20 September 2026
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 20:1–16a
Today is the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The passage taken from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew presents to us a parable spoken by Jesus. This brings to mind the ordinary state of Christian life today. For the shifting world in which we now live, beyond ties of flesh and blood, is also ordered by the relationship between employers and employees. The employees spoken of here are those whom employers recruit from the labour market, or those unemployed for various reasons: they seek job postings matching their career aspirations through online job portals, in-person job fairs, or internal company referrals, and submit their CVs via these platforms, email, or post, that they may finally enter the company they long to join. The employers spoken of here are those who post job vacancies; like the householder in the parable Jesus told his disciples (cf. Matthew 20:1–7), they recruit all manner of talent from the labour market to meet the needs of production and operation.
Today, the landowner in Jesus’ parable is God, who invites those “made in his own image” (cf. Genesis 1:27–28) to undertake all manner of work in his vineyard. Those who receive this invitation are those who, in this shifting world, through earnest penance and prayer, or at a particular moment, hear God’s call to them. When they accept this invitation, they are responding generously to their vocation; when they enter the vineyard to work, they are fulfilling the mission God has entrusted to them in the way they judge right.
Once, when I was at a parish speaking with some altar servers, a number of them often complained: “I arrive earlier than the other servers, I am always preparing the various liturgical items, yet my parish priest has never praised me, let alone commended me. Instead, he commends brothers who joined the parish liturgy team after me.” I think this is precisely the attitude of the workers in today’s Gospel who grumbled against the landowner for treating those who worked only one hour with such generosity (cf. Matthew 20:12), for in their eyes, they deserved a greater wage.
Today, I would say to these altar servers who complain that their parish priest is unjust: “You have put to good use the gifts of intellect and talent God has given you, serving the parish diligently; God will surely reward you according to all you have done. But you must also pray for those brothers who come after you, that they too may be filled with zeal for the Word of God and for God’s altar. For only thus will the seed of God’s Word in your heart bear yet more abundant fruit. In this way, you will have won your brother.” I also invite him, and all of us, to pray with me to God:
O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law
upon love of you and of our neighbor,
grant that, by keeping your precepts,
we may merit to attain eternal life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever
©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica
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