{"id":27575,"date":"2023-09-24T08:59:58","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T12:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/?p=27575"},"modified":"2023-09-24T09:28:27","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T13:28:27","slug":"hired-for-work-in-the-lords-vineyard-twenty-fifth-sunday-a-september-24-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/hired-for-work-in-the-lords-vineyard-twenty-fifth-sunday-a-september-24-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Hired For Work in the Lord&#8217;s Vineyard, Twenty-Fifth Sunday (A), September 24, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fr. Roger J. Landry<br \/>\nConvent of the Missionaries of Charity, Bronx, NY<br \/>\nTwenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<br \/>\nSeptember 24, 2023<br \/>\nIs 55:6-9, Ps 145, Phil 1:20-24.27, Mt 20:1-16<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>To listen to an audio recording of today&#8217;s homily, please click below:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-27575-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/9.24.23_MC_Homily_1.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/9.24.23_MC_Homily_1.mp3\">https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/9.24.23_MC_Homily_1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The following points were attempted in the homily:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord tells us in today\u2019s first reading, \u201cMy thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways.\u201d Each of us can see the validity of this truth by the typical reaction we have to the parable Jesus gives us in today\u2019s Gospel. Without the prodding of any labor union, we\u2019re prone to agree with the beef of those who worked a grueling 12-hour day but who didn\u2019t receive a penny more than those who worked only one hour. Fallen human beings, after all, are generally envious of those who seem to have it easier. In order to have our thoughts become more like God\u2019s thoughts and our ways resemble His ways, however, we first must understand the context of the parable, get to the root of why on various levels it offends our sensibilities, and then examine what it\u2019s teaching us about God, ourselves, and the kingdom he\u2019s hiring us to enter and help build.<\/li>\n<li>Let\u2019s first understand the parable. When we compare the men who worked twelve hours and those who worked for one, we think that the latter group had it better, especially since they all ended up receiving the same pay. But this manifests the jaundiced view many of us have of human work, which certainly influences our reaction to Jesus\u2019 story. Most of us have come to think about work as a burden rather than a blessing, even though we know that God gave us the vocation to work \u2014\u00a0to \u201csubdue the earth\u201d and have \u201cdominion\u201d over all animals \u2014 <em>before<\/em>the Fall (Gen 1:28). Work is a part of our vocation, how God has us grow and develop. As we do honest work, we not only make some<em>thing<\/em>, but we make ourselves, we build our character, through the qualities we bring to our work. If we understand the way work happened in the ancient world, we see clearly how great a gift work actually was. Men used to go to the market place in the morning hoping to be hired as day workers. They did all they could to be chosen, arriving with their tools, running up to meet those who were hiring, selling themselves as hard-workers, much as men in the United States did during the Great Depression. In the ancient world, many men and their families were living on the semi-starvation line. To be unemployed for a day was to court disaster. If they were not picked at dawn, they would be filled with anxiety. If they were not picked later, at 9, they would have been concerned about letting their wife and children down. If they were not selected by noon, they would have begun to wonder if any sandals and deprecations would be hurled in their direction upon their embarrassed return! If they were not hired by three, they would have begun seriously to worry that their family, and especially their children, might go to bed ravenously hungry and malnourished. It\u2019s not like those who were not hired would have been in the market place playing cards, smoking, drinking and gawking at passersby. Most of them would have been eaten alive by apprehension. They easily would have traded in 11 hours of hard work in the fields for the eleven hours of anxiety waiting in the square.<\/li>\n<li>These considerations bring us to the first application of the parable. Jesus was using this story to preach to the Jews about salvation. By the time of Jesus, the Jews had already been God\u2019s chosen people for about 1800 years, since the time of Abraham. For thirteen hundred years, they had been committed to keeping a covenant with God based on the faithful fulfillment of the Mosaic law. All of a sudden a carpenter from Nazareth, who was accomplishing all types of miraculous signs to back up the authority of his potent preaching, was saying that others were going to get the same \u201clife\u2019s wage\u201d that they were. He stated that the prostitutes, if they repented and accepted his Gospel, were going to receive the full pay of salvation. He said that tax collectors, hated by observant Jews for their complicity with the Romans, would receive the same if they accepted the Gospel like Zacchaeus or Matthew did. Most shocking to the Pharisees\u2019 phylactery-covered ears was Jesus\u2019 assertion that even the Gentiles would be saved. It just didn\u2019t seem fair to them. They resented \u2014 to use the words of the parable\u00a0\u2014 that others were being made \u201cequal\u201d to them. Even though Jesus was underlining that his Jewish listeners, too, could be saved if they accepted the fulfillment of all God had been doing among them and embraced the Gospel he was proclaiming and enfleshing, many of his listeners were convinced the \u201csystem\u201d was unfair. After all, weren\u2019t those who had kept the Mosaic Law with such exactitude and rigor for thirteen hundred years entitled to something special? Didn\u2019t they who had borne the greater \u201cburdens\u201d and \u201cscorching heat\u201d of the moral law from the dawn of their life have a right to something more than the Johnny-come-latelies \u2014 who up until that time had never kept the covenant or, in the case of the Gentiles, hadn\u2019t even heard of it? The Lord\u2019s generosity in freely offering salvation to others, like he would to Dismas on the Cross, was making them jealous and angry.<\/li>\n<li>Through this parable, Jesus was exposing a serious flaw in the way they looked at the Covenant with God and with the religious life in general. Just like sometimes we can view work as a burden rather than a blessing, so they looked at their keeping of the covenantal precepts more as a yoke than a grace. They failed to see that they had <em>already<\/em> received far more than the others were being offered because of the great gift of having been able to walk in the Lord\u2019s ways up until then. We Christians can sometimes be guilty of the same flaw. We can be secretly jealous of those who have lived a wild and sinful life, but who, because of God\u2019s mercy, converted before it was too late. We can behave like the older brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son who resents that the Father treats our profligate brothers and sisters with the same love with which he has treated us who have never disobeyed his commands in a flagrant way. We can resent, as those who had worked all day did, that the Master is making others \u201cequal to us\u201d who have shouldered the weight of fidelity to his law all along. But this envy happens because our vision has become distorted. The expression the Master in the Parable uses today, \u201cAre you envious because I am generous?,\u201d is a loose translation of the Greek St. Matthew employs, which says, \u201cIs your eye evil because I am good?\u201d The generosity of another, especially of God, can make us angry because we think that if we are to win, others must be left behind; that we can\u2019t be happy and enjoy the fruits of our work unless others, especially the lazy bums who haven\u2019t made the same choices we have, don\u2019t get the same thing and are unhappy. Our eye becomes evil when we\u2019re confronted by others\u2019 sharing their goods or sharing in those goodsw. There\u2019s also another way our eye starts to see evil. One of the reasons why we, like Jesus\u2019 Jewish listeners, are prone to anger by the Lord\u2019s merciful generosity is because sometimes we value sins more than we value the love of God and of others. That\u2019s why we\u2019re jealous of those like the Good Thief who \u201cget in\u201d at the last moment. If we truly treasure God, however, we recognize that we\u2019ve been blessed all along way more than those who were sinfully enslaved to various idols. Repentant sinners clearly recognize this: that\u2019s one of the reasons why they convert!<\/li>\n<li>The first lesson that the Lord wants us to take from this parable is that he in his mercy and generosity continues to call others into his vineyard to join those whom he called earlier. Jesus\u2019 heart is so moved with compassion for the crowds that he begs us to pray to the Harvest Master for laborers for his fields. We are called to rejoice when others respond to that prayer, even if they respond at the last minute. We\u2019re summoned to let people know, and take seriously, how many job openings there still are in the vineyard of the world! That\u2019s how our thoughts will become like God\u2019s thoughts and our ways like his ways.<\/li>\n<li>But there\u2019s a second, equally important lesson from the parable. When many \u201ccradle Catholics\u201d hear this parable, we initially seem to relate to those hired at 6 am in the story, because we think we\u2019ve been in the vineyard from the day of our baptism. When many converts here it, depending upon how long ago they received the grace, they see themselves in those hired perhaps at 9, noon, 3 or 5. But the Lord wants us \u2014 including us priests and religious \u2014 to recognize that in terms of work for the Kingdom we may still be in the market place! Many of us may not yet have begun really to labor for his kingdom: we may be bodies in his vineyard, but not yet laborers. There\u2019s the famous quip of St. John XXIII in response to the question, \u201cQuante persone lavorono in Vaticano?\u201d \u201cHow many people work in the Vatican?\u201d Rather than give a number of employees, he replied, \u201cPi\u00f9 o menu, la met\u00e0!\u201d \u201cMore or less, about half.\u201d Half of the priests, religious and laity in the Vatican really worked to build the kingdom in the heart of the Church; the other half just pretended. With regard to the work of the Church in parishes, surveys show that only about 7 percent, one of 14, do any type of volunteer work for the Church. The majority of Catholics aren\u2019t even coming to Mass. Many not learning the faith to pass it on. Many are not only not living the faith with discipline in the middle of the world, but actually living opposed to it, as some of the most famous Catholic politicians sadly show us. Likewise there are some priests and religious who do the minimum of their duties, undistinguished by diligence or zeal, happy to allow others to get the callouses. The Lord is calling all of us to labor in his vineyards, to pray to the Harvest Master, to work up a sweat trying to bring Jesus and his teaching to others, and to help to bring others \u2014\u00a0including notorious sinners, including those who might seem to be far from the Gospel \u2014 to Christ. Some Catholics can be tempted to think they\u2019re carrying their weight by the simple fact they come to Mass, put something in the basket, say their prayers and avoid mortal sins. Many priests and religious can think they\u2019re doing heavy-lifting by remembering what they did years ago or by comparing themselves to those who barely lift a finger. God, however, wants us to each of us to become a real laborer, a true hard worker, in and for his kingdom, with sleeves rolled up.<\/li>\n<li>And in calling us to work hard for his kingdom, Jesus is once more simply telling us, \u201cFollow me!.\u201d In the parable, we see how the Master, representing Jesus, exhausts himself even in comparison to the workers who were hired first thing in the morning. Despite the fact that the Master had a foreman to whom he could have delegated all the hiring, the Master himself went out to hire at 6, 9, 12, 3 and 5. He was even willing to <em>lose money<\/em> to hire people at the end of the day, not only because he cared about taking in the harvest as urgently as possible, but because he didn\u2019t want anyone excluded from the work of and in his kingdom. Notice that he doesn\u2019t give things out of charity to the people sitting idle in the marketplace; respecting their dignity as workers, he gives them something to do. His question to those hired at 5 pm, \u201cWhy do you stand here idle all day?,\u201d shows his passion that <em>everyone<\/em> come to his vineyard to work; after all, he had already come out four times that day to hire everyone who was present. Their response, \u201cBecause no one has hired us!,\u201d shows in a sense how so much inactivity had led to a self-pity that had made unresponsive and irresponsible. Did they not realize that the Master of the Vineyard was hiring everyone? Even if they were in the ancient \u201cout house\u201d the first <em>four times<\/em> he was hiring, did they not grasp that everyone was being summoned to work in the fields? People often say that the reason why they have never gotten involved is, \u201cNo one asked me.\u201d With regard to the harvest, however, God never wants us to say that. He wants us to grasp that he is hiring all of us, that there\u2019s room in the vineyard for everyone willing to work, that he\u2019s counting on all our help. And he\u2019s passionately and continuously coming out in search of all of us to summon us to labor with him for the salvation of the human race.<\/li>\n<li>The essential lesson of the parable is that to be in the Kingdom of God means to be <em>working<\/em>together with God and together with others, some who have entered the fields before us, and some who have come after us. There\u2019s much work to do and God wants each of us working as hard as talented athletes strive to make the Olympics. We see in the Parable that remaining idle on the sidelines when God\u2019s hiring us all to do his work is not merely the worst of missed opportunities, but rather a lack of the life the God of the Kingdom wants us to share. He wants us not only objectively to share in the work of the harvest, but he wants to form us as harvesters, because our life, like that of the day laborers in the marketplace, is purposeless unless we grasp that we\u2019re hired and get down to hard work. Our failure to recognize and to respond to his call deprives us of this good.<\/li>\n<li>Someone who got this message was St. Paul. After Jesus appeared to him on the Road to Damascus, he spent much of the rest of his life crisscrossing the ancient world founding and strengthening Churches in modern day Syria, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece, Cypress, Malta and Italy. He was scourged, imprisoned and shipwrecked various times on account his labor in the Vineyard. He used to support himself doing the arduous work at night of making tents by hand so that no one would think he was leeching off of them. And he continued to work hard even when his strong arms were chained to walls, writing letters to people whom he could not visit and catechizing those who came to see him. In today\u2019s second reading, he describes the principle that should motivate every Christian. \u201cFor me to live is Christ,\u201d he said, and \u201cIf I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.\u201d As long as we\u2019re alive in the world, in other words, we should be engaged in some type of fruitful labor, planting seeds for the Lord, reaping the seeds others have planted before us, and seeking to make Christ, his kingdom, and his harvest, the real driving force of our life. Jesus longs for the day when everyone of us can truthfully echo those words of St. Paul and, in our own part of the vineyard, work with the same energy and fruitfulness with which St. Paul labored to till the soil in seven different <em>countries<\/em>. He prayed at the end of the second reading that we would \u201cconduct ourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ,\u201d and hard work to establish God\u2019s kingdom in the hearts of others and to align the values of society with those of God are essential and indispensable parts of that worthy Christian behavior.<\/li>\n<li>Today Jesus is look at each of us straight in the eye and saying, \u201cYou, too, go to work in my vineyard!\u201d He\u2019s telling each of us, \u201cYou\u2019re hired!\u201d If we respond to the blessing of that calling, if we roll up our sleeves, and help him spread and strengthen the faith, then he will give us each not just a denarius or full day\u2019s wage, but the aboundingly generous reward of eternal life, the same reward as Our Lady, St. Joseph, and all the great saints. We don\u2019t have to wait that long to see that generosity, however. This morning, before we engage in his work later today and throughout this week, he already gives us something far greater than a salary of a billion dollars. The reward he gives is the greatest expression of his generosity he could: he gives himself! But even in this gift, he involves us, \u201cthe work of human hands.\u201d As we prepare to receive him today, we thank him for never stopping to come to meet us in the marketplace to remind us of the gift of the work to which he\u2019s calling us. We beg him to strengthen us from our communion with him on the inside to respond wholeheartedly to that summons. And we ask him for the grace that, like St. Paul, we may see that truly to live is to live in Christ and to share in his hard work of bringing in a great harvest of souls to rejoice with him and with us forever. There\u2019s much work to do and, out of love for others and for us, God is sending us to do it. Let\u2019s get started!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The readings for today&#8217;s Mass were:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"bibleReadingsWrapper\">\n<h4>Reading 1<br \/>\n<a id=\"\/bible\/isaiah\/55:6|\" href=\"http:\/\/usccb.us8.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=b927174dbe854683d4b527f98&amp;id=e1711787d1&amp;e=b55e3798ee\">is 55:6-9<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"poetry\">Seek the LORD while he may be found,<br \/>\ncall him while he is near.<br \/>\nLet the scoundrel forsake his way,<br \/>\nand the wicked his thoughts;<br \/>\nlet him turn to the LORD for mercy;<br \/>\nto our God, who is generous in forgiving.<br \/>\nFor my thoughts are not your thoughts,<br \/>\nnor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.<br \/>\nAs high as the heavens are above the earth,<br \/>\nso high are my ways above your ways<br \/>\nand my thoughts above your thoughts.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bibleReadingsWrapper\">\n<h4>Responsorial Psalm<br \/>\n<a id=\"\/bible\/psalms\/145:2|\" href=\"http:\/\/usccb.us8.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=b927174dbe854683d4b527f98&amp;id=dc7b79cdfc&amp;e=b55e3798ee\">ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"poetry\">R\/ (18a)\u00a0<strong>The Lord is near to all who call upon him.<\/strong><br \/>\nEvery day will I bless you,<br \/>\nand I will praise your name forever and ever.<br \/>\nGreat is the LORD and highly to be praised;<br \/>\nhis greatness is unsearchable.<br \/>\nR\/\u00a0<strong>The Lord is near to all who call upon him.<\/strong><br \/>\nThe LORD is gracious and merciful,<br \/>\nslow to anger and of great kindness.<br \/>\nThe LORD is good to all<br \/>\nand compassionate toward all his works.<br \/>\nR\/\u00a0<strong>The Lord is near to all who call upon him.<\/strong><br \/>\nThe LORD is just in all his ways<br \/>\nand holy in all his works.<br \/>\nThe LORD is near to all who call upon him,<br \/>\nto all who call upon him in truth.<br \/>\nR\/\u00a0<strong>The Lord is near to all who call upon him.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Reading 2<br \/>\n<a id=\"\/bible\/philippians\/1:20|\" href=\"http:\/\/usccb.us8.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=b927174dbe854683d4b527f98&amp;id=8dbf09bf43&amp;e=b55e3798ee\">phil 1:20c-24, 27a<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>Brothers and sisters:<br \/>\nChrist will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.<br \/>\nFor to me life is Christ, and death is gain.<br \/>\nIf I go on living in the flesh,<br \/>\nthat means fruitful labor for me.<br \/>\nAnd I do not know which I shall choose.<br \/>\nI am caught between the two.<br \/>\nI long to depart this life and be with Christ,<br \/>\nfor that is far better.<br \/>\nYet that I remain in the flesh<br \/>\nis more necessary for your benefit.<\/p>\n<p>Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bibleReadingsWrapper\">\n<h4>Gospel<br \/>\n<a id=\"\/bible\/matthew\/20:1|\" href=\"http:\/\/usccb.us8.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=b927174dbe854683d4b527f98&amp;id=3f99cef8e7&amp;e=b55e3798ee\">mt 20:1-16a<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"poetry\">Jesus told his disciples this parable:<br \/>\n\u201cThe kingdom of heaven is like a landowner<br \/>\nwho went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.<br \/>\nAfter agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,<br \/>\nhe sent them into his vineyard.<br \/>\nGoing out about nine o\u2019clock,<br \/>\nthe landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,<br \/>\nand he said to them, \u2018You too go into my vineyard,<br \/>\nand I will give you what is just.\u2019<br \/>\nSo they went off.<br \/>\nAnd he went out again around noon,<br \/>\nand around three o\u2019clock, and did likewise.<br \/>\nGoing out about five o\u2019clock,<br \/>\nthe landowner found others standing around, and said to them,<br \/>\n\u2018Why do you stand here idle all day?\u2019<br \/>\nThey answered, \u2018Because no one has hired us.\u2019<br \/>\nHe said to them, \u2018You too go into my vineyard.\u2019<br \/>\nWhen it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,<br \/>\n\u2018Summon the laborers and give them their pay,<br \/>\nbeginning with the last and ending with the first.\u2019<br \/>\nWhen those who had started about five o\u2019clock came,<br \/>\neach received the usual daily wage.<br \/>\nSo when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,<br \/>\nbut each of them also got the usual wage.<br \/>\nAnd on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,<br \/>\n\u2018These last ones worked only one hour,<br \/>\nand you have made them equal to us,<br \/>\nwho bore the day\u2019s burden and the heat.\u2019<br \/>\nHe said to one of them in reply,<br \/>\n\u2018My friend, I am not cheating you.<br \/>\nDid you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?<br \/>\nTake what is yours and go.<br \/>\nWhat if I wish to give this last one the same as you?<br \/>\nOr am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?<br \/>\nAre you envious because I am generous?\u2019<br \/>\nThus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/vineyard1.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-27579\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/vineyard1.jpg?resize=300%2C208&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/vineyard1.jpg?resize=300%2C208&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/vineyard1.jpg?w=568&amp;ssl=1 568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5466\"><audio 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rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"9.24.23_MC_Homily_1.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Roger J. Landry Convent of the Missionaries of Charity, Bronx, NY Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A September 24, 2023 Is 55:6-9, Ps 145, Phil 1:20-24.27, Mt 20:1-16 \u00a0 To listen to an audio recording of today&#8217;s homily, please click below:\u00a0 https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/catholicpreaching\/9.24.23_MC_Homily_1.mp3 &nbsp; The following points were attempted in the homily:\u00a0 Through the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13364,1063,3,12314,6],"tags":[11842,3409,8117,6759,6755,7341,512,514,13712,13713,913,2550,2343,553,6752,6754,6753,6758,2016,3397,6760,3303],"class_list":["post-27575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2022-2023","category-audio-homily","category-homily","category-podcast","category-year-a","tag-are-you-envious-because-i-am-generous","tag-envy","tag-for-me-to-live-is-christ","tag-fruitful-labor","tag-gods-generosity","tag-harvest","tag-is-556-9","tag-mt-201-16","tag-my-thoughts-are-not-your-thoughts","tag-my-ways-are-not-your-ways","tag-phil-120-24-27","tag-prodigal-son","tag-ps-145","tag-st-matthew","tag-subdue-the-earth","tag-the-covenant","tag-the-fall","tag-to-live-is-christ","tag-vineyard","tag-work","tag-youre-hired","tag-zacchaeus"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hired For Work in the Lord&#039;s Vineyard, Twenty-Fifth Sunday (A), September 24, 2023 - Catholic Preaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/hired-for-work-in-the-lords-vineyard-twenty-fifth-sunday-a-september-24-2023\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hired For Work in the Lord&#039;s Vineyard, Twenty-Fifth Sunday (A), September 24, 2023 - Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fr. 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