“Jesus does not establish rankings,”, for “our life is worthy, and his wish is to help us discover this.” Pope Leo XIV offered the above reflection on the parable on the owner of the vineyard and the labourers at the heart of Wednesday’s catechesis, resuming the catechesis cycle that will continue throughout the Jubilee Year: “Jesus Christ, our hope.” “At times we have the impression that we cannot find meaning for our lives: we feel useless, inadequate, just like the labourers who wait in the marketplace, waiting for someone to hire them to work”, the Pope said. “But sometimes time passes, life goes by, and we do not feel acknowledged or appreciated. Perhaps we did not arrive in time, others appeared before us, or problems held us up elsewhere.” In his catechesis the Holy Father noted that
“The metaphor of the marketplace is very appropriate for our times too, because the market is the place of business, where unfortunately even affection and dignity are bought and sold, in the attempt to earn something. And when we do not feel appreciated, acknowledged, we risk selling ourselves to the first bidder.”
“Even when it seems we are able to do little in life, it is always worthwhile”, assured the Pontiff: “There is always the possibility to find meaning, because God loves our life.” For Leo XIV, the behaviour of the owner of the vineyard “is unusual, it surprises and challenges us”: “He is the owner of a vineyard, who comes out in person in search of his labourers. Evidently, he wants to establish a personal relationship with them.” In this light, the parable narrated in the Gospel of Matthew is “a parable that gives hope, because it tells us that this landowner goes out several times to go and look for those who are waiting to give meaning to their lives”: “The landowner goes out immediately at dawn and then, every three hours, he returns in search of workers to send to his vineyard. Following this schedule, after going out at three o’clock in the afternoon, there would be no reason to go out again, because the working day ended at six. This tireless master, who wants at all costs to give value to the life of every one of us, instead goes out at five. The labourers who had remained in the marketplace had probably given up all hope. That day had come to nothing. Nevertheless, someone still believed in them.”
“For the owner of the vineyard, that is, for God, it is just that each person has what he needs to live”,
remarked Pope Leo: “He called the labourers personally, he knows their dignity, and on the basis of this, he wants to pay them, and he gives all of them one denarius.” And yet, “the labourers from the first hour are disappointed: they cannot see the beauty of the gesture of the landowner, who was not unjust, but simply generous; who looked not only at merit, but also at need”: “God wants to give his Kingdom, that is, full, eternal and happy life, to everyone. And this is what Jesus does with us: he does not establish rankings, he gives all of himself.” At the end of the catechesis the Holy Father addressed young people with the following words: “do not wait, but respond enthusiastically to the Lord who calls us to work in his vineyard. Do not delay, roll up your sleeves, because the Lord is generous and you will not be disappointed! Working in his vineyard, you will find an answer to that profound question you carry within you: what is the meaning of my life?”. “Let us not be discouraged!”, the collective exhortation: “Even in the dark moments of life, when time passes without giving us the answers we seek, let us ask the Lord who will come out again and find us where we are waiting for him. He is generous, and he will come soon!”.
