Click here to read the daily readings at the USCCB website.
Sometimes it’s hard to look at a familiar passage with fresh eyes. I struggle as I try to write this blog post because I don’t want to say the same thing you’ve always heard! But the thing that comes into my heart is humility. It’s been a theme in my life lately. Humility and recognizing who I am before God and who everyone else is before Him too.
When the first laborers came to collect their pay, they were upset that they only got the usual wage. Honestly, I would have been too! If it were an hourly wage, then the last would have received 8x more an hour. Not cool. But it’s a good reminder to me that the economy of grace is not the economy of the world (luckily, because the economy of grace is immune to a pandemic).
I’ve heard that souls are kind of like cups. “My cup overfloweth.” “Let God fill your cup.” Stuff like that. Some souls are small cups, and others are large cups. For the sake of comparison, imagine a thimble and a bucket each filled with water. Yes, there’s certainly more water in the bucket, but how can the thimble be jealous when it is already full? That’s where humility comes into play. First recognize that we ourselves are full. The Holy Spirit has given me His whole Self. How can I be jealous of St. Teresa of Avila when Jesus offers me the same thing? It is I who have not yet said yes. This recognition of the gifts that we’re offered will lead to gratitude, and this gratitude helps us remember that what we have is not our own. We would be nowhere without the giver of every good gift.
I’m not saying it’s easy, but gratitude is a great place to start.
-Amanda Benner, Director of Evangelization