Just as in last Sunday's Gospel, the
servant forgiven his whole astronomical debt could not see to forgive the small debt of his fellow servant, so
with today's pericope, the workers who were hired at the first hour at the
current just wage could not rejoice at the generosity of the landowner who
desired that all his workers go home with enough to support their families no
matter how long they worked that day. There is,
unfortunately, plenty of jealousy and envy even among Christians in this
life - in our families, our work places and religious communities.
The Latin Bible that Saint Benedict used at verse 11 of our gospel passage reads: “and receiving it they
murmured against the master of the house, the paterfamilias.” Murmured.
Grumbled. I believe that these few words of verse 11 struck close to the
heart of our father St. Benedict. In chapter 34 of the Rule, for example, he cautions the monks against the evil of
murmuring or grumbling, when the Abbot or a delegated superior, acting like a
paterfamilias, shows some special kindness to a brother in his
weakness - whether his weakness be a physical or moral one. In chapter 23 of the Rule, Benedict
legislates that if the evil of murmuring persists, it will eventually
lead to the guilty monk's being excommunicated. This punishment fits the crime, since the monk himself has already
excommunicated his own self from the body of Christ that is the community by
his murmuring.
In commenting on today's parable, Pope Saint Gregory the Great echoes Our
Lord's call to service with these words of wisdom: “Let everyone reflect on
what he is doing, and consider whether he is laboring in the Lord's vineyard.
No one who seeks his own will in this life has come to the Lord's
vineyard. The Lord's laborers are those
who think not of their own concerns but of the Lord's, who live lives of
devotion and charitable zeal, who are intent on
gaining souls, who hasten to bring others with them to life.” He
concludes this thoughts with his interpretation of the different hours that the
laborers were called: “Even though you have not been willing to live for God in
your childhood and young adulthood, at least come to your right mind in the
final time of your life. Come to the ways of life, even though you will not
labor much now, and are late.”
We all know that it is never too late to stop murmuring, to stop obsessing
about ourselves, and to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, our
whole mind and our whole strength, and
our neighbor as ourself. Living this way
in Christ with the strengthening graces of the Eucharist, God's thoughts become
our thoughts and God's ways our ways.
Excerpts from Father Luke's Sunday homily.
