Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – 20th September 2026
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today’s Gospel gives us a beautiful image: a landowner who goes out early in the morning to find workers for his vineyard. But then he goes out again. And again. At the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, and finally, almost at the end of the day, at the eleventh hour.
And perhaps this is the first beautiful message of today’s Gospel: God never stops going out in search of us. He never grows tired of calling us. He never looks at a person and says, “For you, it is too late.”
Perhaps someone has been away from the Church for twenty or thirty years. Perhaps someone has not prayed for a very long time. Perhaps someone has made mistakes, taken the wrong path, wasted opportunities, and now thinks that God could no longer possibly want them. Today’s Gospel tells us something different. God is still looking for you. Even at the eleventh hour.
And when the landowner finds those who are still waiting, he says to them: “You go into the vineyard too.” What a beautiful image of the heart of God.
Saint Augustine is a wonderful example of this. For years he searched for happiness far away from God, while his mother, Saint Monica, prayed and wept for him. And when grace finally touched Augustine’s heart, God did not say, “You are too late.” God welcomed him. And the man who had spent years running away from God became one of the great saints of the Church. This is the logic of grace.
But then the parable becomes uncomfortable. At the end of the day, those who worked for only one hour receive the same wage as those who worked all day. And those who came first begin to complain.
If we are honest, perhaps we understand them. “It isn’t fair!” But Jesus is not giving us a lesson about employment or wages. He is speaking about grace.
God’s love is not a salary that we earn. It is a gift that we receive.