Marist Association Daily Prayer

Let us always remember that

we are in the holy presence of God

May God continue to live in our hearts

In the name of the Father,

Son and Holy Spirit

Amen

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  • Intention of the Day
  • Today's Gospel
  • Breaking Open the Word
  • Marist Source
  • Reflection
  • Meditation
  • Call to Action
  • Closing Prayer

Intention of the Day

That we can love one another simply and wholeheartedly.
The Brothers' Community and Marists, St Augustine's College, Cairns, QLD.

That we can love one another simply and wholeheartedly.
The Brothers' Community and Marists, St Augustine's College, Cairns, QLD.

Today's Gospel

Are you envious because I am generous?

Matthew 20:1-16
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Matthew 20:1-16

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Breaking Open The Word

A Paradoxical Faith

Taken from: Give Us This Day
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Taken from: Give Us This Day

As I get older, meet new people, and discover more complexity in our world, I catch myself wondering, in a constructive way: why do I believe what I believe? Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was once asked, “How many ways are there to God?” He responded, “As many as there are people.” So, why am I a Christian and not something else?
I smiled when reflecting on today’s Gospel because one of the main reasons I’m a Christian is found at the end of the story, when Jesus presents an alternative logic to our self-centered, competitive instincts. God’s generosity defies our logic: “the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
This logic of paradox has been a spiritual anchor, a wellspring, and a place of deep consolation for my faith. It’s a logic that is actively freeing me from my tendency toward competition and control. According to my logic, being a Christian laborer in the vineyard should entitle me to higher wages. But God is not constrained by my logic. A constrained God, who operates on merit and utility, according to human and worldly logic, is not Jesus’ God.
For me, the deeper consolation within this paradoxical logic is not confidence that my faith is better or more correct than someone else’s; it’s that Jesus is helping me grow and mature spiritually beyond my natural compulsion toward superiority. In other words, my faith is paradoxical: it’s the one thing in my life thus far that’s setting me free from my desire to be first.

Sebastian Gomes

Sebastian Gomes is executive editor of audio and video at America Media (americamagazine.org). He is the writer and director of America Media’s documentary People of God: How Catholic Parish Life Is Changing in the United States.

That we can love one another simply and wholeheartedly.
The Brothers' Community and Marists, St Augustine's College, Cairns, QLD.

Marist Source

Marcellin sees God in all things and believes all things come
from God. He experiences God’s presence in both the tranquillity of
the Hermitage and the noisy streets of Paris. For him, every place and
circumstance constitute an opportunity to meet God.

Water from the Rock #63

That we can love one another simply and wholeheartedly.
The Brothers' Community and Marists, St Augustine's College, Cairns, QLD.

To Ponder

You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just..

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Where has the Spirit drawn you in today's prayer?

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Salve Regina

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy.
Hail, our life, our sweetness,
and our hope.
To you do we cry,
poor banished children of Eve.
To you do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate,
Your eyes of mercy towards us.
And after this, our exile,
Show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.