St. Pius X pope 

***1st Reading***

Judges 9:6-15*

(….) Jotham went to the top of Mount Gerizim. There he cried out to them, “Listen to me, lords of Shechem, tht God may listen to you!

The trees once set out to find and anoint a king. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’ (….)

The trees said to the fig tree:’Come and reign over us.’ (….)

The trees said to the vine: ‘Come and reign over us. (….)

Then the trees said to the bramble bush: ‘Come, reign over us.’ (…)

 

**** Gospel ****

Matthew  20: 1-16

This story throws light on the kingdom of heaven: A landowner went out early in the morning, to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay each worker the usual daily wage, and sent them to his vineyard.

 He went out again, at about nine in the morning ,and, seeing others idle in the town square, he said to them, ‘You also, go to my vineyard, and I will pay you what is just.’ So they went.

 The owner went out at midday and again at three in the afternoon,  and he made the same offer. Again he went out at the last working hour – the eleventh - and he saw others standing around. So he said to them: ‘Why do you stand idle the whole day?’  They answered: ‘Because no one has hired us.’ The master said: ‘Go and work in my vine­yard.’

 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager: ‘Call the workers and pay them their wage, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’  Those who had gone to work at the eleventh hour came up and were given a silver coin.   When it was the turn of the first, they thought they would receive it, they, began to grumble against the landowner.

They said: ‘These last hardly worked an hour, yet you have treated them the same as us who have endured the heavy work of the day and the heat.’  The owner said to one of them: ‘Friend, I have not been unjust to you. Did we not agree on one silver coin per day?

 So take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last the same as I give to you. Don’t I have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Why are you envious when I am kind?’ So will it be: the last will be first, the first will be last.”

 

Reflection gospel:

“GO AND WORK IN MY VINEYARD.”

Are we not brought into this world with a purpose? If we observe the different life-forms of the Earth-human community, each performs a distinctly important function that is not only beneficial to itself but also to others. If it does not function according to its nature, it disintegrates; it atrophies.

Countless of people go through their life without clear sense of purpose and direction. These are people who do things for the sake of doing them, or for the practical reason of earning a living. They do not question whether the things they do reflect their full potential and giftedness, or not.

Two aims of the task/mission God assigns to us: (1) the fulfillment of the self; and (2) the flourishing and fulfillment of the Earth’s community of life. When we do not carry out this task by utilizing the skills and giftedness bestowed on us, we fall short of what we have been created. By not working on our full potential and by denigrating ourselves, we shortchange God, our Maker. Moreover, we are meant to be faithful to this task and bring it to completion, so that in the end we become worthy of the eternal reward.