Building Faithful Citizenship

Building Faithful Citizenship is a brief, weekly bulletin reflection on the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Document, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.

For Sunday Bulletins on September 21

As centered as we might be on the love of God and the teachings of Scripture, our view of justice is inevitably colored by our own life experiences.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus shook up the disciples’ understanding of fairness by telling the parable of the workers and the landowner, in which the landowner chose to give the same pay to those who had worked an hour as to those who had labored in the hot sun all day. In his book, Parables as Subversive Speech, Scripture scholar William Herzog argues that Jesus is giving voice to the exploited day-workers, small farmers who have lost their land or those who received no inheritance who are forced to labor for wages that won’t even feed their families. The landowner mocks the value of their labor and insults them by calling them "friends".

Reflection: Does your view of justice include an economy that works for the benefit of all?

Note: Celebrate Catechetical Sunday by learning more about being a faithful citizen at http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org