Breaking Open the Word

A special guest for our series this Sunday--Fr. Kelly, a diocesan priest from Springfield-Cape Girardeau, MO here in the United States.

His email: fatherkelly15@gmail.com

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO OF THIS REFLECTION

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, 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."

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello and welcome to the God Minute. My name is Father Kelly, the pastor of Guardian Angel and Orion and St. Ambrose and Chaffee. Happy Sunday to each and every one of you. Later this week in St. Louis on Thursday, September the 24th, we'll have the privilege of witnessing the beatification of one of the great American Catholic Church icons as we celebrate the beatification of Fulton J. Sheen. So as we look forward to that, we're certainly mindful of the great legacy that the great Fulton Sheen has left to us in his ministry to the church throughout the world, certainly in his role in the society of the propagation of the faith. But certainly what he's most famous for in being a radio and television icon and being a wonderful evangelist, preaching the truth, preaching the faith, and preaching our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As we look at the life of Fulton Sheen, we're mindful that in the church's history we see saints that come to us in many shapes and sizes and forms and backgrounds, if you will. But before I get to another saint of the church that I would like to speak about, let me ask you this question. How many times in your life have you perhaps said, Well, life just isn't fair? Life is not fair. I'm sure that there are many different circumstances, instances in our lives, whenever we've we've said or we thought something such as, you know, whenever we get sent to our rooms when we're children, well that's just not fair. Or maybe we see a terrible tragedy in the news. Maybe we hear of an untimely death of a child or a young person, or maybe even when we're persecuted or mocked for doing what is right and for living our faith. Life just doesn't seem all that fair at times. In fact, we hear related to us a parable that just seems as unfair as it possibly gets. In last week's gospel we heard about the importance of mercy and forgiveness, particularly that mercy and forgiveness that we show towards others. Whenever Peter asks our blessed Lord, How often must I forgive my brother? As many as seven times? And Jesus responds and says, Not seven times, but seventy seven times. Well, this weekend we continue with that theme of God's mercy, but this time from the perspective of God. And the gospel parable workers show up at the beginning of the day and they work hard all day, and they get paid the same amount as those who work just one hour. Certainly in the secular world, in the business world, we would see this as an injustice, and that would indeed be quite evident. But our Lord is not speaking about the business world. Our Lord, represented by the householder that we heard in the parable, is not educating us on how employers should handle their money or really about fairness. That's not what the parable is about. The parable is about the mercy of God and our own need, our own need for conversion in our lives. Many throughout the centuries, by the goodness and the providence of Almighty God, were raised in a Catholic home, baptized as infants, raised in the faith, raised well in the faith, and then thus in a sense became the hired laborers, those who represent we Christians in the parable, in the early hours of the gospel in the early hours of the day as the gospel tells us. Certainly a man like Fulton Sheen can be considered one of those. This reflects so many of the lives of the saints who from their childhood turned to the Lord and dedicated their lives to him because they knew him to be their ultimate and final end, and that only he could fulfill their desires where the things of the world could not. I think of Pope Saint John Paul II, Saint Therese, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Fulton J. Sheen, and so many others, and this should be the hope and the goal of all of us, certainly. But there are some who, after many years of wandering, many years of searching, and perhaps living a life of sin completely devoid of God, turned from the idleness of their lives and they entered into the vineyard of the Lord, that is the church. These are represented by the laborers who were hired much later in the day in the parable. Well, one of the saints of the church in particular who fits well this characterization is an Italian man who grew up Catholic, was ordained a Satanist priest after falling away from the faith, but then made a return to the church. Born in Italy in the year 1841 to a wealthy, devout Catholic family, Bartolo Longo was raised to pray the rosary daily with his family. Whenever he was just ten years old, his mother died, and this began his alienation from the Catholic Church. During his college years at the University of Naples, he drifted even further away from the faith. He became associated and involved with a pagan group who ordained him a Satanist priest. He participated in fortune telling, in seances, and even in orgies. He often spoke with intense hatred about the Catholic faith, and even tried to draw many away from the faith and into the occult practices that he was participating in. But the further and further that he dove into these occult practices, into these satanic works, the more and more depressed and oppressed that the demons became. At one point he heard his deceased father plead with him, saying, Return to God, Bartolo, return to God. Bartolo eventually realized that he needed to make a return to the faith, and so he went to confession to a Dominican priest, and he was restored to God's mercy by God's grace. To make amends for his sinful lifestyle that he had been living, he became a lay Dominican, and he helped college students learn about the evils of the occult and how and why they should avoid it. He built orphanages, schools, and other charitable institutions. He was eventually commissioned to build the Basilica of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii, Italy, which still stands to this very day, a beautiful basilica that I've had the privilege to visit within the last couple of years. He and his wife donated this particular shrine to the Vatican. Bartolo Longo prayed the rosary every day for the rest of his life. He died on October 5th, 1926. He was beatified in the year 1980 by Pope Saint John Paul II, who called him the apostle of the Rosary. He was canonized a saint just last year on October 19th by Pope Leo XV. Saint Bartolomongo manifested those words of the prophet Isaiah that we hear today seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near, let the wicked forsake his way and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him. Well now Saint Bartololongo shares the eternal reward of the saints in heaven. So it begs the question for us today personally. Which set of those hired laborers are you in the gospel that we hear today? Maybe you're the first set. Maybe you're those who have heard that call to the faith early on, you've been raised in a good Catholic home, you know your prayers well, you're faithful to your prayer life, you don't compartmentalize God and your faith, you stand up what is for what is true and is good even at the risk of being ridiculed and mocked. You've been working in the vineyard of the church all your life, and praise God you've been faithful. Or maybe perhaps you're like the last set. You've heard the Lord's voice later in life, and you've kindled that fire, and maybe you've reignited your faith, maybe you've strayed away from your faith, and maybe you've made a return. Or perhaps maybe you're one of those who isn't mentioned in the gospel today. Perhaps you're a laborer outside the vineyard. Perhaps maybe you're you have or you're ready to just throw in the towel and say, Well, this is just too much. Or maybe you haven't even bothered to walk in and to see the beauty of the vineyard that lies within. Like so many of the saints, you heard the Lord calling and shouting, Come and follow me to heaven. And maybe you simply turned a deaf ear. But in this parable, my dear brothers and sisters, Christ teaches us it is not too late. He says, My mercy endures forever. Come, come to the water and drink. The sun is still in the sky, the darkness of death has not yet fallen. Come. Come and follow me. It is through this turning to God, our participation in his very life through the vineyard, which is the church that he himself founded, that we are promised that daily wage of eternal life. Origen, who was one of the early church fathers, tells us that in this parable the hours of the workday correspond to the stages in life whenever people turn to God. And when converted, they are rescued from the idle living to serve Christ in his vineyard, where they harvest much fruit for God before the sun sets on their earthly life. Whether converted early in life or later, all are rewarded the generous and equal gift of eternal life. And along with that, look inside yourself. Look inside and see where in your own heart you may be needing that conversion in your life. Maybe it's just a little thing here or there, or maybe you need a bigger conversion in your life. Or perhaps there is someone in your life, maybe a family member, maybe a friend, who needs that conversion. And maybe you've been praying for this person for a long time. Well, my dear brothers and sisters, don't stop. Don't give up. Keep praying for them. Keep persevering in your own lives of faith. And let us turn to the Blessed Mother. Let us turn to Our Lady, particularly under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary, as here in just a few short weeks we'll enter into the month of October, which is the month of the Holy Rosary. Let us pray this beautiful and powerful prayer, this great weapon that has been given to us. Let us pray for ourselves and for our loved ones, and especially those who are fallen who have fallen away from the church, and are those those who are in most need of God's mercy and conversion. And let us take to heart St. Paul's words that he says to us today, conduct yourselves in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. And if we do that, my brothers and sisters, we'll be well on our way to spending eternity in that eternal vineyard of heaven. God bless you.