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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me remember that everything I hear isn't something to be shared! Amen.

"Heaven is like a farmer who hired people to work in his fields," Jesus said. "He hired some at 9 a.m., some at noon, more in the afternoon and more later. Then he paid them all the same amount. The ones who'd worked longer grumbled. 'I'm not cheating you!' the farmer said. 'I promised you a day's pay, and you're getting it. So what if I want to pay these people just as much? It's my money.'" Jesus added: "The first will be last, and the last will be first."

Kids are curious. You want to know interesting things about your friends, other kids and their families - and when you hear something interesting, you also want to share it. "Mind your own business," adults (and sometimes other kids) say, but that is a hard thing to do.

This week's Gospel (Matthew 20:1-16) is about minding your own business in an especially hard situation: one involving money. If there's anything that makes people especially curious, it's money!

In the Gospel story, a farmer hires people - and then hires more and more and more, later and later in the day. But then he pays them all the same amount, whether they worked a lot or a little!

Curious kids often find out things about other people that they really don't need to know. The same is true in this situation: No one should know what anyone else is getting paid - and if they find out, they should keep it to themselves. But they think it's unfair, so they protest.

The story is really about getting close to God. Jesus says it doesn't matter whether you always went to church, prayed and tried to live a good life (like the people who worked all day), or you're just starting now (like the people hired later); what matters is that you're doing it.

But the story also gives good ideas about minding your own business. Whatever you know about someone else is not automatically OK to share. People are curious and like to talk - but people also deserve privacy![[In-content Ad]]

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