St John Eudes, Priest

The word of the Lord was addressed to me:
“Son of man,
prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy.
You shall say to them:
Thus says the Lord God:
Woe to the shepherds of Israel
who shepherd only themselves!
Is it not the sheep they should be shepherding?
Instead, you drink their milk,
you dress yourselves with their wool,
you slaughter the fatted sheep,
you do not shepherd the flock.
You have not strengthened the weak sheep,
nor healed the sick one,
nor bandaged the injured one.
You have not brought back the stray one,
nor searched for the lost one.
But you have ruled over them with violence and harshness.
They scattered for lack of a shepherd,
becoming the prey of all the wild beasts.
My flock strayed
upon all the mountains and high hills;
my sheep are scattered throughout the whole land,
and no one looks after them, no one goes searching for them.

Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
As I live – oracle of the Lord God –,
since my flock has been plundered
and become the prey of wild beasts, for lack of a shepherd,
since my shepherds take no care of my flock,
but only look after themselves
instead of my flock,
well then, shepherds, listen to the word of the Lord:
Thus says the Lord God:
Here I am against the shepherds.
I myself will take care of my flock in their place,
I will prevent them from pasturing it,
and so they will no longer be my shepherds;
I will rescue my sheep from their mouths
and they will no longer be their prey.
For thus says the Lord God:
Behold, I myself will look after my sheep,
and I will watch over them.”

– The word of the Lord.

The Lord is my shepherd:
I shall not want.
On green pastures,
he lets me rest.

He leads me beside still waters
and refreshes my soul;
he guides me along the right path
for the sake of his name.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil,
for you are with me:
your rod and your staff give me comfort.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil,
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life;
I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
for the length of my days.

At that time,
Jesus said to his disciples this parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like
a landowner who went out early in the morning
to hire workers for his vineyard.
He agreed with them
on the daily wage: a denarius,
that is, a piece of silver,
and sent them into his vineyard.
He went out again about nine o’clock,
and saw others standing there in the marketplace doing nothing.
And to them he said:
‘You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.’
So they went.
He went out again at noon, and then at three o’clock,
and did the same.
About five o’clock, he went out once more,
found others standing there, and said to them:
‘Why have you been standing here
all day doing nothing?’
They replied:
‘Because no one has hired us.’
He said to them:
‘You too go into my vineyard.’

When evening came,
the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman:
‘Call the workers and pay them their wages,
beginning with the last ones
and then the first.’
Those who had started at five o’clock came forward
and each received a denarius coin.
When the first ones came,
they thought they would receive more,
but they too each received a denarius coin.
On receiving it,
they grumbled against the landowner:
‘These last ones worked only an hour,
yet you have made them equal to us,
who have borne the burden of the day and the heat!’
But the owner replied to one of them:
‘Friend, I am not unjust to you.
Did you not agree with me for a denarius?
Take what belongs to you and go.
I choose to give the last one as much as you.
Am I not free to do as I wish with my own belongings?
Or are you envious
because I am generous?’
So the last will be first,
and the first will be last.”

– Let us acclaim the Word of God.