20th Week, Ordinary Time, Wed, 19.08.09

1st Reading: Judges 9:6-15

Gospel: Mt 20:1-16

One of our human follies is that we have this tendency to be jealous and to envy others.

We get jealous at others for getting a better deal than us or for getting a better treatment than us, or simply that they are just better than us.

Out of this jealousy and envy may arise an ulterior ambition to achieve what we desire by underhand methods.

That was what Abimelech did. He engineered himself to be proclaimed king, as we heard in the 1st reading.

But against this conspiracy, Jotham proclaimed the warning, which eventually turned out to be.

But the result of going against God's will be imposing our own will always result in disastrous consequences.

Even at the personal level, we may find it difficult to accept that it is God's will that others get His blessings instead of us.

And that is taking into account that we have worked harder than them, that we have been more faithful than them, that we have given and sacrificed more than them.

So by our own assessment, God should have blessed us more than them. But that would be like imposing our will on God's plan.

Yet, it is God who knows who really needs what.

When we refuse to give in to jealousy and envy, not only can we see God's plan, but we will also discover how much we are blessed with.