25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

September 24, 2017

Readings:

First Reading – Isaiah 55: 6-9

Psalm 145

Second Reading – Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a

Gospel reading according to Matthew (20: 1-16)

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Homily: The Last will be first and the first will be last.

In the first reading, prophet Isaiah said, “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near” (Is. 55:6).  God, our loving and merciful Father, is always available; he is always present to those who seek him and call upon him.  He never abandons those who need him, for he is God who listens to our prayers, for we are his children.  But, for sinners, the prophet has something to say, “Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked man his  thoughts, let him turn to the Lord for mercy, to our God, who is generous in forgiving” (Is. 55:7).  It is not yet late for the sinners to amend their scoundrel and wicked lives.  They still have a chance to live a good life, for they can still find God and call to him for merry and forgiveness.

In the gospel, according to Matthew (20:1-16), Jesus gave the parable of the Kingdom and he likened it to a vineyard where there were less workers.  The landowner here is the Lord God who himself looked for the laborers to his vineyard.  He was the one who went out to seek those people who have nothing to do from dawn to noon until evening with an agreement that they received daily wage pay.  The workers agreed and worked.  When evening came and it was time to receive their wage, the landowner summoned the foreman to distribute the wages beginning from the last and to the first.  The workers who came at the last hour received the same amount that the workers who came first got.  Naturally, the workers who came first expecting higher wages, as what Jesus said, “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’.” (Mt. 20:11-12).  

True to what the prophet Isaiah said, “For my thoughts are not your thought, nor are yours ways my ways, says the Lord.  As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Is 55:8-9)

God is God, and we are human beings and his creatures.  As his creatures we cannot go beyond the wisdom, knowledge and power of God.  We are finite and he is infinite.  We cannot fathom the depth, the height, the width and length of his capacity and authority as God.  (Hindi tayo puwedeng magmarunong sa Diyos sapagka’t alam ng Diyos ang lahat bago pa niya tayo likhain).

That why he was right when he answered one of those who came first, “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 yours?   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” (Mt. 20:13-16).

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

September 17, 2017

Readings:

First Reading – Sirach 27:0-28:7

Psalm 103

Second Reading – Romans 14:7-9

Gospel reading according to Matthew (18:21-33)

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Homily: On Forgiveness from the heart

Pete approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?  As many as seven times?”(Mt. 18:21).  How many times must I forgive my brother, only up to seven times? After the seventh, I can no longer forgive my brother, for he already consumed my patience?

Nowadays, we see, hear and learn even the media are telling us that many of our brothers and sisters are killing, hurting, fighting one another and doing vengeance without forgiving not only to big misunderstandings but even to a small, insignificant issue.  There is no longer patience and forgiveness and mercy in the heart and mind of men and women.  Almost all people would like to get even to the others.  So we can ask, “Where is this forgiveness we value?”

Jesus, our Lord, answered Peter, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times” (Mt. 18:22).  As if Jesus was saying to Peter and to us that when we forgive, it must be total, unlimited, and final.  We hear many times the saying that “. . .  even though you have not yet committing or doing sin and not yet asking for forgiveness, you are already forgiven,” we must be ready to forgive the sin of our brothers and sisters, for to forgive sin is holy work of charity and make us holy.  When we forgive sin, our sins also are forgiven.  No one among us have no sins.  Sometimes our sins are worse than the others.  So, forgive from the heart and you will be forgiven.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

September 3, 2017

Readings:

First Reading – Jeremiah 20: 7-9

Psalm 63

Second Reading – Romans 12: 1-2

Gospel reading according to Matthew (16: 21-27)

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Homily

Jesus knew very well what will happen to him when he goes to Jerusalem.  He will suffer and die from the hands of the elders, chief priests and the scribes.  This is the will and plan of his Father, which he cannot avoid or escape, to save the world from sin.  And then, Jesus began to reveal the ancient secret hidden to men to his chosen few, to his apostles.  “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Mt. 16:21).  Even Jesus cannot break the will of God.  He has to obey his Father’s will.

Like Jeremiah in the First Reading, he also cannot escape the power of God, for he said: “You duped (fooled, tricked, deceived) me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped, you were too strong for me, and you triumphed” (Jer. 20:7).  Jeremiah became the enemy of the people Israel for his prophesying war and violence.  Every day, more and more people became mad at him.  He said, “Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; the word of the Lord has brought me derision and reproach all the day” (Jer. 20:8).   

The same with Jesus, every day, he received reproached from the people in Jerusalem.  They did not believe by not listening to what he was saying to them regarding their moral ascendency they received from Moses and Aaron.  But instead they fatten their coffers from corruption and manipulation of the poor.  Supposed to be, they should bring the poor and sinners to God, rather they made hindrances and barriers so that the poor and the sinners cannot come closer to God, their almighty and merciful Father.

Unlike Peter, in his human capacity and who wanted also Jesus not to obey the will of God, said to Jesus after taking him aside and begun to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you” (Mt. 16:22).  Jesus revealed what’s in the mind of Peter, as cleat as the sky or as clear as water.  Be careful from the advice of mundane persons, they lead you away from the truth, right and just, and from the will of God.  “He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.  You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do’” (Mt/ 16:23).  As true followers of Jesus, we must obey God’s will not our own will.  Just as what Jesus said to his disciples that “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world  and forfeit hiss life?  Or what can give in exchange for his life” (Mt. 16: 24-26).  When everything is fulfilled according to God’s will, when Jesus offered his life for the ransom of many, “. . .  the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct” (Mt. 16:27).

Whatever happens to Jeremiah, still he will obey God for he cannot avoid God’s will.  He said, “I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more.  But then, it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it” (Jer. 20:9).