This Gospel of the laborers in the vineyard is probably one of the hardest for us to understand. It goes against the grain of our modern mentality, with our fair wage laws and beliefs that those who work harder deserve a greater reward. The owner of the vineyard gives the same wage to everyone, to those who worked all day in the heat and to those who only worked an hour. Naturally, those who worked all day protested. They thought they should get more—likely what we too would think if we were in their shoes.
But the Gospel is not about employers and employees. It’s about God and his love. The Good News here is that God loves everyone and desires their salvation. God pursues us to the very end of life, giving the graces to turn and be converted. This doesn’t mean, however, that those who spend their lives far away from God are better off than those who have loved him their whole life. It’s always better to know and love God, for He is our true Good. The deeper our relationship with him, the better off we are.
With that in mind, we can also think about today’s feast: the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast is like a bookend to the Assumption, celebrated one week ago. With these two feasts, the Church reminds us that we can also have a powerful relationship with Mary, our Mother. Mary has a spiritual motherhood in the Church. Like her divine Son Jesus, Mary also is concerned about our salvation. She constantly prays and intercedes for each one of us, her spiritual children. Like the owner of the vineyard, she is generous in obtaining graces for all. Her queenship is one of love, exercised in hearts and expressed in service. Mary is at our service, in the sense that she is always doing good on earth. Her reign as queen is not one of ruling and legislating, but of service and love. And we too are called to participate in that reign: “If we persevere, we also shall reign with him” (2 Tim 2:12).
Following the example of Mary our Mother, we will be like the owner of the vineyard who treats everyone with generosity, even if they don’t seem to deserve it. Our standard of giving will not be based on the merits of others, but on the love of God reflected in every person.
Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouve’ has been a member of the Daughters of Saint Paul since 1976. She has an MA in theology from the University of Dayton and has served on the editorial staff of Pauline Books & Media for over 20 years. She is the author of several books, including Mary: Help in Hard Times, Angels: Help from on High, and Thomas Aquinas. When she’s not writing, editing, or working on logic puzzles, she can be found blogging at www.thomasfortoday.blogspot.com.
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