Septuagesima Sunday

 Is your eye evil? An evil eye envies the neighbor, when he has much and you have little, or when he has more than you, or when you feel that you have been treated unfairly by God and ought to have more. An evil eye also looks at the abundance you might have and thinks of it as a reward of merit. Behold the first ones hired by the landowner in Jesus' story. They worked for a specific sum; no faith required. But now behold the others. They went out with only one thing: they trusted the word of the landowner. This is the Christian faith. Let us trust the goodness of God. And do not despise  the penny. It looks simple, but it is great. The penny of God's grace, given in  the holy Gospel and in the blessed Sacrament, bought in the blood of Christ, is everlasting salvation. Sermon for Septuagesima; and a video of the mass is here.