神父的話                

慷慨的天主

當我初來到美國時，跟其他剛到這大國來的新移民一樣，對所看到的很多東西都感到吃驚，例如那長而闊的高速公路已使我注視良久。另一樣使我驚訝的是超市和百貨公司內大部份物品都是中國製造。中國，尤其在貿易上，一向是美國至愛的國家。

今天的福音告訴我們相反。在天主的眼中沒有所謂喜愛的民族。今天這篇文章可以理解為把那些自以為自己是被挑選的民族的猶太人作為目標。猶太人認為自己較其他的民族優越，認為自然是最先被僱用的人，心想報酬必會領得多於最後僱用的人。很顯然，那天聽懂了祂的話的人都發怒。

聖言會Emmanuel Menguit 神父

God is generous

It was my first time in the United States. As any newcomer to such a big country, I was amazed by many things, like the wide and long highways were sights to behold for me then. But one other thing that surprised me most was that majority of the products being sold in supermarkets and department stores were made in China. China then and till now has been America's favored nation especially in terms of trade.

Today's parable tells us the opposite. In the eyes of God, there is no so-called favored nation. One way of reading this parable is to see how Jesus was targeting the arrogant presumption of the Jews that they were a favored people over the Gentiles or non-Jews. Thus they saw themselves as more privileged than the other nations. The Jews saw themselves as the laborers hired earlier than the rest and so were deserving of a bigger wage than the latecomers. Obviously, anger on the faces of his hearers that day particularly those who understood what he meant.

We have to be very thankful for the open-mindedness of past Church leaders especially during the second Vatican Council for they led us away from a very presumptuous thinking that Catholics are a favored group by God, a thinking not much different from Jewish mentality earlier referred to. Our Lord in today's gospel clearly states that God plays no favorites. Therefore, any of God's followers should also strive to treat others equally. Rich or poor, sinner or saint, black or white or brown or yellow, male or female, friend of foe are all loved by God. Humanly difficult as this demand may be, still the true Christian and true follower of the Lord gives all his/her best efforts to imitate God in his love and compassion.

Rev. Emmanuel Menguit, SVD