Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 22, 2019
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
“”Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them,
thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?””
They answered him,
“”He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times.””
Jesus said to them, “”Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit.””
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,
they knew that he was speaking about them.
And although they were attempting to arrest him,
they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.
This Gospel reminds me that, as the landowner entrusts his livelihood to the tenants, God the Father entrusts us to one another as brothers and sisters. God has charged us to be the stewards of his creation, most particularly one another.
As I reflect on God’s charge, I am sitting down after a long day of trekking through New York City. My best friend and I are spending our spring break joining the ministries of organizations throughout New York City, from Harlem to the East Village. We came to the city to break away from our comfortable lives at Notre Dame and to renew our missionary spirit by visiting the Missionaries of Charity, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and Hearts Home, among others. Having come to New York to see Christ in the poor, I have found that he is coming to me in more guises than I expected.
Throughout the week, I have served at soup kitchens and talked with people who are homeless. In these moments of encounter, I find that it can actually be easy to see Jesus in others through these works of mercy. It can be challenging to remember, however, that Christ is also present in the hipsters that strut through the East Village or the privileged bankers I pass on the train.
Although God has used the homeless to open my eyes to his presence in the poor, the parable of today’s Gospel invites me to be aware of Christ’s presence in every person I encounter. Whether I am sharing bread with the homeless or sharing a smile with a commuter on the subway, I have the task of respecting the Son of God who dwells in every heart.
Prayer
Lord, teach us to be filled with you and emptied of an ego that puts our glory over your glory. Let us be your ambassador. Give us your voice and direct our motives this day that we might produce the fruits of the kingdom. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Nicholas Owen was a lay man who attached himself to the community of Jesuits living in London in the late 1500s. England, at that time, was suppressing and persecuting Catholics, and Nicholas was a skilled carpenter who built many secret passages and compartments in homes that were used to hide priests.
He was arrested with other Jesuits in 1594 and imprisoned in the London Tower where he was tortured in an attempt to make him give up names and locations of his Catholic friends and Jesuit brothers. He refused, and a wealthy Catholic family ransomed him from prison. The authorities let him go, thinking he was an insignificant associate of the other Jesuits they had captured.
Nicholas returned to engineer the escape of the Jesuit priest who was imprisoned with him and also being tortured. Nicholas also arranged for the escape of their guard, whom they had befriended, because he would face punishment for their flight. Nicholas strung a rope to the tower across a moat, and they successfully got away.
Nicholas was of very small stature, and people called him “Little John.” He was, nevertheless, very strong, as much of his work had him breaking through thick stonework. He worked at night and alone, and always kept his devices and designs a secret. Authorities could search a home for a week, punching holes in walls and pulling up floors, and still not find his hiding places.
Once, when authorities were close to discovering some priests who were in hiding, Nicholas turned himself in to divert their attention. This time, the captors knew who it was they had arrested, and they tortured him again. Nicholas refused to give up any information, and he died from those injuries in 1606.
St. Nicholas of Owen was canonized in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Nicholas Owen, the cunning carpenter who saved persecuted priests by building secret passages—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Nicholas Owen is an illustration by Notre Dame alumnus Matthew Alderman '06, who holds exclusive rights to the further distribution and publication of his art. Used here with permission.