Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 20, 1-16

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“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.”

Hired to Do Something with Your Life

1.  Went out at dawn. There’s a mistaken idea about religion, in which it seems like we do everything ourselves, and God grants his closeness and blessing based on how much effort we put in. This is how voluntarism emerged in the Church several centuries ago, suggesting we earn heaven through our own efforts. Today’s Gospel shows the opposite: it’s God who goes out to find you. There is a God who comes to look for you, to find you and only asks that you be willing to receive Him. Let God touch you.

2. No one has hired us. I know there are people who don’t find meaning in their lives, who struggle just to get out of bed, they feel weighed down by life every day. On the one hand, I encourage you to seek professional help—to have someone accompany and support you, because asking for help is worthwhile. Let yourself be helped. If you’re experiencing insomnia, exhaustion, or apathy towards everything today, try to make a change. Life itself invites you to make changes, because what you’re doing right now makes you feel “unemployed” in life. Ask yourself, “How do I get out of this situation?” Clearly, if your current situation and way of living aren’t making you happy, seek that change. Remember that every human being longs for happiness. So, let yourself be helped: whether it’s talking to a friend, a priest or religious person, or a mental health professional. Let yourself be helped. Seek that change. I understand it’s not easy but make the effort to find that change.

3. Giving. The key to this life is living with love, not showing off whether you’re a first-class or second-class Christian. We don’t go through life displaying medals won in the “ecclesiastical olympics”, where it seems we show off awards from all the church institutions we’ve gone through or the positions we’ve gained. God wants all of us to go to Heaven, and this is what He invites us to commit to every day.  

But I also think life would be unjust if I didn’t have faith. Because we go through so many situations that seem unfair or uncomprehensible! People you love die; there are people you love who don’t love you back and friends you trust who betray you… Life wasn’t designed to be fair. Just look at Jesus’s life on earth. But faith reminds you there’s a reward in heaven. Faith invites you to have peace even when war is declared on you; it’s what moves you to keep giving to those who won’t repay you in kind. Faith teaches you there’s justice and peace in your heart even when the world around you is unfair. Take heart, because God is always with you.

Remember that something good is on the way! 

God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.