Father Chas Canoy
Watch the Homily Short
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God’s mercy and invitation to eternal life are gifts we could never earn. This Homily Short invites us to move beyond obligation, run to the Father out of love, and reflect His generosity within our families and the wider family of God.
Read the Homily Short
The landowner went out at dawn to hire some day laborers. He returned about, again, three hours later to hire more of them. The owner of the vineyard would do the same thing three hours later at noon, and then another three hours later at 3 p.m. And surprisingly, the landowner went out at 5 p.m. So when the end of the day came, the owner called everyone in, but he began with the guys he hired at 5 p.m. And then those guys notice, those guys get paid a full day’s wage.
You can imagine that they start getting nervous when they see the guys who went out at 3 p.m. and at noon also get one denarius. But as the landowner pointed out, my friend, I’m not cheating you. Am I not free to do as I wish with my money? The parable is meant to highlight God’s generosity, his magnanimity, and giving us his mercy and a share in his life.
And whether or not we are envious of the generosity he extends to other people and the gifts that they give, you know, each of us gets our own particular gifts. So it’s obvious that nobody can earn their way into heaven. So do we really want to question God about his generosity when each and every one of us, God willing, will enjoy the fruits of that generosity? We can all choose to receive that gift by accepting God’s invitation to live with him and joyfully labor with him in his vineyard, working together for the harvest of souls that he so desires.
Yes, the work of the kingdom may be hard and toilsome at times, but helping others come to know the riches of the kingdom of heaven and life in Christ is truly fulfilling work and any additional reward pales in comparison. This is why we shouldn’t be envious when others come into the work of the vineyard at the last hour. The shared life we have with the master, working in the vineyard, is more blessed and fulfilling than the meaningless life without the master doing anything else.
Do we find ourselves a little bit envious sometimes of people that come in at the last hour? And if so, what is the motive behind why you are here at mass? We have to be careful that we don’t think that our presence here is performative, that we think we have to earn our sonship. It’s simply whether or not we want to live out the family life with God that, you know, has its own set of obligations just like any family. And so we’re here today, not because we have to feel like we earn our sonship, we’re here because that’s what families do.
We spend time together as the family of God. So if you’ve been coming more out of obligation, it’s a good place to start. But now come to the Father out of desire.
Run to him because of love. Be generous with him as he’s been generous with you. In conclusion, the first plot of the vineyard that we need to tend to is our family.
May the Holy Family be our inspiration for our own domestic church as we live out God’s generosity with our family.