Reflection for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time…September 20, 2020

By Mary Toline,  Notre Dame Associate

In this parable Jesus told his disciples that the Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.  The laborers agreed to work for their usual daily wage and later other laborers showed up to work.  They did not start at the same time as others but were paid the same wage even if they only had worked one hour.  At the end of this parable it said that:  The last will be first and the first will be last!

You have heard many times that Life is not fair, and so often it isn’t but we must learn to trust the Lord.  We need to accept what is in our future, as we cannot control it.  Jesus is telling us that the Kingdom of God belongs to all of us.

You have the person who leads a good life, prays, goes to Mass every Sunday, takes care of the poor, does good things all the time for others and when he/she dies, they go to Heaven.  Then you have the person who has not led the best life, does not go to Mass or pray, steals from others and disobeys the law, and has been in riots causing much destruction. But when that person is dying, they repent and go to Heaven.  Again, to some Life is not always fair.  But we must remember that God is all forgiving and always teaching us what is right and wrong.  We can be saved if we truly want to, but wouldn’t it be so much easier, not only to us but to others, to be the person that prays, attends Mass, does so much good for others so that this world would be much better.

So the people that are out there causing our world turmoil by killing, stealing, acting out because they think they have been cheated need to realize Life isn’t always fair, we need to accept the teachings from our Lord and just be the person that is Good and Fair at all times. We need to continue to be good examples first to our families, friends, and neighbors. We are all on the same journey to get to Heaven.

“Grape Vines at Notre Dame”   Picture taken by Sr Cynthia Hruby ND   Summer, 2020