Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection August 21, 2024
Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
21st August 2024 (Wednesday)
Psalter: Week 4
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Ezekiel 34:1-11
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.
Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (R. 1)
R/. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. The word of God is living and active, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel : Matthew 20:1-16a
At that time: Jesus told his disciples this parable: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market-place, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the labourers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they could receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled as the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Wednesday – Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
Guidelines: A great malaise of today’s society is clamour for justice at the cost of charity
1. The present society feels great that there is a heightened sense of justice. It claims that there is a better understanding and awareness of human dignity, human rights, and duties. But if we analyse a little deeper, it is mostly a barren and dry justice. Often it is devoid of charity.
2. Such a shallow justice bothers only about its own interests and gain. It is least bothered about others’ rights and well-being. In the name of promoting and fighting for their rights and due, they ruthlessly crush the rights and the good of others. This is the typical mentality of the early workers in the parable of the workers in the vineyard.
3. They were not happy that the other late workers also got the same wage as them. They forget the fact that they received their due and it is none of their business to question the freedom of the owner. Obviously, they were driven by jealousy. But deep beneath, there is self-centredness that steeps into injustice toward others.
4. This is the same self-centredness of the shepherds in the first reading that makes them fail in their responsibility and justice toward their sheep. They were so self-interested and self-serving that they did not bother about their duty toward the sheep. They fail to protect them, care for them, guide them and feed them. That is why they become blameworthy and punishable in the sight of God.
5. The word of God today invites us to become more just toward others. This implies that we rise above our self-interests, and jealousies and show more sensitivity and concern toward others. True justice can never be selfish and do harm to others. In the name of justice, one cannot malign others and destroy others’ rights.
Practice: How just it is that we fight for justice doing injustice to others? There is no true justice without charity. We cannot be unaware of our fundamental duty of shepherding one another
