Jesus Tells Us: The First Will Be Last and the Last Will be First. Implications for Our Spirituality

Jesus Tells Us: The First Will Be Last and the Last Will be First. What this Means for Our Own Spirituality! In the Homily, the priest stated he went to Philadelphia, PA for the first time. Being from Africa, and residing on Long Island, it was an opportunity to visit another state. One of the activities of sight-seeing was to take in his first live baseball game. He had watched it on TV but was not completely familiar with all the rules. He stated while not knowing all the rules, he did enjoy himself. One observation, which he enjoyed, was the enjoyment when one team or the other did something good. The crowd roared with approvement. When the other team scored, one set of fans would be joyful and loud. The other set would be disappointed, and their joy would decrease. And so, it went. One group was joyful, and the other group was sorrowful, and vice versa. t was a fun experience and a good backdrop to today's Gospel. Jesus Teaches A Lesson God’s justice is not human’s justice. God’s ways are not the ways of humans. In the Gospel we hear about the parable of the landowner. In the parable the landowner hires people for his field. Later at nine, noon, three and five PM, he goes out to the marketplace. The landowner is busy throughout the day, looking for workers. The landowner does not send other people to look for the workers. He does it. What might be missed in a quick read of this Gospel is that the landowner does not simply hire workers. He wants to establish a relationship with them. He wants to talk with them and meet them. How do we know this? Listen more to this Homily. Jesus came down from heaven as the Mystery of the Incarnation tells us in scripture. The first thing Jesus wants from us is to establish a relationship with Him. He wants us to encounter Him. After doing so, He wants us to work for Him . . . to serve Him. The landowner could have avoided the first group’s disappointment, simply by changing the order of receiving payment. But the landowner wanted to teach all a lesson. Hear what this lesson is and the impact on our Spiritual Journey. Listen to: Jesus Tells Us: The First Will Be Last and the Last Will be First. What this Means for Our Own Spirituality In the Homily we also hear about a Queen of All Hearts' Member: St. Pope Pius X. ------------------------- Image: Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard: Dutch Painter: Rembrandt: 1637 ------------------------- Gospel Reading: Matthew: 20: 1-16 First Reading: EZ 34: 1-11