“[Money is] an article which may be used as a universal payment to everywhere except Heaven, and a universal provider for everything except happiness.”—Wall Street Journal
Gospel Text:(MK 12:1-12)
Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes,
and the elders in parables.
"A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.
At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants
to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.
But they seized him, beat him,
and sent him away empty-handed.
Again he sent them another servant.
And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully.
He sent yet another whom they killed.
So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed.
He had one other to send, a beloved son.
He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'
But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
So they seized him and killed him,
and threw him out of the vineyard.
What then will the owner of the vineyard do?
He will come, put the tenants to death,
and give the vineyard to others.
Have you not read this Scripture passage:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?"
They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd,
for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them.
So they left him and went away.
and the elders in parables.
"A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.
At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants
to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.
But they seized him, beat him,
and sent him away empty-handed.
Again he sent them another servant.
And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully.
He sent yet another whom they killed.
So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed.
He had one other to send, a beloved son.
He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'
But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
So they seized him and killed him,
and threw him out of the vineyard.
What then will the owner of the vineyard do?
He will come, put the tenants to death,
and give the vineyard to others.
Have you not read this Scripture passage:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?"
They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd,
for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them.
So they left him and went away.
We can ask ourselves: Do I really experience that a portion of God's kingdom has been entrusted to me? Am I using it for my own gratification and honor? Or, am I using it to return the "fruit" to God?
Each of us can reflect upon our place in creation and ask these kinds of questions. We can reflect upon our roles in relation to God's desires for what we've been asked to tend, to care for, to give life to. Too often, it is easy in our culture to see a big compartmentalized divide between "my life" and "my spiritual life." In God's eyes, we each have a vocation - a call, a mission, a purpose. We've been entrusted with so much, e.g. personal gifts given us by virtue of where we were born, the way we were raised, the education we received, the values and cultural heritage which shaped us. We have been entrusted with responsibilities, roles in our families, in our parish communities, in our cities and world. We have been blessed with relationships and loved ones who sustain us and for whom we sacrifice to give gifts of life. When we give thanks, today, for all these blessings, we can recognize that each blessing is a way God has entrusted us with a mission.
Take care of this for me. Bring life here for me. Be a bridge builder here for me. Die to yourself, as I have done, in imitation of me.
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