My friend, I am not cheating you

20 AUGUST (Mt 20,1-16)

Our God can be understood in his immense, divine, eternal mystery of love if we let ourselves be helped by the sun. As soon as it is placed in the vault of heaven, every man on this earth can draw all the heat, all the light and all the rays he wants. No one might say to the other: stop stealing my rays and my heat. If anyone thought this way, he would attest that he is not in himself. He would manifest folly, foolishness and great lack of intelligence. All draw everything without anyone losing anything.

This truth must be brought on the supernatural level. Let us think for a moment of the Holy Eucharist. Everyone can draw all of Christ and even twice a day, without anyone detracting anything from the another. Christ gives himself in full, with all his mystery of death and resurrection, of truth and grace, of light and charity and of holiness of life, in a very personal way without depriving anyone of anything. This is the great mystery of Jesus the Lord. For the duration of the centuries He is soul of every that receives him, without anything being taken away to other souls. Rather every soul from the Christ that gives himself is being helped to grow in holiness and grace also through Christ given to others and in whom he produces true fruits of eternal life, holiness, peace and joy.

This divine truth applies to every priest of the Church of God, called to incarnate Lord Jesus in our history. He is the living body of Jesus. He is that body that must be at the service of all, to love everyone, in a personal, special and unique way for every person, without taking anything away from anyone. This is the greatness of a priest. His perfect likeness to the sun, to the heavenly Father and to Christ the Lord. More than the sun, He must illumine, warm, nourish with the love of Jesus Christ every other disciple of his. If he were to get out of this essential truth of universal love to pursue an individual and selfish love, at this moment he would no longer be more a true priest. He failed in his universal mission.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, he 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, he 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.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers 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.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? (Or) am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

The parable that Jesus tells today is full of teaching. In the kingdom of God every one enters according to the time of his call. The call of the first hour is grace. The one of the last hour is grace. Grace is the wage for those of the first hour and it is also grace for those of the last hour. Every called person must be joyful that others are sent into the vineyard at any time of the day. They must also be able to rejoice because the Lord gives them a more than fair salary. On the contrary, a man is gnawed by envy. He does not want the other to receive a good. If it were a matter of a good, fruit of a loss concerning them, in this case they would have also had valid reasons for claiming their own right. No right has been violated. The Master wanted to show his magnanimity. It must be respected. For this will eternally be the law of true love.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach us true love.