Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A - Sunday, September 24, 2023 (EPISODE:440)

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A - Sunday, September 24, 2023
(EPISODE:440)

Readings for Sunday, 24 September 2023
FIRST READING: Isa 55:6-9
Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18. "The Lord is near to all who call him."
SECOND READING: Phil 1:20c-24, 27a
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (cf. Act 16:14b). Alleluia, alleluia! Open our hearts, O Lord. To listen to the words of your Son.
GOSPEL: Matt 20:1-16a

Image Credit: Stock Photo ID: 707108752  - Workers are working on grape harvest. Harvesting Blauer Portugieser. Photo Contributor: zsolt_uveges
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Please listen to the audio recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily) for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A - Sunday, September 24, 2023 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-twenty-fifth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-episode-440/s-9oMRDdhy1CH  
(EPISODE:440)
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Prologue: 
In the readings this weekend, we have 
Isaiah 55:6 and following …..
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways, not your ways - the Lord speaks."
"Yes, the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts."
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Responsorial Psalm
Ps 144:2-  ff
The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds. He is close to all who call him,
who call on him from their hearts.

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Philippians 1:20-ff
St paul :  
"For me to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need, for God's sake." (not for his own sake) .
Good practical advice then follows, with Saint Paul saying:- 
"Avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the gospel of Christ."
(NRSV adds an extra line), "whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel."

Matthew 20:v one ff
Parable of the grumbling workers in the vineyard…..
Note:
He made an agreement with the workers for one denarius a day, ……………….
(which they later grumbled about… when comparing themselves with others….   With no way of knowing the true situation of the others….   Comparisons are odious is that well-known saying, and it is likely inspired by situations such as this.,…   the lord reminds us ……
"My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on one denarius? ………………………………….. Why be envious because I am generous?"   -envy, comparisons,  grumbling….    Perhaps too….   Once we agree to something – let that be that…  no grumbling after the event…….
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HOMILY:
 
 [ some of the gospel values that shine out this weekend is the universal brotherhood and sisterhood of all humans; and also, God is generous and loving and gives people what they need. Meanwhile, Envy and resentment are corrosive in any community"].

When people decide what activities to put their energies and priorities into, it seems familiar to ask the question....."What's in it for me?" ...... "What will I get out of this?"  However, this only works for some people.


In our world, there are many people who are severely disadvantaged and in need. And all things are sadly not equal.  In a world where far too many people only receive something if they can give something of equal value back, there are those who are in a dire situation because they are so poor, so disadvantaged, that they cannot benefit anyone else – They have nothing valued by others –(in a monetary sense),  that they can give, and so they miss out.
They do not fit into a system based on near-equal "give and take" and are left precariously dangling on the edge. 

I heard someone on the news the other week:
.."After all, we are not merely an economy, we are a community," ....

We owe something to each other beyond what we can get from one another.

That is a very timely reminder!

Jesus went out to the margins, searched for these people, and made a special effort to ensure that they were very much included in his Kingdom.  This is what the generous landowner is doing.   The workers who were left without any day's work, at the eleventh hour (still a term we use today), these people still needed to eat and feed their families. If no one had employed them that day, they and their families would have gone without a day's food. The landowner knew this and was compassionate and kind. He also knew that his harvest was urgent and plentiful and the labourers few, so he gave them what they needed -- a day's food. Not that they 'earned' a day's pay, but that they NEEDED a day's pay – living as they were on just enough to get them by, one day at a time.  And in any case, when it comes to God's gifts, none of us have really EARNED God's favour and love; it is freely and generously given and offered to all.

Jesus wants us to have that same generosity and welcome to others around us. They are also welcome because God is loving, forgiving and generous to them, just as God treats us.

What a wonderful and quite revolutionary attitude.  A world-changing attitude.

The grumbling workers have lost sight of the point. The work of the Kingdom is urgent and important, and the labourers are very few, the harvest plentiful… in fact, it's more than plentiful…. The harvest God intends is that everyone (absolutely everyone) be included as part of God's kingdom…. so there is no time for hesitation….  Everyone is needed……... all are called….

How many of life's daily hurts, disappointments and turmoils really come from harbouring wrong assumptions, unreal expectations and flawed ways of thinking? ……  How many arguments have resulted from envy and resentment and not from true need?

To summarise this gospel…  a writer once said…. "The world asks, HOW MUCH did the landowner give?   But Jesus invites us to ask a much better and far more important question: "WHY did the landowner give as he did?"

The answer is, because God is generous and caring. As the parable asks, are we envious because our God is extremely generous?  Surely, God can deal as he wants with his own. Why can we not give others what they need, not what they "deserve?"

God gives us what we NEED, not so much what we WANT (and often, - to be honest-, there is a huge difference between wants and needs). And Jesus asks us to do the same for others.  This parable invites us to see not with the eyes of a day labourer who, in this example, has no real concern for the project they were working on but rather to live as an invested partner, embracing and owning the vision of the landowner, who wants to achieve a rich harvest and share it with everyone.

Fr Paul W. Kelly

Mark Link.  Vision. Praying Scripture in a contemporary way. Year a

Image Credit: Stock Photo ID: 707108752  - Workers work on grape harvest. Harvesting Blauer Portugieser. Photo Contributor: zsolt_uveges
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Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A  (Sunday, September 24, 2023)  (EPISODE:440)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (or/ The Lord be with You)
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{{May God's Spirit of Counsel and Fortitude abide in you.}} Welcome everyone, we gather -  Praise and Worship of our God. On this Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A

Our God's love and mercy know no bounds, and so let us recall our sins to celebrate this Holy Sacrifice worthily.
Lord Jesus, you healed the sick: Lord, have mercy// Lord Jesus, you forgave sinners: Christ, have mercy// Lord Jesus, you give us yourself to heal us and bring us strength: Lord, have mercy.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.  Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation
2. When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.
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Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18. "The Lord is near to all who call him."

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (cf. Act 16:14b). Alleluia, alleluia! Open our hearts, O Lord. To listen to the words of your Son.
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PREFACE: Sundays Ordinary II
Various Needs and Occasions . I
Communion side.  pwk: 
(theme variation: 4 )

(post version: v2-long)

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{Thank you for your company as we have given thanks and praise to our God.}

Go forth; the Mass is ended.

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Archive of homilies and reflections:  http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email:  paulwkelly68@gmail.com

To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here:  https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks

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Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:

"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly

Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)

Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)

"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.

Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993). (Sydney Australia).

Sung "Mass in Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The Gloria,  Copyright © 2011 ccwatershed.org.

"Faith, Hope and Love" theme hymn - In memory of William John Kelly (1942-2017) - Inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Music by Paul W. Kelly. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.

"Quiet Time."  Instrumental Reflection music. Written by Paul W. Kelly. 1988, 2007. & This arrangement: Stefan Kelk, 2020.

"Today I Arise" - For Trisha J Kelly.  Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer.  Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.

Sound Engineering and Editing - P.W. Kelly.

Microphones: - Shure Motiv MV5 Digital Condenser.

Editing equipment:    -- MixPad Multitrack Studio Recording Software v10.49 (NCH Software).

NCH – WavePad Audio Editing Software. Masters Edition v 17.63 (NCH Software)

Sound Processing:  iZotope RX 10 Audio Editor (Izotope Inc.)

[ Production -  KER -  2023]

May God bless and keep you.
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