One of my favorite Bible stories is the multiplication of the bread and fish. Thousands of people are hungry, and the disciples tell Jesus to send them home. In effect, they’re saying, “This is not our problem. That’s their problem for coming here without any food!”

I love Jesus’ reply. “Give them something to eat yourselves.” I can just imagine the faces of the disciples.

Our problem is that we have a shrinking heart. When we see the problems of other people, we say, “That’s their problem, not mine. I have problems of my own.” Or we say, “The problem is so big, I don’t have solutions for that.” We’re overwhelmed by the situation we face.

What God wants is for us to be overwhelmed by His power and not depend on our own. He wants us to get out of our shrinking heart syndrome and care for other people. It could just be a smile, a listening ear, a prayer, or a little act of service to tell the other person, “Hey, I’m here for you.” 

Faith tells us that when we offer our little acts of love to God, He will multiply it. 

Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@kerygmafamily.com) 

reflect

How do you respond when you see someone else’s pain or problem?

Enlarge my heart, Lord, to include the people around me. Give me the compassion to feel their burdens and assist them in my own little way. Amen. 

Saint Justin, martyr, pray for us.

Peter understands that the grace of holiness requires diligent effort to complement and complete it. He urges us to do our utmost to grow in self-control, goodness, understanding, and other virtues. Let us always remember the price Jesus paid for our salvation and the dedication required of us to grow in holiness.

² Beloved: May grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. ³ His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power. ⁴ Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, ⁶ knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, ⁷ devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 91:1-2, 14-15, 15-16

R: In you, my God, I place my trust.

¹ You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, ² say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (R) ¹⁴ Because he clings to me, I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name. ¹⁵ He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in distress. (R) I will deliver him and glorify him; ¹⁶ with length of days I will gratify him and will show him my salvation. (R)   

Gospel | Mark 12:1-12

The protagonists in this parable are the Jews who failed to recognize the Messiah when He appeared in their midst as Jesus. Yet, this message also speaks to us—for we, too, fall short when we fail to live by the grace and blessing of salvation received through the Sacrament of Baptism. Let us examine our faithfulness to God before passing judgment on others.

Gospel Acclamation

Jesus Christ, you are the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead; you have loved us and freed us from our sins by your Blood.

¹ Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. ² At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. ³ But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. ⁵ He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. ⁶ He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you not read this Scripture passage: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; ¹¹ by the Lord has thisbeen done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?” ¹² They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.

Read the Bible in one year! Read  2 SAMUEL 13 - 16 today.

We should hand it over to the owner of the vineyard. He did not deal in half measures but gave it all: vineyard, hedge, wine press, and tower. He was not one who would go away and leave everything to chance, or pass on a well-loved project or dream to someone else whose only concern is to get paid for his services.

He was not just an owner—he was a responsible steward. He was not just a manager, but a provident visionary leader. He did not just command—he showed and led the way. And he did it by going the whole nine yards.

Commitment. This is the word that comes to mind when I think of the owner of the vineyard. It smacks of responsibility and hands-on style of leadership. This is the kind of leadership that seems to be in short supply in our times. This is also what seems to be sorely missing in our style of spirituality marked by a one-sided focus on receiving. 

But the kind of servant leadership that the vineyard owner showed in today’s revealing parable is not about “Do as I say, not as I do,” but all about doing service to the nines. It is about “Do as I do.”

And what exactly did he do? The whole lot, I should say. The tenant only needed to reap from what the owner sowed. Sadly, he fell short. Not only did he have nothing to show as fruit of his labors (or the lack of it), but he also resorted to dastardly deeds.

We just celebrated the Holy Year, dubbed the “pilgrimage of hope.” Yes, I refuse to give up hope. I may not be like the owner of the vineyard, but I can be a spark of hope by doing my ordinary duties extraordinarily well—by giving all I’ve got. Today! 

Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB 

reflection question

How ready are you to give all you’ve got in your God-ordained mission? 

Help me, Lord God, to be a responsible steward of the resources You have given me—my life, first and foremost. Amen. 

Today, I pray for: _________________________________________