I wasn’t a girl scout in my youth so I guess I was not able to imbibe the motto, “Be prepared.” I felt I was never ready for anything.

I had a mortal fear of speaking in front of a group. When I was asked to share at a prayer meeting, I would stall. Even more so when I was asked to lead a prayer group in our parish. I stomped my feet to express my disagreement. Of course, the head in the community laughed at me and said I could do it.  

Believe it or not, I survived. It was not because I depended on my own strength or wisdom, but I surrendered everything to the Lord. He enabled me to be ready to share His Word to His people.

If you feel that the Lord is asking you to do something, trust in Him. Take the first step toward it and He will carry you the rest of the way. We may not always be ready, but He is. Always. 

Rissa Espinosa (rissa_d_espinosa@yahoo.com)

reflect

Is the Lord directing you toward a mission? Pray about it and ask God to sustain you.

Lord, help me to trust in You and in Your ways, so I may always be ready to go wherever You lead me.

^{Saint Colette, pray for us.}

The brothers of Joseph treated him terribly, but they drew the line when faced with the choice of killing him or letting him live. There is still some mercy and compassion in some of his brothers. After all, it is not Joseph’s fault that their father Isaac favors him. We will all be tempted to envy others. Let us pray for the grace to accept our differences—different talents and different circumstances to deal with.

³ Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him. ¹² One day, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem, ¹³ Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem. Get ready; I will send you to them.” ¹⁷ So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan. ¹⁸ They noticed him from a distance, and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to one another: “Here comes that master dreamer! ²⁰ Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams.” ²¹ When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from their hands, saying: “We must not take his life. ²² Instead of shedding blood,” he continued, “just throw him into that cistern there in the desert; but don’t kill him outright.” His purpose was to rescue him from their hands and restore him to his father. ²³ So when Joseph came up to them, they stripped him of the long tunic he had on; ²⁴ then they took him and threw him into the cistern, which was empty and dry. ²⁵ They then sat down to their meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, balm, and resin to be taken down to Egypt. ²⁶ Judah said to his brothers: “What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? ²⁷ Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. ²⁸ They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21

R: Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

¹⁶ When the Lord called down a famine on the land and ruined the crop that sustained them, ¹⁷ He sent a man before them, Joseph, sold as a slave. (R) ¹⁸ They had weighed him down with fetters, and he was bound with chains, ¹⁹ till his prediction came to pass and the word of the Lord proved him true. (R) ²⁰ The king sent and released him, the ruler of the peoples set him free. ²¹ He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions. (R)

Gospel | Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

In the eyes of the world, wealth and fame are attractive. We are tempted to sin in order to gain them. But do we gain satisfaction from the consequences of sin? Let us live holy and just lives. While it is OK to work for a better life, this is not the “be all and end all” of life. Eternal life with God is far more important.

Gospel Acclamation

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son; so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.

³³ Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. ³⁴ When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. ³⁵ But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. ³⁶ Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. ³⁷ Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ ³⁹ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” ⁴¹ They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? ⁴³ Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit. ⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

Reflect

“We were not created for death, but for life in abundance: eternal life.” (Pope Francis)

Read the Bible in one year! Read REVELATION 4 - 6 today.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the story of a vineyard entrusted to tenants. Instead of tending the vineyard and honoring the landowner, they choose violence and betrayal. Listening to the parable, we cannot help but be struck by the madness of it all. How could those entrusted with so much choose such a path?

Yet, if we are honest, the story is not so far from our own. God entrusts each of us with a life, with opportunities to bear fruit. And yet, how often do we resist, wound, or waste the gifts given to us? How often do we reject the voice of God?

The parable ends with a warning: the vineyard will be given to others who will bear its fruit. But woven even into this judgment is a deeper truth that today’s other readings help reveal: even human betrayal cannot destroy God’s plans. His love is not defeated by our mistakes.

Joseph’s story in Genesis echoes this so clearly. Sold into slavery by his own brothers, Joseph seemed to be another life ruined by human jealousy and cruelty. Yet, behind the scenes, God was at work. Through Joseph’s suffering, an entire people would be saved from famine. What others meant for evil, God turned into a path for good.

God writes straight with crooked lines. He does not force our choices. He respects our freedom, even when we misuse it. But He is never at a loss. He can take what is broken, wasted, and wounded, and weave it into His greater purpose.

It does not excuse our failures, but it offers hope that our mistakes are not the end. Our betrayals, our rejections, even the harm done to us by others, do not have the final word. God can bring good even from the crooked lines of our lives.

Fr. Albert Garong, SSP

reflection question

Where in your life do you need to trust that God can still bring good, even from your failures or wounds?

Lord, take even the broken parts of my life and write Your story of redemption through them. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ______________________________________