Welcome back to the Redemptorists’ daily reflection series. My name is Father Brian Vaccaro and today is Sunday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time.   

Let us begin +

The Lord be with you. 

R/ And with your spirit.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.      

Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus told His disciples this parable:

"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner

who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.

After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,

he sent them into his vineyard.

Going out about nine o'clock,

the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard,

and I will give you what is just.'

So they went off.

And he went out again around noon,

and around three o’clock and did likewise.

Going out about five o'clock,

the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,

'Why do you stand here idle all day?'

They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.'

He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'

When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,

'Summon the laborers and give them their pay,

beginning with the last and ending with the first.'

When those who had started about five o'clock came,

each received the usual daily wage.

So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,

but each of them also got the usual wage.

And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,

'These last ones worked only one hour,

and you have made them equal to us,

who bore the day's burden and the heat.'

He said to one of them in reply,

'My friend, I am not cheating you.

Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?

Take what is yours and go.

What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?

Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?

Are you envious because I am generous?'

Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

In the parable from the Gospel from today’s liturgy, which I just read, the landowner was totally equal in how he paid the workers. Whether they started at dawn, at 9AM, at midday, or in the afternoon, all of them were paid the same wage. And this is how God treats all people regarding eternal life. All people that make it to heaven get the same reward – eternal life with God. God does not differentiate among those who were life-long faithful followers of God, those who became God’s followers late in life, and those who had a deathbed conversion. 

For human beings, this does not seem fair because we generally judge and treat people using a scale. For example: 

·      People who do a couple of hours of work get paid less than those that work a full day

·      Those who have more education generally get paid more than those who have less education

But this is not how God works because our God is a God of love and mercy. And it is a good thing that our God is not like human beings and does not judge on a scale like we do when it comes to heaven because we are all sinners and, if God judged us on a scale according to our sins, I think that many of us might find ourselves unable to enter heaven. 

But luckily, our loving God has a different standard. If we try to live a good life, if we repent of our sinfulness, if we seek to have a strong relationship with God, and we try to be the people that God has called us to be, regardless of whether we have done this our whole life, or if we started in our 40s, or we started late in life, or if we have a deathbed conversion, all of us can achieve eternal life with God. 

In the parable, the landowner was totally equal in how he paid the workers. In just the same way, God treats all people equally regarding eternal life. So regardless of whether we have been a faithful follower of God for our entire life or if God is calling us now to change our lifestyle and to become His follower, let us strive to be God’s faithful followers each day of our life so that, when we die, eternal life will be ours.

May God bless you!

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Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist

September 21, 2023

Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is the Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist.

Today’s reading is taken from the holy gospel according to Matthew.

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" He heard this and said, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

The gospel of the Lord.

Homily

Matthew is mentioned in the lists of the apostles in Matthew, Mark, Luke and Acts. Only the gospel of Matthew has Jesus calling him from the tax collector’s post, as we just heard. Mark and Luke call the tax collector, Levi, and Mark says he was the son of Alphaeus. This is all we know about Matthew from the New Testament. But because he was an apostle, we know that he accompanied Jesus throughout his ministry, witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection and went out to preach that Jesus was the Son of God and Savior of the world and to form communities in Jesus’ name. He was faithful to Jesus to the end and most likely died a violent death in imitation of his Master. It was this desire to spread the Good News more effectively that lead Matthew to write the gospel that now bears his name.

From the way the gospel is written, we can deduce that Matthew was a devout Jew who wrote for a Jewish-Christian community. They were comfortable with celebrating high feast days in the temple and frequenting the synagogue on Saturdays. But they were all Baptized and on Sunday they would meet in a house to celebrate the Eucharist. Of course, all this would change with the destruction of the Temple and the subsequent expulsion of the Christians from the Synagogue. 

That a former tax collector was one of the leaders of this community is amazing. It shows what a tremendous effect associating with Jesus and heeding his call had on Matthew. It brought him back to his roots in the Old Covenant and then beyond into the New Covenant of water and the Spirit.

Matthew lost no time in spreading the word. As soon as he was called, he invited his friends to a banquet in his house, so they, too, could come and meet Jesus. Of course, the Pharisees objected and asked the other disciples: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard and bluntly replied: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” Years later, the memory of those kind and saving words would lead Matthew to begin writing his gospel.

Paul, a Pharisee, was also transformed by his encounter with the Lord, as we hear in the letter to the Ephesians. He urges his listeners to “live in a manner worthy of the call [they] have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” And he makes his profession of faith: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Matthew and Paul, each in his own way, built up the Body of Christ. By reading and meditating on their works, we draw closer to Jesus Christ, and receive the call to recognize God’s infinite mercy towards us, and to do our part in spreading the word.

May God bless you.

Fr. Karl E. Esker CSsR

Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Brooklyn, NY

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