25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A - When God Is Too Generous & ‘You Are Near’

There is something almost instinctive in us that loves to keep score.

We count how many hours we worked, how much we contributed, how long we waited, how many times we helped and, if we're being completely honest, we sometimes keep an eye on what everyone else is getting too!

“I was here first.” “I worked harder.” “I've been doing this for years.” “And you're telling me they get the same thing?”

Welcome to the vineyard!

Jesus' parable in this weekend’s Gospel is almost guaranteed to make us uncomfortable. A landowner hires workers throughout the day. Some begin early in the morning, while others arrive much later, even at the very last hour. Yet when the day's work is finished, the landowner gives them all the same wage. Naturally, the workers who had been there since morning are not impressed.

And who can blame them? If we were standing in that vineyard, some of us might have been right there with them, doing the calculations!

But Jesus isn't giving us a lesson in employment law. He is giving us a lesson about grace. God's generosity doesn't operate according to our spreadsheets.

We sometimes do the same thing in our spiritual lives. We look around and compare ourselves with others: “I've been faithful for years. Why does that person, who just returned to the Church, receive so much attention?” Or perhaps, “I've served faithfully for so long. Why does someone else seem to have it so easy?”

It’s been said that comparison is the thief of joy. Instead of thanking God for what we have received, we become preoccupied with what someone else has received.

The workers who arrived early were not cheated. They received exactly what they had been promised. Their real problem was that someone else had also been blessed. And that is a lesson worth carrying with us. Someone else's blessing is not a subtraction from our own.

God's mercy toward another person doesn't make His mercy toward us smaller. His forgiveness of someone who has wandered far from Him doesn't diminish the forgiveness He has offered us. When someone discovers faith late in life, God's joy over that person does not mean He loves us any less.

Grace isn't a salary we earn. It is a gift we receive.

Perhaps that's why this Gospel challenges us. We like the idea of a God who is fair, but sometimes we define “fair” as, “Give me what I've earned and give everyone else what they've earned.”

God, however, is not simply fair. God is generous.

And that is very good news, because every one of us eventually stands in the vineyard with empty hands, depending entirely on God's generosity.

So perhaps today we should stop checking everyone else's paycheck and simply look at our own. We have already received far more than we could ever earn: God's patience, His mercy, His forgiveness, His love, and the extraordinary gift of being invited to work in His vineyard.

The question isn't, “Why did they get that?” The better question is, “Lord, how can I be grateful for what You have given me, and how You have been generous with others?” Because in God's vineyard, there is no shortage of grace.

And perhaps the greatest surprise of all is this: God's generosity toward someone else is not something we should resent, it is something we should celebrate!

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In honor of this weekend’s Gospel, we would like to share our latest video.

“You Are Near” by Dan Schutte is a beloved Catholic setting of Psalm 139, offering the assurance that God knows our hearts, remains beside us, protects us, and leads us along the path to everlasting life. Often sung during moments of consolation, healing, and remembrance, its gentle melody transforms the psalmist’s words into a deeply personal prayer of trust in God’s constant presence.

On this Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Psalm 145 proclaims that the Lord is near to all who call upon Him, while Jesus’ parable of the vineyard workers reveals a generosity far greater than human calculations of fairness. Together, hymn and Scripture reassure us that God sees each person, calls us at every hour, and draws near with mercy that cannot be measured or earned.

Video can be watched by clicking here or by clicking on the thumbnail below.