Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of Saint John Eudes, Priest
Today’s readings offer us two contrasting but ultimately complementary images of how the Lord interacts with his servants.
On the one hand, today’s Gospel shows us the Lord’s mercy toward us. Like the landowner in the parable, the Lord is willing to bring us into his service even at the last hour, and will not fail to give a full reward to anyone who turns their heart toward him. We might be able to say with Augustine in his Confessions, “Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!” But even if our love for him blooms late, the Lord will still fill us with his blessings in his merciful generosity.
Today’s first reading from the prophet Ezekiel gives us the contrasting image. Toward those who have accepted the Lord’s call to work in his vineyard, and even more for those whom he has appointed shepherds and overseers of his flock, the Lord is demanding. He will require an account of their shepherding, and he will not fail to punish those who are neglectful or (worse) predatory. But this is not because the Lord is unmerciful; rather, it is because when those who know personally the great mercy and generosity of God hold that mercy cheap, the Lord cannot fail to respond. To do otherwise would be a failure of God’s justice.
Today, let us meditate on these two images and how they apply to our own lives: first, the great and merciful generosity of God that he has called us to serve him; and second, the great responsibility this call brings to care for all those whom God has placed in our lives.