Responsorial Psalm
I will praise you day after day
and exalt your name forever.
Great is the Lord, most worthy of praise;
and his deeds are beyond measure.
Compassionate and gracious is the Lord,
slow to anger and abounding in love.
The Lord is good to everyone;
his mercy embraces all his creation.
Righteous is the Lord in all his ways,
his mercy shows in all his deeds.
He is near those who call on him,
who call trustfully upon his name.
2nd. READING (Phil 1, 20-24.27)
Christ will be exalted through my person, whether I live or die. For to me, to live is
Christ, and even death is profitable for me. But if I am to go on living, I shall be able
to enjoy fruitful labour. Which shall I choose? So I feel torn between the two. I desire
greatly to leave this life and to be with Christ, which will be better by far, but it is
necessary for you that I remain in this life. Try, then, to adjust your lives according to
the Gospel of Christ
GOSPEL (Mt 20,1-16)
Jesus said to his disciples: This story throws light on the kingdom of heaven. A
landowner went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed
to pay the workers a salary of a silver coin for the day, and sent them to his vineyard.
He went out again at about nine in the morning, and seeing others idle in the square, he
said to them: 'You, too, go to my vineyard and I will pay you what is just.' So they
went. The owner went out at midday and again at three in the afternoon, and he did the
same. Finally he went out at the last working hour - it was the eleventh - and he saw
others standing there. So he said to them: 'Why do you stay idle the whole day?' They
answered: 'Because no one has hired us.' The master said: 'Go and work in my
vineyard.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager: 'Call
the workers and pay them their wage, beginning with the last and ending with the first.'
Those who had come to work at the eleventh hour turned up and were given a denarius
each (a silver coin). When it was the turn of the first, they thought they would receive
more. But they, too, received a denarius each. So, on receiving it, they began to
grumble against the landowner. They said: 'These last hardly worked an hour, yet you
have treated them the same as us who have endured the day's burden and heat.' The
owner said to one of them: 'Friend, I have not been unjust to you. Did we not agree on
a denarius a day? So take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last the same as I
give to you. Don't I have the right to do as I please with my money? Why are you
envious when I am kind?' So will it be: the last will be first, the first will be last."