Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 23, 2023
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.”
Reflection
My high school cross-country career was notable primarily because I managed to get slower every year. It wasn’t until after college that I got into running, and even so, I’m still an inconsistent athlete.
But the joy of the race keeps me going. Take the New York City Marathon. I’ve participated as a spectator and runner, and in both cases, I’m moved by the crowds turning out to celebrate the audacity of each runner in thinking that they can traverse five boroughs and 26.2 miles.
Personal running records are great, and I applaud those who are truly competitive. But if I’m honest, I’m there for the limping runner, the runner who regrets eating that breakfast sandwich, the runner in the outlandish costume, the runner pushing their friend, the run-walker, and the runner who is just getting back into running (myself, perpetually). It’s their race also—their finish line—and if they don’t make it across, they’ll be back at it tomorrow, God willing.
There is a lavish generosity of spirit to marathon culture. So too, the kingdom of heaven.
In this passage, Jesus seems to say that joining the race is far more important than quibbling over who did more and at what point. First, the landowner’s promise: “I will give you what is just.” Which begs the question: What is just according to God?
And the resounding answer: an abundance at odds with our human equation of justice with fairness, with what is owed, what is earned, what we deserve, and conversely, what our neighbor deserves. According to the upside-down logic of God’s kingdom, every laborer receives the same wage, regardless of when they started working. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.
For the proud, Jesus has a response that boggles and perturbs: “Are you envious because I am generous?”
Prayer
Is not the Lord free to give those who serve Him whatever He wishes? The Lord gives as He pleases. Ours is but to thank Him for His gifts to each of us. Lord, you warn us against envy of other people’s gifts. We know you are concerned for each of us. Help our faith that we might trust in your mercy. Amen.
Saint of the Day

St. Rose of Lima was given the name Isabel when she was born in Peru in 1586. She was such a beautiful baby, however, that people could not help calling her Rose.
Her beauty grew as she aged, and she became the subject of much admiration. She decided to devote herself fully to Jesus, however, and the admiration became a distraction to her. She feared her beauty would distract others as well, so she would rub crushed pepper on her face to produce rashes and blisters.
(Scientists recently performed an analysis of her skull, which has been kept by Dominicans in Peru, and created a digital reconstruction of her face. To see what she might have looked like in person, click here.)
Her devotion led her to take on severe mortifications, but she was devoted to those around her with similar intensity. When her parents fell into poverty, she worked to grow food in their garden and took on sewing jobs at night. She dedicated a room in her family’s home to care for orphans and the poor.
She wanted to enter a convent, but her parents would not give her permission because they wanted her to marry. She was obedient to her parents and did not join a convent. She did convince them of her vow of virginity, however--she clung to her single-hearted devotion to Christ and remained at home for her whole life, giving herself to prayer and good works. (She became a third-order Dominican, meaning that she took on the spirituality of the Dominicans as a private lay person.)
She is the patron of the Americas, the Philippines, and of florists. She is depicted, among other places, in a mural and in a window in the Basilica, wearing a crown of roses, and a number of her relics are kept in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Rose of Lima, your beauty transcended your body as you stubbornly sought holiness—pray for us!
To learn even more about Saint Rose of Lima, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.