“Doing away with any ’personal agenda or selfish motives’ and instead, making the Lord as the Centre of our Lives!”

(Based on Gen 37:3-4,12-13,17-28 and Mt 21:33-43, 45-46 – Friday of the 2nd Week in Lent)

An incident is said about a former American astronaut who took over as the President of a major airline.

He determined to make the airline’s service the best in the industry.
He sought ‘commitment to work’, by all the employees in all the departments.

One day, as the new president walked through a particular department, he saw an employee resting…
… with his feet on a desk, while the telephone on the desk rang continuously. .

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to answer that phone?” the boss demanded.

“This isn’t my department, Am here, just to relax!” answered the employee, with a total indifference!
(He had not recognized his new boss, and so chose to answer with apathy!)
“I work in the maintenance department”, he went on to say.

“Not anymore!” snapped the president, “You no longer will work in my company!”

The President, with his liking for “committed work” and “achieving excellence”…
… made sure there was no room for “people with lack of commitment and zeal!”

As Christians, we are all co-workers of the Project Kingdom!

Do we work with commitment?
… or are we often found to be people of indifference, “lacking commitment and zeal?”

The Gospel of the Day is a strong message to examine one’s level of commitment to the Kingdom of God…
… exhorting to do away with any “personal agenda” or “selfish motives”

The Gospel presents to us the very volatile and conscience-wrenching parable of the Wicked Tenants.

The tenants were entrusted the vineyard by the Master…
… with much hope and expectation.

They were expected to provide the produce in the season.

However, the tenants quite miserably let down the hopes of the Master!

Filled with much pride and arrogance…
… they inflicted harm on all the servants who came on behalf of the Master

They even made an attack on the “own of the Master” – the Master’s Son!

A sense of total rigidity, pride and casualness caused these tenants to abhor the Master!

What about us?
How is our attitude to our Lord – the Master of our lives?

We may feel that we don’t abhor or despise the Will of the Lord in our life – to this extent, as these tenants.

But let us realise…

Every time, we reject the voice of the Lord, and seek to do as our wills lure us…
Every time, remain in stubbornness to pursue our wrong habits and evil tendencies…
Every time, we cause pain to the other by our words of rash judgement and condemnation…
… we are failing to obey the Master and denying His role as a Master in our life!

As Christians, we are indeed co-workers of the Project Kingdom!

The Master has entrusted the vineyard to us
… our homes, our places of work, our neighbourhood, our families and communities…
…. the people we meet daily, the problems we encounter constantly, the situations we are challenged with…

These are “our vineyard!”

Do we work with commitment?

Or are we often found to be people of indifference, “lacking commitment and zeal?”

Let us never have to hear from Our Master, “Not anymore! You no longer will work in my company!”
Instead…
… let us do away with any “personal agenda” or “selfish motives” as the workers of the Vineyard…
And seek to be impressed by the personality of Jesus…
… making Him the Centre of our Lives!

God Bless! Live Jesus!

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Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism:
FAITH IS CERTAIN, AND FAITH SEEKS UNDERSTANDING

Faith is more certain than all human knowledge, because it is founded on the very Word of God, Who cannot lie.
To be sure, revealed truths can seem obscure to human reason and experience…
… but “the certainty that the Divine Light gives, is greater than that which the light of natural reason gives.
It is intrinsic to faith that a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith, and to understand better what He has revealed.
A more penetrating knowledge will in turn call forth a greater faith, increasingly set afire by love. >> The grace of faith opens “the eyes of your hearts” to a lively understanding of the contents of Revelation…
… of the totality of God’s plan and the mysteries of faith, of their connection with each other and with Christ, the centre of the revealed mystery.
In the words of St. Augustine, “I believe, in order to understand; and I understand, the better to believe. (CCC # 156)

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