Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Intention: For all students returning to our schools, especially those who arrive carrying hardship at home, that they may find a steady welcome in their teachers and a place of belonging in their classrooms.
Today’s Gospel | Matthew 20:1-16
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, he 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, he 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.”
From the Fourth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
Guard against any human attitude toward your disciples; do not pride yourselves over what you do. These two things are capable of spoiling all the good there is in the performance of your duties. What have you in this regard that has not been given to you? And if it has been given to you, why are you boasting as if you had it on your own? Keep, then, the goals of your work as completely pure as those of Jesus Christ himself; by this means you will draw upon yourselves and all your labors his blessing and grace.
Prayer
Eternal Father, your generosity offends us whenever we have been keeping score. We would rather be owed than forgiven, and rather be first than equal. Free us from the arithmetic of comparison. Let us be glad when others receive what we did not earn either. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.