SEPTEMBER
21, 2014
TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY
TIME. Green
Is
55:6-9/ Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18/ Phil 1:20-24, 27/ Mt 20:1-16
Conforming our
Ways with God’s Ways
RUDOLF
STEVEN N. SEÑO, O.P.
“My thoughts are
not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” We cannot but
agree with these words of the Lord in the 1st reading as we try to understand
the Lord’s mysterious and seemingly unfair actions in today’s gospel. But maybe
today’s psalm can enlighten our understanding. As we repeat, “the Lord is near
to all who call upon Him,” we realize St. Augustine’s words: “the Lord is
nearer to me than I am to myself.” So no matter how sinful a person maybe, God
is always ready to forgive him as long as he would humbly ask for it.
We can see this
scandalous generosity demonstrated in the vocation of Matthew whose feast also
occurs today. He was a tax collector, a profession that is often tainted with
injustice and extortion. And yet the Pharisees (those who are called first) are
scandalized when Jesus invites him to be His disciple (Mt 9:9-13). Indeed,
God’s ways are not our ways. But we have to constantly pray and strive to
approximate His mysterious ways. Starting tomorrow, we will observe the Laity
Week. This celebration reminds us that holiness is not only limited to the
clerics and religious, but to all baptized. We only need to conform our will to
God’s will. St. Paul in the 2nd reading serves as a good model for this. He
admits that he longs to die so as to finally rest with the Lord. And yet, he is
open to the will of God to preserve his life for the benefit of his neighbor.
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