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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
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