Wednesday
of 20th Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint
Bernard
August 20, 2014 8:30am
Today’s gospel is a good lesson
about comparing ourselves to others.
The workers in this vineyard who began
working at dawn would have been okay if they had not known and compared their
pay to the pay of those who worked only part of the day.
The comparison is what led them
to be resentful and envious.
A good lesson from this is to
find our peace in ourselves, in who God made us as persons and in what gifts
God has given us.
We don’t need to compare
ourselves to anyone.
We just need to become fully who
God made us to be and to use fully what gifts God has given us.
If we do that, we will find peace
and fulfillment.
Father James Martin in one of his
writings says that when we compare we tend to minimize our gifts and maximize
our problems.
When we compare ourselves with
others, we tend to see them as better or as better off or as having more.
We maximize their gifts and
minimize our own.
And when we compare ourselves with
others, we tend to see them as not having as many problems or challenges in
life as we do.
We minimize their problems and
maximize our own.
So when we compare, we minimize
our own gifts and maximize our own problems.
That is why it makes good
spiritual and personal sense not to compare.
As James Martin says, “Compare and despair.”
“Compare and despair.”
Just takes ourselves and our
gifts as we are, do our best, respond to God as we are, and peace and
fulfillment will follow.
