Note from Deacon Michael: Last pre-loaded day - I'm back tomorrow. Today's send comes from Eventide & Altar, our daily formation offering for those in the back half of life - rooted in the day's Mass readings, with an evening rhythm of reflection, prayer, and the rosary. If Eventide & Altar is new to you, learn more at WeAreDomus.com. Daily news resumes tomorrow, Tuesday, June 2.

Today's Readings

2 Pt 1:2-7; Ps 91:1-2, 14-15b, 15c-16; Mk 12:1-12 Full readings at USCCB

Reflection

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty - say to the Lord: my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. The psalm is evening prayer for those who have been in the vineyard all day - the ones who kept producing while others made other choices. He calls on me and I will answer; I will be with him in distress; I will deliver him and glorify him.

Justin Martyr was a philosopher who converted in his thirties after being persuaded by a Christian old man in a garden. He spent the rest of his life arguing for the faith - writing apologies to emperors, founding a school in Rome, and eventually being beheaded when he refused to sacrifice to the gods. He produced what was asked of the vineyard to the end.

In the evening of life, the chain Peter describes - faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, devotion, mutual affection, love - is a life's work. The links that are strong and the links that need work are both visible by now. The end of the chain is love. That is what the whole supplementing was for.

The Rosary Tonight

The Joyful Mysteries trace the beginning of what the tenants rejected. The Lord of the vineyard came himself, in flesh, as the Son who was sent. Pray them tonight as a meditation on the patience of the owner and the gift of the one he sent.

Prayer of the Faithful

• For those who have been producing faithfully in the vineyard for decades, that the Lord who delivers and glorifies those who call on him would honor the long faithfulness, we pray to the Lord.
• For those whose faith chain has a weak link - a virtue not yet supplemented, a self-control not yet developed - that the divine power that bestowed everything for life would supply what is lacking, we pray to the Lord.
• In this Sacred Heart month, for the love that is the last link in Peter's chain, we pray to the Lord.

Something to Do

His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion. Name one thing that has been bestowed - one gift you did not earn that has been the means of your growth in faith. Give thanks for it specifically tonight.

One Prayer

Lord, let me produce from what was bestowed - not for myself but for the vineyard owner who entrusted it to me. Let the love that is the end of the chain be the love I am actually practicing. And in the distress, let me call and be answered. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.

Also Today

Monthly Devotion: The Sacred Heart of Jesus | Rosary: The Joyful Mysteries

Eventide & Altar is daily prayer and formation for those in the back half of life - available at WeAreDomus.com or through the & Altar app. Hearth & Altar, for families, is there too - along with Iron & Altar for men, Vessel & Altar for women, and offerings for teens and young adults.