August 19
St. John Eudes, Priest
Gospel:
Matthew 20:1-16
Today's Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16 (Workers in the Vineyard)
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who
went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After
agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going
out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he
said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So,
they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and
did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around,
and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because
no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ 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.”
Reflection:
The workers who labored all day weren't cheated in
any way; they got exactly what they had agreed upon. Their real complaint was
that someone else, who had done far less work, got the same exact reward.
That's not injustice as they saw it; rather, that is generosity offending
people who'd rather see fairness than mercy.
Saint John Eudes spent his priesthood promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, two hearts defined by exactly that kind
of extravagant, undeserved love. He understood that God's economy doesn't reward
on merit the way ours does. It runs on love that gives the same wage to the
eleventh-hour worker as to the one who showed up at dawn, because love was
never rationed out by how much you'd earned it in the first place.
Our Lady's whole life is the eleventh-hour worker's hope made real. She never
earned her way into being the Mother of God through some ledger of merit; she
was chosen, and she said yes, and grace did the rest. If you've ever felt like
you came to faith too late or worked too little, this parable and John Eudes's whole devotion are telling you the same thing: God's generosity was never about the hours you spent with Him, but rather about the fact that you indeed turned to Him, regardless
of the hour.
Is there a part of you keeping score on someone else's mercy instead of
receiving your own? Our journey to eternity is an independent journey that involves our relationship with Jesus. We must individually love him as soon as we possibly can, regardless of the hour, and we must do so while there is still
time.
Rosary Man
Jim 🌹
Freely
given. Freely shared.
