Humans are often yearning for the latest gadget or item, but God has already given us so many wonderful gifts. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.
Readings for Monday of the 9th week of ordinary time (memorial of St Justin, Martyr) can be found here.
A ubiquitous and seemingly essential gadget of modern times is the smartphone. Now so much more than just a phone, it allows us to check the news, scroll social media, take photos and videos, track how many steps we’re walking, watch movies, and so much more. The very first iPhone appeared in 2007, nearly 20 years ago, and was simply called “the iPhone”. Today we’re on the iPhone 17, or the seventeenth version, and the Apple company is forever planning the next upgrade. Many consumers feel the pressure to keep up. The current phone works perfectly well, but people are always eager to get the latest version.
We might think that the desire to have ever more stuff is a modern phenomenon, but we also see it in the parable that Jesus tells in the Gospel reading today. The tenants already have a wonderful vineyard in which to grow their produce. The owner has given them everything they might need – a fence around it, a pit for the winepress and a tower. And yet they want more. They want to keep all of the fruit themselves, refusing to acknowledge the authority of the vineyard owner. Finally they want control of the vineyard itself, killing the owner’s son. Of course the parable is about the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day, but the point is the same. The leaders want total control of the vineyard (representing Israel), and will not accept the greatest gift God wants to give, his only Son.
In our first reading, Peter reminds his readers that God “has given us all the things we need for life and for true devotion.” Often we humans can yearn for more when we already have so much. In this Eucharist we receive the most precious gift of all, the gift that the owner of the vineyard sought to give the tenants, God’s own Son. Let us take that word – Eucharist, thanksgiving – to heart as we acknowledge that here we receive, completely free, the most wonderful riches we could ever wish for.
Mass today is in St Dyfrig & St Samson at 6.30pm.
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