Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection June 01, 2026
Monday – 9th Week in Ordinary Time
01tst June 2026 (Monday)
Psalter: Week 1
Readings of the Day
First Reading: 2 Peter 1:2-7
Beloved: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
Psalm 91:1-2, 14-15ab, 15c-16 (R. see 2b)
R/. O my God, I trust in you
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Jesus Christ, you are the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead; you have loved us and freed us from our sins by your blood.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Mark 12:1-12
At that time: Jesus began to speak to the chief priests and the scribes and the elders in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’?” And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Monday – 9th Week in Ordinary Time
Main Point: God gave us a vineyard to tend, and He keeps coming back for the fruit. The question is whether we welcome the One He sends or push Him away to keep things for ourselves.
1. A landlord builds something good, then hands it over to others to care for while he is away. It is a picture of trust. He expects, quite simply, that when the time comes he will receive his share. That is exactly how Jesus begins today’s parable.
2. A man plants a vineyard, builds a wall, digs a winepress, and leases it to tenants. Then he goes away. When harvest comes, he sends a servant to collect his fruit. This vineyard is Israel, and through it, all of us. God has given us everything we have.
3. But watch what the tenants do. They beat the first servant and send him away empty. They wound the next, and kill another. Again and again the owner sends, and again and again they refuse. These servants are the prophets, sent by God and rejected by His own people.
4. Then comes the heart of the story. “He had still one other, a beloved son.” The owner sends him, saying, “They will respect my son.” But the tenants see their chance and say, “This is the heir. Let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.”
5. This is no longer just a story. Jesus is telling them, to their faces, what they are about to do to Him. He is the beloved Son, sent last of all, and they are already planning to drag Him outside the city and kill Him. The parable is a mirror, and they know it.
6. Now we must hold that mirror up to ourselves. God keeps sending into our lives too. A word at Mass, the nudge of conscience, the example of a holy friend, a moment of grace we did not expect. How often do we beat these messengers away because we want to stay in charge?
7. That is the real sin of the tenants. It is not that they forgot the owner. It is that they wanted the vineyard without the owner. They wanted the gifts without the Giver. And that same temptation lives quietly in us, every time we treat our life as ours alone.
8. Peter shows us the better way in the first reading. He tells us to add to our faith goodness, knowledge, self control, endurance, and love. This is the fruit the owner is looking for. A living faith does not sit still. It grows, and it gives back.
9. St. Justin gave back everything. A brilliant thinker, he searched through philosophy until he found the truth in Christ, and then he refused to deny it even when it cost him his life. He did not cling to the vineyard. He handed his whole self back to its Owner.
My Practice: Today, remember that nothing you have is truly your own. Your time, your gifts, your very breath are all on loan from God, and He will come looking for the fruit. So stop beating away the messengers He keeps sending. Listen to the word that unsettles you, answer the nudge you keep ignoring, and give the Owner His share. The vineyard was never yours to keep.
