Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 19, 2020
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
“When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
“When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’
“When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
“But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Today’s gospel is a powerful lesson in grace and God’s unconditional love for us. As I read and re-read the parable, I found myself identifying with the laborers who worked all day in the vineyard. I have a hunch that, as the imperfect humans we are, we all tend to identify/empathize with the feeling of anger that the initial group of workers has upon realizing that all the workers would be paid the same wage, regardless of when they started working. How unjust that the last group of workers gets rewarded with the same amount as the first! Not only that, but the last group of workers also gets paid before anyone else. It’s so unfair.
Herein lies a challenge and a lesson about God’s love. God’s generosity and love is bigger than what we can comprehend in human terms. We tend to order people, to put ourselves and others into categories, and we tend to understand worth and dignity in economic terms. We concern ourselves with constant comparison. This comes up over and over again in the Gospel. The example that comes immediately to my mind is when Christ catches the apostles arguing over who is the greatest of them. We are like these apostles; we are like the all-day laborers.
The thing is, God’s love is not fair. There are no gradations of grace nor degrees of love. Just as the land owner eschews the ordering of the workers in his vineyard, God gives us what we need, not necessarily what we deserve. Thank goodness! One of my favorite song lyrics sums it up best: “The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.”
How are we showing up to receive God’s grace? God’s love is there, regardless of when we are ready to accept the invitation into the vineyard.
Prayer
Is not the Lord free to give those who serve Him whatever He wishes? The Lord gives as He pleases. Ours is but to thank Him for His gifts to each of us. Lord, you warn us against envy of other people’s gifts. We know you are concerned for each of us. Help our faith that we might trust in your mercy. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. John Eudes captured the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary by honoring them in the liturgy. Thanks to this saint, Holy Cross priests have as their patron Jesus’ Sacred Heart, and Notre Dame has a Basilica dedicated to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
In fact, even though John was canonized a saint after the Basilica was constructed, he is depicted there in a stained glass window leading people in devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
John’s parents were farmers in the Normandy region of France, and were childless until they went to a nearby shrine to Mary. Nine months later, in 1601, John was born, and five more children arrived after him.
John was educated at a Jesuit school, and he went on to seek ordination. He was a very good preacher, and gained the admiration of his superiors by his excellent conduct. He spent his early priesthood at an oratory—a special church (not a parish) set aside for prayer and Mass. When plague broke out in Normandy, John volunteered to return to his region to serve the sick there. He spent two months ministering to the sick and dying.
He returned to the oratory and lived there until the plague reached that area. Again, he went out into the city to tend to the sick and dying. To prevent his brother priests from becoming infected from him, he did not live in the rectory—he lived in a large cask or barrel in a field; nuns from a nearby convent brought him food.
He went on to become a distinguished preacher, and would travel the countryside offering missions to parishes to reinvigorate the faithful. He was widely known as the best preacher people had ever heard.
During his travels, he came to see that the priests needed as much reform as the faithful, so he concentrated his efforts on seminary training. He established several seminaries that were dedicated to producing zealous and well-trained parish priests.
John’s spirituality focused on the love of Jesus and Mary, symbolized in their sacred hearts. He began a feast day for people to honor the heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus; these feast days spread quickly and were taken up around the Church. While John was not the first to be devoted to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, he was the first to capture this devotion in the liturgy, which gave the Church a way to participate and spread it.
He died after giving a parish mission in his old age that left him sick and weak—he preached outdoors, in the winter, every day for nine weeks, and never recovered. He died on this date in 1680.
“Our wish, our object, our chief occupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desires, and his disposition live and reign there,” St. John wrote. “All our religious efforts should be directed to this end. It is the work that God has given us to do unceasingly.”
St. John Eudes, you helped people form their hearts in the shape of Jesus’ Sacred Heart—pray for us!