"You too go into my vineyard" (Mt 20,4)
It is Saint Matthew, the apostle and evangelist whose feast we are
celebrating today, who tells the parable of the owner of the vineyard
who calls laborers to work in in his vineyard (20.1f.). I like to
emphasize that Matthew had personally had this experience. Before Jesus
called him, he exercised the function of publican and, as a result, was
thought of as a sinner, excluded from «the Lord's vineyard». However, it
all changes when Jesus, passing by his tax-collector's table, looks at
him and says: «Follow me». Matthew stood up and followed him. The
publican had changed immediately into a disciple of Christ. He was one
of the «last» who found himself to be «first» (Mt 20,16) thanks to God's
way of thinking, which – happily for us! - is different from the
world's. «Your thoughts are not my thoughts,» as the Lord says through
the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, «nor are my ways your ways» (55,8).
Saint
Paul, too, experienced the joy of feeling himself called by our Lord to
work in his vineyard. And what a great work he accomplished! But, as he
himself testifies, it was the grace of God working in him, that grace
which transforms the persecutor of the Church into the apostle of the
gentiles (1Cor 15,9-10).
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