is hopefully carrying the wages in his pocket, to buy enough bread for their sustenance. Our God is a God of compassion and mercy who does not operate on the law of merit, but on need. Each time we pray, ‘give us this day our daily bread’, it is not because we earn or merit anything from God, but because we have a Father-God, who is loving and compassionate. He sustains us out of His love for us, He knows our every need. He is generous unmindful of our merits, but always mindful of our needs. His blessings and graces are always gratuitous. —Fr Joe Eruppakkattu, ssp     September 2011               READINGS  OF  THE  WEEK        Psalter Week 1 19 Mon (R) St Januarius, Ezr 1:1-6/ Ps 126:1b-2ab.2cd-3.4-5.6/ Lk 8:16-18 20 Tue (R) St Andrew Kim Taegon & Co., Ezr 6:7-8.12b.14-20/ Ps 122:1-2.3-4ab.4cd-5/ Lk 8:19-21 21 Wed (R) ST MATTHEW, Ap, Ev., Fst, Eph 4:1-7.11-13/ Ps 19:2-3.4-5/ Mt 9:9-13 22 Thu (G) Hag 1:1-8/ Ps 149:1b-2.3-4.5-6a and 9b/ Lk 9:7-9 23 Fri (W) St Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) Hag 2:1-9/ Ps 43:1.2.3.4/ Lk 9:18-22 24 Sat (G) Zec 2:5-9.14-15a/ Jer 31:10.11-12ab.13/ Lk 9:43b-45