August 18, 2021

St. Alberto Hurtado, SJ

Mt 20: 1-16

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ 

He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 

But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

God who labors  

It’s easy to forget – everything is gift from the One who labors for me. Jesus offers this image of a hardworking landowner: an early riser who went out five times in one day, relentlessly hiring people so they would not remain idle, finding meaningful work for everyone. Maybe the manager had pleaded with the owner on behalf of the workers hard at it since dawn and starting to fall behind? Like the arrival of a fresh pitcher in the final innings of a baseball game, perhaps those hired last helped secure a win for the vineyard team that day.  

The closing movement of St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises offers an immersion in all the ways God loves us. The Third Point of this Contemplation invites the one praying “to consider how God works and labors for me in all creatures upon the face of the earth, that is, He conducts Himself as one who labors.” (#236) O Lord, when I’m tired and cranky at the end of a long day help me remember your generosity, hard at work with me, for me and for this world you so love. 

—Jenéne Francis serves as the Midwest Jesuits’ Associate Provincial Assistant for Pastoral Ministries.  She is also a regular contributor to Into the Deep, contemplating life through the lens of Ignatian Spirituality. 

Prayer

God is not static. God—revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is dynamic, alive, always stirring, and always laboring to bring life to God’s beloved creation. God is love overflowing. In your prayer, consider the activity of God in your life and your world. Marvel at how God creates in, through, and with us. Can you see and hear God laboring in the world around you? Can you appreciate how God has “labored” specifically in and through you? Can you recognize how the labor of others supports you in your living?

—Kevin O’Brien, SJ, An Ignatian Prayer Adventure