From the responsorial psalm: “He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side with your rod and your staff that give me courage. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 20:1-16)
“When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
To describe what the kingdom of heaven is like, Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who goes out at dawn to hire workers for his vineyard and agrees to pay them a for a full day’s work. Later, he returns to the marketplace and hires more workers, promising to pay them what is just. He pays all the workers at the end of the day, starting with those hired last. They are surprised to find—as if given a gift—that like the workers who started early, they receive a full day’s wage. The first ones hired complain, thinking naturally that they deserve more since they worked longer. Emphasizing that God’s ways are not man’s and that he responds to us personally, Jesus teaches that the last will be first, and the first will be last. Human ideas of fairness can prevent us from seeing and understanding that the gift of God’s generosity can never be outdone.
God, I have been the one who comes late to receive your grace, yet you pour out generously what you have given to those who came to you early. You know my heart, Lord, and the limited understanding I have of grace and mercy. In the first reading, you speak through Ezekiel, saying: “For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep.” In recalling today’s readings, let me see clearly that you shepherd me throughout the day and guide me in your ways—seeking me out, making me whole, giving me being—all freely given. As Jesus says, “What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?” By the love with which you loved me first, Lord, teach me gratitude and humility. Saint Pius X, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.