Sep 24 Sun
"You too go into my vineyard..." The gratuitousness and greatness of the reward that God reserves for those who work for the spread of Christianity is part of God's amazing plans, which do not coincide with our own. There is no injustice in God's conduct when he gives equally a denarius to each because "The Lord is good to all." The denarius is an immense treasure: eternal life.
The divine reward, a denarius, exceeds in such a way the effort made by us, that he who has been called at dawn cannot think that he has more merits than he who was called at noon or in the twilight of his life. The latter, too, must not think that it is too late to rebuild his Christian life. A good son should not think that his father owes him something because he did what he was commanded: "When you have done all that you were commanded, you must say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done no more than what we were obliged to do'" (Lk 17:10).
Writing to the Christians of Philippi, St. Paul told them: "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (2nd Reading). To work so that Jesus Christ may be known and loved should also be for us an honor, the reason for our life. Not a burden but a pleasant duty. If there are those who have the pride and satisfaction of working in positions of high political or financial management, business or sports management, etc., would it not be strange to consider it a burden to work for the Kingdom of Christ?
None of us has the right to think that no one has hired him. The call to be holy is universal, for each one in his place. The Church calls us in this hour of the world. Young and old, rich and poor, even children, as the Second Vatican Council reminds us, everyone! is useful for the tasks of caring for the vineyard: plowing it, fertilizing it, protecting it from pests, pruning it, gathering the clusters with which to produce the wine that rejoices the heart, a foretaste of the wine that the Lord will serve at the end, as at Cana, rewarding our modest service.
Let us ask ourselves in the light of these teachings of Jesus: Do I make the objectives of the Church my own? Do I care about the people, their doctrinal confusion, their emptiness, their sadness? Do I try to help materially and spiritually those I see in need or have I become accustomed to their deficiencies as if it were normal or something irremediable? The Lord calls each one of us. He does not want to see us standing still and saying that no one has hired us. Today, in this Sunday celebration, Jesus addresses each one of us: You too go into my vineyard. He is waiting for you.
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