September 20, 2026 ~ 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Year A

Spiritual Reflection 

September 20, 2026 ~ 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Year A

“Are you envious because I generous?
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."  Mt 20:15

You will find your Lord in the Bible, and that is why your contact with the revealed text has a special meaning. It is contact with God who loves you and desires to affect you with His grace. This contact leads you to inner conversion – its greatest purpose. You should, therefore, not read the Bible just to satisfy your curiosity, or to gain knowledge, or to find a solution to a problem that is nagging you – although this will be needed at times. You should take advantage of this form of contact with the Lord in the hope that He will bestow the grace of conversion on you. If you enter into a person-to-person relationship with Christ, who is present throughout the inspired text, this text will permeate you. Then you will begin to listen intently to the Word of God, understand better the thoughts and desires of Jesus, and begin to know Him even better. . .Listening intently to the Word of God will influence your choices and decisions. You will want them to be in accordance with His teachings and His desires. Reading of the Holy Scriptures is fundamental to your growth in faith and of your sharing in God’s life. It is looking at oneself and surrounding realities as though through the eyes of God. God reveals Himself to us through the intercession of the Word, leading us toward love through knowledge of Himself. He reveals Himself so that, by believing in His Word, we may adhere to Him and entrust ourselves to Him. If you attempt to share in the thoughts and desires of Jesus in faith, then they will eventually become your thoughts and desires. If you remain in the realm of His presence, the genuine Presence, then you will become like Him in the same way that you become like the people you associate with: “like father, like son” . . .

Every word recorded in the New Testament and every gesture of Jesus is an expression of this mystery of the Presence. You should allow it to overwhelm you; you should learn to listen intently to it. This unimaginable Presence requires your particular openness that will, in time, cause your total transfiguration—so that you become as if transformed into Christ. The purpose of your life will then be achieved—Christ increasing within you and reaching His fullness. The presence of Christ in the Word of God will overwhelm your interior life and your prayer. Listening intently to the Word of God will cause you to meditate on the words, which will be engraved deeply into your heart. They will later come to mind during moments of prayer that will then become prayer based on the Bible; and they will also come to mind in moments of making decisions. Have you already asked yourself, What is the role of the Bible in my prayer?

Christ often used a specific literary form, the parable, which is an expanded symbol that draws your attention and engages you…Through your reading of the Bible, a true image of God will be formed in you. You will avoid distorting His image, which so often happens. Maybe you are afraid of Him, or maybe you do not believe enough in His love because your love is so little. Your love should continue to grow until you die. Prayerful meditation on the Bible will teach you about the love of God, who loves you incessantly, because He is Love.

Tadeusz Dajczer, The Gift of Faith, pp. 215-218

References from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

2705 Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking. The required attentiveness is difficult to sustain. We are usually helped by books, and Christians do not want for them: The Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels….

2706 To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: “Lord, what do you want me to do?”

2708 Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in Lectio Divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.

Questions for reflection

1.       Lord, what do you want me to learn about You from the Gospel of the Landowner? About myself?
2.       Do I identify with the one who started in the morning or the one who was hired last. What is my response to the Landowner’s actions?
3.       Reflecting on the Sunday Gospel and the Spiritual reading, what resolution will I make with Our Blessed Mother?

Prayer after Sharing

Thank you, God, for allowing me to see the truth about my weaknesses and how it calls upon the abyss of your merciful Love.