First Reading
Isaiah 55: 6-9
55:6 Seek the Lord, while he is able to be found. Call upon him, while he is near.
55:7 Let the impious one abandon his way, and the iniquitous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will take pity on him, and to our God, for he is great in forgiveness.
55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways, says the Lord.
55:9 For just as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so also are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.
Second Reading
Philippians 1: 20-24, 27
1:20 by means of my own expectation and hope. For in nothing shall I be confounded. Instead, with all confidence, now just as always, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 1:22 And while I live in the flesh, for me, there is the fruit of works. But I do not know which I would choose.
1:23 For I am constrained between the two: having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, which is the far better thing,
1:24 but then to remain in the flesh is necessary for your sake.
1:27 Only let your behavior be worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so that, whether I return and see you, or whether, being absent, I hear about you, still you may stand firm with one spirit, with one mind, laboring together for the faith of the Gospel.
Gospel
The Holy Gospel According to Matthew 20: 1-16
| 20:1 | “The kingdom of heaven is like the father of a family who went out in early morning to lead workers into his vineyard. |
| 20:2 | Then, having made an agreement with the workers for one denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard. |
| 20:3 | And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. |
| 20:4 | And he said to them, ‘You may go into my vineyard, too, and what I will give you will be just.’ |
| 20:5 | So they went forth. But again, he went out about the sixth, and about the ninth hour, and he acted similarly. |
| 20:6 | Yet truly, about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing, and he said to them, ‘Why have you stood here idle all day?’ |
| 20:7 | They say to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also may go into my vineyard.’ |
| 20:8 | And when evening had arrived, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last, even to the first.’ |
| 20:9 | And so, when those who had arrived about the eleventh hour came forward, each received a single denarius. |
| 20:10 | Then when the first ones also came forward, they considered that they would receive more. But they, too, received one denarius. |
| 20:11 | And upon receiving it, they murmured against the father of the family, |
| 20:12 | saying, ‘These last have worked for one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who worked bearing the weight and heat of the day.’ |
| 20:13 | But responding to one of them, he said: ‘Friend, I caused you no injury. Did you not agree with me to one denarius? |
| 20:14 | Take what is yours and go. But it is my will to give to this last, just as to you. |
| 20:15 | And is it not lawful for me to do what I will? Or is your eye wicked because I am good?’ |
| 20:16 | So then, the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. For many are called, but few are chosen.” |