GOD'S MERCY AND GENEROSITY

The word of the Lord came to me:
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
in these words prophesy to them to the shepherds:
Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel
who have been pasturing themselves!
Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep?
You have fed off their milk, worn their wool,
and slaughtered the fatlings,
but the sheep you have not pastured.
You did not strengthen the weak nor heal
the sick nor bind up the injured.
You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost, but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered for the lack of a shepherd, and became food for all the wild beasts...... Ezekiel 34:1-11

Mass Readings


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 to pay the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the market place, 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.'

Lord Jesus Christ sometimes I am burden with my responsibilities. I reject the voices telling me I must have more to be happy. Help to be considerate give me a generous heart.