The Extra Meisl: Sunday Gospel Reflections

The Feast of All Saints reminds us we are all called to be saints. Jesus' beatitudes are a roadmap for how we can be holy. Saints are people who let God's light shine through them.

When asked, "what is the greatest commandment?" it is significant that Jesus answers with more than one commandment (Mt 22:34-40). We need to love God... but... we can't really love God unless we love our neighbour... but... we can't really love our neighbour unless we love ourselves. To love God, then, we need to love others (especially the difficult ones) in a way that shows we actually like them.

Have you voted yet? In today's Gospel (Matthew 22:15-21) Jesus does not tell us who to vote for, but He does indicate important principles that should guide our participation in the political process. In escaping a trap set by Pharisees and Herodians, Jesus wants His hearers to recall they are made in God's image. In doing this He restores dignity to people who were oppressed by Rome and reminds them they belong to God and are to build up God's Kingdom. These are truths we should remember when we vote.

The Gospel (Mt 22:1-14) today is tricky. On the one hand, Jesus tells us that following Him, living in God's Kingdom, is something joyful, like being at a wedding banquet. Because God has greatly blessed us, our first response is gratitude. On the other hand, Jesus shows us that we need to accept the invitation to the wedding by changing our lives. One way we can respond to how blessed we are is by being a blessing to others, by "speaking well" to them. 

In today's Gospel, Jesus reminds us that God shows love and care for the world through his people. We are God's vineyard, the way He produces good fruit in the world (Mt 21:33-43). Today, on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, we are reminded that one way we can bear good fruit is by working to strengthen bonds of love and fraternity among all people.

During the pandemic we have all experienced losses. In the second reading today from Phil 2, Paul teaches his audience how to live in peace when things are taken away from them. By following Jesus' example of kenosis (= self-emptying) and accepting losses for the good of others we can ensure our loses do not wound us and lead to crankiness.

The parable of the vineyard owner and the workers that Jesus tells in the Gospel today (Matthew 20:1-16) is unsettling because it seems so unfair. Like all parables, this one is supposed to provoke and unsettle us so that we can see some deeper spiritual truths. The parable teaches us that God's grace is something we could never earn, it's pure gift. It also shows us that in God's eyes we all have the same dignity since God is equally generous with us. Finally, the Gospel challenges us to be generous like God, especially with those we don't believe deserve our generosity.

Forgiving others can be extremely difficult. In today's Gospel (Matthew 18:21-35), Jesus tells us how important it is to forgive. We must forgive not 7 times but 77 times! In addition, by means of a parable, Jesus gives us a tip or method for how to make forgiveness easier: the more we remind ourselves of the mercy and forgiveness God and others have shown us, the easier it becomes to forgive.

People generally agree that happiness is the one thing everyone wants. However, people disagree about what will make them happy. In the Gospel today (Luke 6:20-26), we hear Jesus' beatitudes, his radical and unexpected roadmap for happiness. The saint whose feast we celebrate today, St. Peter Claver (1580 – 1654), lived the beatitudes in a remarkable way in his service to slaves in Colombia.