Actions Speak Louder Than Words
St. Anthony of Padua tell us, “Actions speak louder than words. Let your words teach and your actions speak.” As a people of faith, we are called as Vincentians to serve our neighbors in ways that uplift human dignity and the common good in society. Serving in our case work, our thrift stores, our SVdP food bank or participating in other Vincentian ministries, we are all called to evangelization as we serve our neighbors.
There is something about today’s Gospel that can make even a faithful Vincentian uncomfortable. If we listen to the parable only with our ordinary understanding of fairness, the complaint of the laborers who worked only from early morning hours seems reasonable. They endured the heat of the day, worked for many hours, and watched others who had barely begun, receive exactly the same wage.
The householder goes out early in the morning looking for laborers for his vineyard. But what is particularly striking is that he does not stop looking. He returns at the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour, and finally the eleventh hour, when very little of the working day remains. This repeated going out tells us something beautiful about God.
Some people encounter Christ very early in life. They grow up knowing Him, receiving the Sacraments, learning to pray, and trying to remain faithful to Him. Others spend years searching. Some wander far from God through sin, disappointment, or indifference. Others may not truly discover Him until the evening of their lives. Still, the Lord goes out looking for them. There is something particularly moving about the workers whom the householder finds at the eleventh hour. He asks why they have been standing there all day, and they answer simply: “Because no one has hired us.” Perhaps by then they have given up hope. They had watched other workers being chosen while they remained behind. Hour after hour passed, and nobody seemed to want them. Then someone finally came looking for them. This is one of the quiet beauties of the Gospel. God sees those whom others overlook. He sees the neighbor that life has passed him by. He sees the elderly neighbor who wonders whether anyone still needs her. He sees the neighbor struggling to find work and provide for his family.
We must always trust our Lord. We are called to live the Gospel radically with the zeal of unconditional love for our neighbors. Pray, trust, love for God and love for our neighbors.
Vincentians, in today’s Gospel, we hear of a landowner who goes out to hire workers for his field, hiring some first thing in the morning and then others at different times during the day. Then he pays each the same wage. Why should those who have worked only an hour be paid the same as those who have slaved in the hot sun all day? Is the landowner really being unfair? Perhaps he saw something that the first workers didn’t see. Perhaps he saw, in his compassion, that their day spent waiting for work to feed their families was a terrible one, marked by anxiety and a sense of failure. Or perhaps he knew that they were poorer, more desperate, less gifted. Maybe he knew they needed more encouragement.
Vincentians, we have been invited to work in the vineyard of our Lord. That is the greatest privilege imaginable, to participate in the lord’s work in our community. Let us remember this beautiful parable from Matthew as we focus on the mission, we have all been invited to participate in. Let us focus on the privilege of the mission of God’s Kingdom in our parish and in our community. AMEN.
