Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB reflects on the lessons for us today in the Gospel for 25th Sunday of the year, Matthew 20: 1-16.
(Image from Catholic.org)

Today's Gospel was often a source of much discussion with the idealistic students that I've had the pleasure of working with over the years: how was it just that the workers, who were dragged in at the last minute, be paid exactly the same as those hard working working labourers who sweated and toiled through the heat of the day?

As we gather for worship today, all over the world, including our own land, there will be men, women and children standing outside and hoping that a gang master will take them on for a day's work. There will be those who are successful and will get employment, usually at a poor rate of pay and with no benefits. However, there will be many more who will not be given work: they are too old, too young, too sick or their face just does not fit! While it sounds positively unthinkable in our modern era of contracts, job security and direct debits, today's parable highlights generosity-so needed in the world today. The landowner paid the vineyard workers the wage he promised, but what they could not see, because they were grasping at some perception of injustice done to them, was job security for that day. The diminishment of anxiety for a few hours. The day workers could be joyous with relief and generous if they chose to be, because they knew with almost absolute certainty they would be paid at the end of the workday.

Only this week I got yet another text from a friend telling me that they had been laid off: another innocent of a global pandemic that does not discriminate. So many people we know have had that job security and certainty taken away from them in these anxious times: bills have to be paid, food needs to be put on the table and children have to be clothed.

Imagine the joy of those brought into the vineyard at the last minute: they could provide for their families. The owner is totally just as he AGREED a fair rate of pay before he hired that first group in the morning. The owner is not only JUST but GENEROUS as he decides that ALL are worthy and deserving. Like God, the owner of the vineyard is asking us not to be indifferent to the needs of those in real need. We need to have a spirit of compassion, mirrored on the unconditional generosity of God.

We can all too easily put up barriers and walls in the face of immigration and refugees. What does it take for a family to pile into a plastic dingy and take to the high seas? What injustice, pain and hurt are they fleeing from? Today God is challenging all of us to be less judgmental and hard: often it is those 'steeped' in a personal understanding of the bible who are so critical and hard on others, especially those who don't fit into their personal world view. Yes, this parable is about all of us being the same, equal before God on earth and in heaven. It is also about empathy, imagining the anxiety and pain of others who want to live, like us, in a system and culture that promotes life, family, community, education and work for all. This parable is a reminder that we cannot take anything with us when we die, except for the blessing of the good we do to others.

Today God opens his heart to each of us; he invites us to make that generosity our own. As Pope Francis reminds us:

Generosity belongs to everyday life; it's something we should think: 'How can I be more generous, with the poor, the needy … How can I help more?'

'But Father, you know that we can barely get through the month.'

'But surely you have at least a couple of coins left over? Think about it: you can be generous with those …'

Consider the little things. For example, look through your room or your wardrobe. How many pairs of shoes do I have? One, two, three, four, fifteen, twenty … Each of us knows. Maybe too many … I knew a monsignor who had 40 … But if you have many pairs of shoes, give away half. How many clothes do I not use or use only once a year? This is one way to be generous, to give what we have, and to share.

Pope Francis, 26th November 2018