This Week's Homily

25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Not Unjust, Just Generous

Msgr Thomas Gervasio

 
This is hardly the Gospel parable to proclaim to the members of a labor union! Don’t we instinctively take the side of those who worked a full day. Isn’t the landowner unjust? Why should those who worked only one hour receive the same amount as those who worked all day? We can understand their resentment, their anger, their grumbling! But this parable is not about labor practices. It is about generosity—the marvel of God’s abundant generosity.  
 
But this was something those who are worked all day could not see because the green-eyed monster—envy—entered in. That is when their joy at being hired disappeared! They forgot that without the generosity of the landowner they would all still be standing idle in the marketplace. In their envy they began to compare: “I’ve worked harder, I’ve been here longer, I’ve done more, I have to go through this, so should the others.” Where envy enters, gratitude fades away. We may be grateful for our family until another family seems happier. We may value our work until someone else is promoted. We may be thankful for our talents until another person receives praise.            
 
The blessings we possess are not diminished because God blesses someone else. The grace given to another takes nothing away from us. Yet, rather than say, “Thank you, Lord, we say, “Look at the other guy…Why not me?”  
 
This is how Professor Peter Kreeft of Boston College explains this parable:  

“We all wonder, with a tone of envy, that others have an easier life than we do…We complain that life is not just. And God is telling us… the same thing the master told the envious servants who complained…”I am YOUR master and judge, YOU are not MINE. I measure you. You do not measure me. I am God and you are not. My essence is love, not justice.  
 
I am much more than justice, though not less. I am good to all, but …good to different people in different ways. My love does not follow mathematical laws…You are right that life is not fair, life is not just, if you mean YOUR justice…justice that is measured out carefully by quantity and deservingness rather than goodness that is flung out wildly in love and joy…I am a lover and not a lawyer. With me, justice is not contrasted to love, my justice, IS my love. Do you want your God to be a calculator instead of a Creator?  
 
God’s ultimate reasons are reasons of love, not…of justice. If he limited his love to justice, we would have no hope of heaven. The only human being who would is the Blessed Virgin Mary…And we’re not her!”

We all go to heaven by God’s generous grace, and let’s be ever grateful for that!
 
Gracious Father, You always do what is right and just. You give us ALL, more than we deserve. Still, like the workers in the vineyard, at times we look at what others have, their success, their talents, or their blessings, and a feeling of envy creeps into my heart which makes me resentful. Lift this burden from my heart and replace it with the joy of gratitude for your blessings. When I see others blessed, give me the grace to rejoice rather than feel diminished by it. Help me to see the generous gifts You have placed in my own life. Transform my heart, Lord. Fix my eyes on Your goodness and generosity that I may praise you always.