Collect for 26th Sunday of Year A

 

COLLECT SERIES

 

COLLECT

 

The Collect for the 26th Sunday of Year reads as follows:

 

O God, who manifest Your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy,

Bestow we, pray, Your grace abundantly upon us

And make those hastening to attain Your promises heirs to the treasures of Heaven.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God for ever and ever.

 

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible for during the week the following reflection questions emerged:

1.Do I truly believe in the power of God to pardon and show mercy to me?

2. When have I/do I experience this power?

3. What is my ‘relationship’ to the Sacrament of Reconciliation?  How will I improve this relationship this coming week?

4.What are the promises of God? How do I attain them?

5.How can I receive some of the treasures of Heaven now/this coming week?

6.How will I ensure this coming week that my life shows my goal of wishing to attain Heaven?

 

 GOSPEL REFLECTION

Today’s Gospel from St Matthew shows through the parable that lip service is not acceptable to God- in working in His vineyard.  There is no room for hypocrisy. In the parable Jesus was warning the chief priests and elders, knowing full well that this was the type of service they were offering God.  Yet, in His mercy, Jesus through the parable teaches them to look at their lives and change.  Did they listen and take action?  Some may have listened  and some may have taken some action for some of the time and of course some did not the need to change.

 

Of course, the parable is not only for those chief priests and elders.  It is for ourselves too.  We need to listen to this Gospel and hear Jesus ask us whether we will go into His vineyard today.  Will we be like the first or second son.

Notice that the first son said yes immediately but did not follow through with the necessary action.  The second son said no initially but thought the better of it- in other words, he realised his mistake and took action to rectify it.

 

We all have a first and second son in each of us.  We need to identify the times we tend to be like the first son. We need to ask ourselves why we give lip service and we need to remember that every time we give lip service to someone we are really giving lip service to God.  Are the any patterns in the activity that leads us to give lip service or it that we really don’t care enough about doing work in the vineyard of the Lord- in our home workplace, parish and wider world?

 

Then we need to examine the second son in us. What are the occasions that we tend to say no to initially and why do we say no?  What are the occasions we have said no and gained benefit when we have rectified these poor decisions?

I wonder whether when we asked to do something whether it may be better to say  and mean something such as ’ I will give consideration to your request’- then we can think sincerely about what is being asked of us and whether we can do the task. We are not under pressure to give an answer straight away.  For some people making a quick assessment of a situation is difficult for them and they prefer to think about it first.  Putting them on the spot is a sure way to get a no answer immediately. However allowing them to think and return to you with their answer means they will be fully committed if they say yes. They have thought if through.

 

Jesus gives us the chance to be both sons and still loves us. He wants us to work in His vineyard but He wants us to be willing participants in His work. The other aspect of saying Yes and then not following through at both the practical and spiritual level is trust is either gained or lost in the process.  If we say yes and then do not follow through and we do this regularly, then our word means nothing. We cannot be trusted. Saying no initially could be impulsive and we could miss out on God’s graces for the task He is asking of us through someone else.  When we think the better of it, it takes a certain amount of humility to admit we made a mistake and backtrack.

 

God wants us to work for Him in building up the Kingdom.  The church is in a state around the world along with the world itself desperately trying to take God out of the psyche of society.  We need to be prepared to say Yes to God and mean it = to say yes whole heartedly and be ready to roll up our sleeves and get working for Him.   We may not earn treasure for us on earth but we will be building treasure for our souls so that we will be ready for Heaven.

 

 

 

 

Collect for 25th Sunday of Year A

 

COLLECT SERIES

 

the Mass: Collect Series icon

COLLECT

 

The Collect for the 24th Sunday of Year reads as follows:

 

O God, who founded all the commands of Your sacred Law

upon love of You and of our neighbour,

grant that, by keeping Your precepts,

we may merit to attain eternal life. 

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God for ever and ever.

 

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible for during the week the following reflection questions emerged:

1. .    What is the state of my relationship with God right now? 
2.     What is my relationship with my neighbour?.   
3.   What is my relationship with myself- do I love myself as God loves me as a child of God?
4. What do I need to do to know the precepts of the Catholic Church to make them my own? Do I know them and can apply them in my life?
5. How badly do I want to attain eternal life?

 

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Jesus says in today’s Gospel ‘Why be envious because I am generous.’

From the psychological perspective, envy is caused by a dissatisfaction with self-image—our perception of our actual stature. This dissatisfaction is also called low self-esteem—a poor self-appraisal of our actual stature. Because we feel inferior to the person we may envy, envy is related to shame. Envy encourages us to achieve higher stature.

There are a variety of key signs of when we fall into the trap of being envious and/or are being targeted by someone in our lives who is envious of us.  To read more about these signs you may wish to click on this link. 

If we think of those workers in the parable who worked hard all day in the heat, they were tired and weary but they also would have likely to have had low self esteem.  Why- they were unemployed. Yes, the vineyard owner gave them work for the day. They would have likely to have been grateful for that initially at the beginning of the day, but on an ongoing basis, they knew in their hearts that this employment was going to be short lived. They were not able to deal with their issues of shame.

The other problem for our early workers in the parable is that they expected more when it was not their call to expect more.  Notice too, they took the money but grumbled.  If they really were that angry with the vineyard owner for his treatment of them, then why did they accept the money and then grumble. After all, Jesus points out it was what was agreed upon in their contract with the vineyard owner.

 

So what about us?  Are we envious/jealous?   How do you feel when you are struggling and you hear of someone winning tattslotto?  Do you really wish them well or do you truly wish it was you who had the good fortune?  Do you feel a tinge of envy- perhaps you might even say’ I wish that was me’?  Are you able to wish someone well without comparing or wanting it for yourself?

 

It is interesting to note that when we look at envy from the spiritual perspective that envy is listed as one of the seven deadly sins or the seven capital sins. The Church encourage us to practise virtue to combat our traits/sinfulness.  We can ask the Holy Spirit to root out the deadly sin of envy and replace it with the fruit of the Spirit of generosity.  For each of the 7 deadly sins which kill the life of God within us and makes our conscience dead to the life of Christ, the Church provides the remedy- the Virtues which are the vaccine for these deadly sins.  Unlike a vaccine, we need to be continually injected with the fruits of the Spirit and practise these virtues every day. 

 

Why was it that the first group of works grumbled and not the other workers?   They lacked appreciation for what the vineyard owner did for them. He gave them work for that day.  The other workers were given a better outcome through the generosity of the vineyard owner.  The first group had expectations which were not theirs to have and they failed to appreciate that their work in the field was valuable.  If they had a healthy self esteem, they would have been pleased that the other workers did well and they would have taken pride in their own work. 

 

So where do we fit into this parable?  Are we the vineyard owner able to be generous with what we have because God has been  kind to us?  Are we in the position to provide work for other people and provide a fair wage for their work?

Do we grumble at home or at work when other people are promoted or get a raise/bonus and we do not or are we able to be pleased for them?

 

There are many applications in our lives to this parable.  We need to remember what Jesus said ‘  ‘Why be envious because I am generous.’

 

 

Collect for 23rd Sunday of Year A

 

COLLECT SERIES

 

The Mass:  Collect Series icon.

COLLECT

 

The Collect for the 23rd Sunday of Year reads as follows:

 

O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,
Look graciously upon Your beloved sons and daughters,
that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom
and an everlasting inheritance.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God for ever and ever.

 

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible for during the week the following reflection questions emerged:

1 1. What is my attitude/views of adopting a baby? 

  2. How might these attitudes/views of adoption affect my response to being a child of God through adoption? 

3.  3  What is my attitude/response to Jesus died for me and redeemed me?

4.    What part of me do I need further spiritual growth/redemption?
5.    If I am to receive everlasting inheritance, then how is my spiritual life? 
6.    Take some time this week to consider my spiritual life- take a stock take and make a plan of what I need to change? 

 

 GOSPEL REFLECTION

 

Are we on fire for the Lord?  Is God our no 1 priority in every moment of every day?  If our answer is well sort of… or I am too busy… or God loves me so it does not matter or some other response that is not a definite yes then we need to examine our spiritual lives and make some changes. 

The other question that we need to consider from today’s Gospel is how much do I love my brother/sister/neighbour when you can clearly see that they are heading down an ungodly path?  Are we willing to love them enough to help them make a uturn towards God?

We can see that we are not our brother’s keeper or why should I point out a splinter in my neighbour’s eye when I still have a plank in my own.   If we truly are on fire for the Lord and want to live with Him in eternity, then we can start to live it now and encourage others to do the same.  It is their choice but as today’s Gospel points out that if we fail to assist our neighbour and help put them back on the right path, then God counts us accountable- it is a sin of omission.  We see our neighbour heading in the wrong direction and we say nothing out of fear/ ridicule/ rejection or for some other reason, then it shows that we are lukewarm in our faith- not fired up and obviously do not consider the things of God to be important enough to share with our neighbour.

 

Of course, the manner in which we approach our neighbour and have a conversation is vital.  We need to pray to the Holy Spirit to provide the words, the right setting for the person whom we wish to speak.  That is not to be a cop out either. We need to pray about it, but also act trusting that the Holy Spirit will bear fruit in the other person. It may not be immediate but we will have sown the seed and also shown that our faith is important enough and that we love them enough to want them to share eternity with God.

 

We need to examine our own spiritual life and take a stock take.  What do I need to change to be on fire for the Lord and to love God with my whole heart, body, mind soul?  What will I change this week?