Monday, June 1, 2026
Monday of the Ninth week in Ordinary Time
Mark 12:1-12
Listen to the whole reading — MP3
First reading
2 Peter 1:2-7
Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue; by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control perseverance; and in perseverance godliness; and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love.
Responsorial psalm
Psalms 91:1-2,14-15,15-16
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” “Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him. He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him. I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.”
Gospel
Mark 12:1-12
He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country. When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard. They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty. Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. Again he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some. Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord, it is marvelous in our eyes’?” They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him, and went away.
Lectio
There is a quiet tension running through today's readings between gift and response. Peter reminds us that God's divine power has already granted us *everything* that pertains to life and godliness — the promises are precious, exceedingly great, freely given. And yet, almost in the same breath, he urges us to "add on your part all diligence," building faith upon virtue, virtue upon knowledge, knowledge upon self-control, until at last we arrive at love. The grace is wholly God's; the cultivation is somehow ours. We are not the source of the vineyard, but we are entrusted with its fruit.
This is precisely where the tenants in the Gospel go wrong. The vineyard was planted for them, hedged, equipped, prepared with care — pure gift. But over time they began to act as though it belonged to them, as though the owner's claim were an intrusion rather than the very ground of their belonging. When the son comes, they reason, "the inheritance will be ours." How easily gratitude curdles into possessiveness. How easily the gifts of God become things we defend *against* God, as though He were a stranger come to collect what was never really ours to keep.
And the Psalm whispers the answer beneath both: the one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who has *known His name*, finds not a demanding landlord but a refuge. "I will be with him in trouble." The owner does not come to plunder; He comes seeking relationship, seeking fruit He intends to share. To remain in His shadow is to hold everything we have been given with open, grateful hands — to bear fruit not in fear but in trust.
Where in your life have you quietly begun to treat a gift — your work, your home, a relationship, your very faith — as something you own and must defend, rather than something entrusted to you by a God who wishes to share its harvest?
When God sends His messengers to ask for fruit from the vineyard of your days, who or what do you tend to "send away empty" — what gentle invitation to grow in self-control, perseverance, or love have you been avoiding?
Saint of the day
St. Justin, Martyr († c. 165) - Memorial
Ora reads this aloud, every morning, free. Ora