Sunday – 25th Week in Ordinary Time – A

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, may the Lord grant you peace. My dear friends, whenever we come together at Mass to celebrate God's Word and God's generosity, we hear the message that is proclaimed to us, that reminds us that everything is a gift from God. And we learn more and more that, yes, it takes an effort on our part, but more or less everything is a gift to us.

Today's readings challenge us to accept that God does not think as we think. And the Prophet Isaiah tells us directly that God's ways are higher than our ways. Saint Paul shows what happens when a life becomes centred entirely on Christ rather than self-entitlement and interest. Jesus gives us the landowner whose generosity offends those who calculate according to strict human justice and fairness.

And so the thread that runs throughout everything that we will hear in God's Word today concerns the generosity of God, a mercy that cannot be earned, measured, or restricted according to our calculations.

In today's first reading, the Prophet Isaiah opens in this way: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the Lord for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving” (Isaiah 55:6-7).

And so, my brothers and sisters, here's the great theme that we hear pronounced initially in today's Word, that God's generosity appears most clearly in his mercy. So the Prophet Isaiah does not say that the wicked deserve forgiveness. He says that if they turn back, they discover a God who is generous in forgiving.

And then the Prophet Isaiah, the mouthpiece of God, continues to remind us: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

And so, my brothers and sisters, this becomes key in understanding the difficult Gospel that we contemplate today. Difficult because God's justice is not less than ours. It is infinitely greater. But his justice is permeated by a generosity that often overturns our calculations of who deserves what.

In the Responsorial Psalm, we hear, “The Lord is near to all who call upon him” (Psalm 145:18). My brothers and sisters, his greatness is unsearchable. We can't squeeze God into our human measurements. And this is what the Gospel will show, that his generosity is often surprising, shocking even, especially when we reflect on how it has been shown to us.

In the second reading, Saint Paul begins in this way: “Brothers and sisters: Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain” (Philippians 1:20-21).

My brothers and sisters, if only we can reach this level of freedom that Saint Paul has reached, an extraordinary freedom. “For to me life is Christ.” Once Christ becomes the centre, life is no longer measured primarily by what I receive, possess, or deserve. Because I begin to live for him. My focus changes. My concerns change. My joy and the source of my joy is new, is beyond this world. It is a joy that this world cannot give.

Let us go to the Gospel for today. We hear this: “Jesus told his disciples this parable: The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner.” Notice that Jesus now is speaking of heaven. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.”

“And going out about nine o'clock, the landowner 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, the landowner 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’” (Matthew 20:1-7).

My brothers and sisters, first of all, notice how often the landowner goes looking. Dawn, nine, noon, three, and even five. In other words, God never tires of going out to call people into his vineyard. Even very late in the day, no one is considered beyond calling.

Then we hear: “When it was evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the labourers 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’” (Matthew 20:8-12).

My brothers and sisters, here's the real spiritual danger. They are no longer grateful for what they themselves received, because somebody else received the same generosity. Comparison has turned a blessing into resentment.

That is why, my brothers and sisters, we should truly focus on all the beautiful good things the Lord has already given to us. Grace is beyond measure, and stop this vice, this habit of comparing ourselves to others. And let us ask the Lord to help us, to help us personally to improve.

For if we make it to heaven by his grace and his mercy, could we really ask for anything more? If we will be with him forever, and he gives the same grace to somebody who repents on their deathbed, but we have spent our lives serving him, working in his vineyard, will we really be concerned about how that person made it to heaven as well?