Mt 20:1-16
In today’s Gospel Jesus tells his disciples the beautiful parable of a landowner who seeks and calls laborers for work in his vineyard. This beautiful parable reminds us of the experience of one answering the call to the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
His generosity
Jesus calls men to care for His vineyard. He is merciful and patient, as everyone responds at their own pace, not all at once. In the parable, the landowner goes to seek laborers. They agree for the “usual daily wage.” The landowner comes back again around nine o’clock, noon, at around three o’clock, and does a final round by five o’clock. At the different hours of the day, he patiently looks for and calls the many laborers.
The landowner from the parable is Jesus Christ himself. He goes out patiently seeking candidates for His priesthood, men already chosen and that are willing to agree on the “usual daily wage”: His priesthood. The men do not come all at once to fill the seminaries to their maximum capacities. Jesus goes out and comes again at different stages of a man’s life seeking for the candidates that He has already chosen. Just like the landowner comes back at different hours of the day. Jesus comes back at different ages of a man’s life, at eighteen, at twenty, at thirty, or later in life. The daily wage is His priesthood which is the same for whoever decides to follow Him. The Lord is loving and generous to all and shows the same compassion to the ones that eagerly respond early in their life, as those, who are slow to respond but still zealously follows Him later in life.
Our complaints
All in the seminaries around the world are aiming to fulfill their desires and one day turn out to be a laborer to tend His vineyard. Regardless of age they are all candidates to fulfill His will. Jesus Christ faces many men that as in the parable will dare to challenge Him: “These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us.” In the path towards His priesthood all the candidates go through the same challenges of formation. As the landowner clarifies the tensions among the protesters, as they get paid, so will the priestly formation shed light on the seminarians or even priests that complain. We should all be attentive to the landowner who comes out at different hours of the day seeking for laborers.
The Lord’s call
You should also listen to the Lord’s calling to the many different vocations; He might want you to get involved in your parish community, which is the vineyard that constantly needs laborers. The Church needs men and women of courage to agree with the “usual daily wage” and be happy as part of the universal body of Christ, the Church, each following their own calling. In today’s Gospel our Lord reminds us to love one another and to be happy with one another for the many blessings and graces that He constantly grants to us. Our Lord’s love is a mystery, but us loving and caring for our neighbor is also part of this mystery. Remember that we are all laboring together in accordance to our vocation, making the vineyard a better place for new generations to come forward and continue the labor alongside with the Landowner, Jesus Christ.
Milton José Martínez, seminarian, Archdiocese of Miami