Homily 19

Pronounced before the people

in the Basilica of Blessed Lawrence, Martyr

March 28, 591 (Wednesday of the fourth week of Lent)

The workers of the eleventh hour

On this day of "voting", the people gathered to accompany the catechumens in one of the stages that will lead them to baptism: the tradition of the symbol of faith. It is for these future neophytes that the Pope emphasizes the new life demands of the faith they are going to profess.

The commentary on the parable of the workers hired at the various hours of the day is not easy. After having said who are the father of the family, the vineyard and the workmen, St. Gregory proposes a double exegesis of the hours of the day when the workers are hired, and he deduces from it two different interpretations of the workers of the eleventh hour. He has yet to explain what is this mysterious denier that all receive equally as a reward, and why everyone perceives it without distinction of the work done, which is the shocking point of the parable.

The sentence that closes the Gospel - there are many called, but few elected - allows the preacher a contrasted finale, rich in Christian paradox. For if he insists first on the works whose faith is to be accompanied to deserve Heaven, he will soon return in an unexpected direction: if our neighbor behaves badly, we must not judge him, since no one knows the treasures of divine mercy. And to better inculcate such an important truth, the pope recounts a first version of the story of the young Theodore, which he will take up in different terms in Homily 38 (16) and in the Dialogues (IV, 40, 2-5 ). This poignant story makes us feel the mercy of God manifested in souls. Gregory knows both to emphasize the intransigence of the word of God and not fall into the trap of rigorism. "Narrow is the way to life," but there is no limit to divine mercy.

Wonderful pedagogue, our speaker exploits all the resources offered by edifying stories: besides the examples of heroic virtue, there are the precedents of unexpected conversions. The faithful need to hear from each other, for what would they need to understand what they should practice if they were not given the hope of doing so despite the sins and vices they still struggle with?

Mt 20, 1-16

At that time, Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a father who went out at daybreak to hire laborers for his vineyard. Having agreed with the workmen a penny a day, he sent them to his vineyard. He also went out about the third hour, and saw others standing there in the square, doing nothing. He said to them, "Go also to my vineyard, and I will give you what is right." And they went there. He went out again towards the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same again. At last, having gone out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing there, and he said to them, "Why are you here all day doing nothing?" They answered, "Because no one hired.> He said to them, "Go also to my vineyard." When evening had come, the master of the vineyard said to his steward, "Call the workers and pay their wages, beginning with the last arrivals, and ending with the first ones.> Those of the eleventh hour came and each received a penny. The first, coming in their turn, thought they would receive more. But they also each received a denier. On receiving him, they murmured against the father of the family, saying: "These last worked only one hour, and you give them as much as we who have borne the weight of the day and the heat! the master, addressing one of them, replied: "My friend, I do not do you any harm; did not you agree on a penny with me? Take what is yours and leave. I want to give it to you as well as you. Do not I have the right to do what I want? Or is your eye evil because I am good?> So the last will be first, and the first will be last; for there are many called, but few chosen. "

The explanation of this reading of the Holy Gospel calls for long developments, but I want you to summarize them, if possible, so that you do not have to be too talkative, adding to a long ceremony1.

The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a father who hires laborers to cultivate his vineyard. Now who can be more justly compared to this father than our Creator, who governs those whom he has created, and exercises in this world the right of property over his elect as a master over the servants whom he has at home? He owns a vineyard, the universal Church, which has grown, so to speak, as many branches as it has produced saints, from Abel the righteous to the last one to be born at the end of the world.

This father of the family hired laborers to cultivate his vine at daybreak, at the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hour, since he had not ceased from the beginning of the world to the end of the world. in the end, to gather preachers to instruct the crowd of the faithful. The daybreak for the world was from Adam to Noah; the third hour, from Noah to Abraham; the sixth from Abraham to Moses; the ninth, from Moses to the coming of the Lord; and the eleventh hour, from the coming of the Lord to the end of the world. The holy apostles were sent to preach in this last hour, and although they came late, they received a full salary.

The Lord therefore never stops sending workers to cultivate his vineyard, that is, to teach his people. For while he was fructifying the good manners of his people by the patriarchs, then by the doctors of the Law and the prophets, finally by the apostles, he worked, so to speak, to cultivate his vineyard through his workers.

All who, to a righteous faith, joined the good works were the workers of this vineyard, though to varying degrees and in different ways. The workers of daybreak, third, sixth, and ninth hour, therefore, designate the ancient Hebrew people, who, applying in the person of his chosen ones, from the beginning of the world, to worship to God with a righteous faith, has, so to speak, not ceased to work on the cultivation of the vine. But at the eleventh hour, the Gentiles are called, and it is to them that these words are addressed: "Why are you there, all day long, doing nothing?" For throughout this so great lapse of the time they had been through the world, they had neglected to work for [eternal] life, and they were there, sort of, all day, doing nothing. But notice, my brethren, what they answer to the question put to them: "Because no one has hired us." Indeed, no patriarch or prophet had come to them. And what does it mean: "Nobody hired us to work", otherwise: "No one has preached the ways of life."

But we, what shall we say for our excuse, if we abstain from good works? Remember that we have received faith from our mother's womb, heard the words of life from our cradle, and sucked from the teats of the holy Church the beverage of heavenly doctrine at the same time as mother's milk.2

2. We can also distribute these various hours of the day between the ages of the life of each man. The little day is the childhood of our intelligence. The third hour can be understood as adolescence, for the sun then takes, so to speak, height, in that the ardor of youth begins to warm up. The sixth hour is the age of maturity: the sun establishes it as its point of equilibrium, since man is then in the fullness of his strength. The ninth hour refers to old age, where the sun descends in some way from the sky, because the ardors of middle age cool down there. Finally, the eleventh hour is that age which is called decrepit old age or extreme old age. Hence it is that the Greeks no longer call gerontas those who are very old, but presbyterous, to emphasize that these people whom they call "more advanced in age" have passed the stage of old age. Since some are led to an honest life from childhood, others during adolescence, others to maturity, others in old age, others finally in the decrepit age, is as if they were called to the vineyard at different times [of the day].

Examine your way of life, dear brothers, and see if you started to behave as God's workers. Think carefully about your actions, and consider whether you work in the vineyard of the Lord. For whoever in this life seeks only his interest, has not yet come to the Lord's vineyard. These indeed work for the Lord who think for the benefit of their Master and not theirs, who, under the impulse of charity, apply to the works of mercy, strive to win souls and rush to lead others to walk with them to life. As for the one who lives for himself and feeds himself on the pleasures of the flesh, he is rightly reproached for remaining idle, since he does not work to advance the work of God.

3. He who, until his last age, neglected to live for God, is like the workman who did not do anything until the eleventh hour. And it is rightly said to those who cross their arms until the eleventh hour: "Why are you there, all day, doing nothing?" It's like saying clearly: "If you did not want to live for God during your youth and your maturity, repent at least in your last age; it is very late, and you will not be able to work much, but come on the ways of life anyway. "These too, therefore, the father calls them; often, moreover, they are rewarded first, because they leave their body for the Kingdom before those who had been called from their childhood. Was not the thief coming at the eleventh hour (cf Lk 23: 39-43)? It was not by his advanced age, but by his torment, that he arrived at the evening [of his life]. He confessed God on the cross, and exhaled his last breath almost at the moment when the Lord delivered his sentence. And the father of the family, admitting the thief before Peter in the repose of paradise, has well distributed the last, beginning with the last.

There were so many fathers before the Law as under the Law! And yet only those who were called at the coming of the Lord arrived without delay in the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who had begun to work at the eleventh hour, therefore, received this penny to which those who had been working since the first hour desired with all their desire. For all have obtained the same reward, that of eternal life, whether they were called from the beginning of the world or they came to the Lord at the end of the world. That is why those who had put themselves first to work say, murmuring: "These last worked only one hour, and you give them as much as we who carried the weight of the day and the heat They have indeed borne the weight of the day and the heat, those who were called from the beginning of the world, since they had to live long here below, and they were obliged to bear the temptations of the flesh. But to bear the weight of the day and the heat, is it not to be tested by the ardor of the flesh for a longer life?

4. But we may ask ourselves why we are being presented with murmuring people who have been called to enter the Kingdom, albeit belatedly. For no one obtains the kingdom of heaven if he murmurs; no one can murmur if he gets it. However, no matter how righteous their lives, the ancient Patriarchs, who lived before the advent of the Lord, were not led into the Kingdom until the one who, through his death, opened to men the closed doors heaven. Their murmur is nothing else than the long delay they suffered in obtaining the Kingdom, having lived as they should to obtain it. They were indeed received into hell after having led a righteous life, and although they had known peace there, it was for them to have worked in the vineyard and then murmured. They have, so to speak, received their money after having murmured, they who have reached the joys of the Kingdom after a long stay in hell.

But we, arrived at the eleventh hour, we do not murmur after working, and we receive our denier, since come into this world after the Mediator, we are admitted to the Kingdom as soon as we leave this body, and we receive immediately this that the old fathers deserved to obtain after a long delay. So the father of the family says: "I want to give to him as well as to you." And because the admission into the Kingdom is only of his good will, it is rightly that he adds : "Do not I have the right to do what I want?" It is indeed a great madness for the man to raise a complaint against the goodness of God. He would not have any reason to complain that God does not give when he is not kept, but only if he does not give when he is obliged to do so. That's why it's added aptly: "Or is your eye bad because I'm good?"

Let no one be proud of his work or the long duration of it, since after uttering these words, the Truth immediately declares: "Thus the last will be first, and the first will be last." even though we know the nature and number of our good deeds, we still do not know how penetrating the Heavenly Judge will examine them. Besides, it would be a great pleasure to be in the Kingdom of Heaven, even though we would be the last.

5. However, what follows these words is truly terrible: "For there are many called, but few chosen." Many, indeed, come to faith, but few come to the Kingdom of Heaven .3

See how many came to this day's party; here is the church full, and yet who knows how few of us will be counted among God's elect? For all, by their voice, proclaim Christ, but not all proclaim him by their life. Many follow God in words, but flee by their conduct. It is from them that Paul declares: "They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds" (Tit 1,16). And James says, "Faith without works is dead." (Jas 2: 26)

It is in the same sense that the Lord said through the psalmist's mouth: "I have spoken and spoken, they have multiplied beyond number" (Ps 40, 6). At the call of the Lord, the faithful multiply beyond the number, because some come to the faith, who do not get to be among the chosen ones. They are mingled with the faithful here below in the confession of the same faith, but because of their bad life, they do not deserve to share in the afterlife the fate of the faithful. This sheepfold, the holy church, receives goats like lambs. But the Gospel testifies to this: when the Judge comes, he will separate the good from the wicked, as the pastor puts the sheep apart from the goats (Mt 25:32). It is impossible for those who have devoted themselves here below to the pleasures of the flesh to be counted up there among the sheep. And the Judge deprives above the lot of the humble ones who raise their horns here with pride. Even if one perseveres in the faith that comes from heaven, one can not reach the kingdom of heaven by searching here below all his goods for the earth.

6. People who behave so, dear brothers, you see many in the Church; well, you must neither imitate them nor despair of their fate. What everyone is today, we see it well, but what it will be tomorrow, we do not know. Often, the very one who seemed to be behind us comes to pass us by the promptness that he puts forward in good works; and we scarcely follow him whom the day before had appeared to advance. While Stephen died for faith, Saul kept the clothes of those who stoned him (Acts 7:58). So it was he who was stoning Stephen by the hands of all those who stoned him, because he allowed everyone to stone him more easily. And yet, in the holy Church, Saul preceded by the breadth of his labors that very one of which he had made a martyr by persecuting him.

Two points must therefore hold our particular attention. The first is that since there are many called, but few chosen, no one should be too sure of him, because even if he has already been called to the faith, he does not know if he is worthy of the eternal Kingdom. The second is that no one should allow himself to despair of his neighbor, even though he would see him plunged into vice, because no one knows the treasures of divine mercy.

7. I go, my brethren, to tell you a story recently arrived, so that, if you recognize yourself sinners from the bottom of your heart, you love more of the mercy of Almighty God. This year, in my monastery near the Blessed Martyrs John and Paul, a brother came to lead the religious life; he was received piously, and lived even more piously. His brother followed him to the monastery: by the body, not by the heart. Having a horror of monastic life and habit, he lived as a guest in this monastery. His manners removed him from the life of the monks, but he could not stop living in the monastery, because he had neither what to look after nor what to live. His depraved nature was a burden to all, but all tolerated him with patience for his brother's sake. Proud and luxurious, he did not know that a life had to follow that of this world, and he laughed at those who wanted to tell him about it. Thus, living with the habit of the century in the monastery, he was light in words, unstable by his passions, proud in his spirit, sought in his dress and dissipated in his actions.

But last July, he was struck by this epidemic of plague you know. Arrived at the last end, he found himself on the point of giving up the ghost. Death had already seized the extremities of his body; there was only life in his chest and tongue. The brothers, gathered around him, supported him with their prayers in his last moments, as much as God granted them. But suddenly he saw a dragon come to him ready to devour him, and he cried aloud: "Here they gave me food for the dragon. Your presence alone prevents him from devouring me; why make me wait? Let him do it. Let him devour me. "And as the brethren urged him to make the sign of the cross on him, he answered, as far as his strength would permit," I want to sign myself, but I can not because the dragon prevents me; the drool of his mouth floods my face, my throat suffocates under his mouth. Behold, he crushes my arms, and my head is already in his mouth. "As he said that pale, trembling and dying, the brothers began to pray with redoubled fervor, so to come to the help of the one held by him. hold of the dragon. Then, suddenly released, the dying man cried aloud: "God be praised! He has gone now, he has gone out; in front of your prayers, the dragon who had taken me fled. "

Immediately he made a vow to serve God and become a monk; Since then, fevers continue to oppress him, and he still suffers a lot. He has been saved from death, but he has not yet been fully restored to life. Because he was a long time slave of his iniquity, he endured a long illness, and his hard heart is burned by the even harder fire of the atonement. Divine Providence thus wished that a prolonged illness should burn long vices. Who would ever have believed that God would keep this man alive for conversion? Who can consider such a great mercy from God? Behold, a young debauched man saw at his death the demon he had served during his life; and this vision, far from making him lose his life, allowed him to know him whose slave he had made, that he might resist him, and that if he resisted, he would triumph over them. He who before possessed him without seeing him, was finally given the opportunity to see him, so that he would no longer be possessed by him. What language could describe the entrails4 of divine mercy? What spirit would remain stunned by such riches of goodness? It is these riches of divine goodness that the psalmist had in view when he said: "Help me, I will sing to you by my songs, because you are, O God, my refuge, O my God, my mercy "(Ps 59, 18). Having considered of what suffering is woven human life, the psalmist called God his help; and because at the end of the present tribulation, God welcomes us into eternal rest, he still calls it his refuge. The psalmist also considered that God sees our evil deeds, but supports them, and that despite our faults, he is patient in order to lead us to reward by penance; so he did not want to content himself with saying that God is merciful, he has called it Mercy in person: "O my God, my mercy."

Let us put before our eyes the evil that we have committed; let us acknowledge with what sweet patience God supports us; Let us consider the entrails of his paternal goodness: not only is he indulgent in his faults, but he also promises the kingdom of heaven to those who, after their faults, do penance. And from the bottom of our heart, let's say everyone: O my God, my Mercy, who live and reign, three in unity and one in the Trinity, forever, forever and ever. Amen.