Parable of the workers called to the vine (Mt 20, 1-16)
The master of that house went out at dawn (the days were divided from sunrise to sunset in 12 hours, e.g.: the first hour is at sunrise; the third: three hours later; the sixth: noon, six hours after the sun rose; the seventh: one o'clock in the afternoon; the ninth, three in the afternoon; and so on until the eleventh o'clock, which is one hour before dusk, and the twelfth hour, which is when the sun sets.)
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In the Old Testament it says that it is not fitting for the rich to be greedy, and the lord of this vineyard, who represents God, was very generous with the poor workers who had only worked an hour, he gave them what they needed to live. It is that what God commands to be fulfilled, He fulfills it perfectly, since ever and forever.
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The master of that vineyard arranged with the first laborers a fair wage (a Denarius), but to the others he did not tell them how much he was going to pay them, but: "whatever is just," and to the last he does not even say that, but: "Go you also to the vineyard."
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God knows everything, and knowing the master of the house what those of the first hour were like, he did not want them to know what he was going to pay the same to all, but, that there would be no riots in the vineyard, lest at some point in conversation the first ones would find out and rebuke those who had arrived later, for example, at the third hour, saying: "How is it that you came to work 9 hours later and you are going to be paid the same as us? this has to be fixed." He wanted them to work in peace.
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God is the one who gives first, the master of the house left his house at the eleventh hour with the Hope of finding people who would keep hope. There is much to meditate on this, since we are in the end times and maintaining hope and faith is going to cost. Jesus said in one of the Gospels: when the Son of Man returns, will He find even a little flame of faith on earth? (something similar is found in Lk 18:8).
We also see reflected in that lord of the vineyard, the infinite mercy and wisdom of God because if no one had hired those last ones, it is probably because they had some physical defect or were a little old or perhaps because the other lords had already hired all the ones they needed, I am going to follow the reasoning thinking that they were men advanced in years or with some weakness. At that time there was no retirement pension when they got older, and if they did not have family to take care of them they had to work until their last day or to beg. Here we see that those who have good physical strength work all day, but the weak ones worked only an hour (what they could do). They were people who could work, that's why they offered to be hired. It is not that God wants a person to work when he is no longer strong, the Church, impelled by the love of Jesus Christ, made orphanages, nursing homes, geriatrics, hospitals, schools... She has done everything for the poor and the weak.
And those of the last hour had kept hope in a more than human way (an hour before sunset they were still in the square, waiting, when anyone would have started to return home) and they had good faith in the lord of that vineyard (when anyone would have said that for such a short time it was not worth working) that is very important.
It is very sad what happened with an old woman in Barcelona to whom I asked if I could give her information about Our Lady of the Roses and she replied that at that age she was no longer up for those things. Believing in Our Lady of the Roses was not going to demand physical strength, simply start by praying the complete Rosary every day, to wear the Sacramentals and that her family also use them to be protected, to have blessed statues of the people of Heaven at home... but she did not want to. Sad. Maybe she missed her last chance.
We have to use every minute until the end of our lives to give glory to God. With every minute well spent for the Kingdom of God, we gain more merit and can earn indulgences to shorten the stay in purgatory or use our sacrifices, prayers, and sufferings for the conversion of our loved ones, for the Church, etc.
In this parable we see that EVERYONE OBEYS AND GOES TO WORK, and do we... obey the inspirations that Heaven gives us when it calls us to do some good? And if we don't have them, do we at least work spiritually, praying and making sacrifices until God calls us to do something concrete? Or do we leave everything for later while we lose our lives looking at screens?
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We believe, we hope... and please do not delay in obeying God's call, do not go around in circles, because you do not know how much time or opportunities you have left. Remember the prayer of Peace, which the Angel of Peace taught to the seer children of Our Lady of Fatima: "My God, I believe, I hope, I adore and I love You, I ask Your forgiveness for all those who do not believe, do not hope, do not adore and do not love You." God called Francisco and Jacinta of Fatima to Heaven very early on (before the third anniversary of the Apparitions). They are the youngest Saints in the Church. They, since the angel told them to sacrifice themselves, they obeyed and after the last apparition they offered their lives to console the Heart of Jesus (Francis) and for the conversion of poor sinners (Jacinta).
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It is sad that the workers who had worked all day reproach the owner of the vineyard that they should earn more. "it is not a life that of a man who looks at his neighbor's dish" says the Old Testament, they were not being obedient to the OT and we must remember that WE MUST NEVER TELL GOD WHAT HE SHOULD DO, remember the prayer of Saint Teresa of Avila, who did so much good by founding convents and it is said that at her death all of Spain was a Carmelite convent: "What do you command to be done with me?" God works wonders, He has infinite wisdom, He wants our good, we should only try to please Him in everything, to imitate the Saints and put ourselves in His most blessed hands. And ask Him for what we know He wants.
I repeat: We have to use every minute until the end of our life to give glory to God. With every minute well spent for God's Kingdom, we gain more merit.
About the first workers, the owner who knew that perhaps they were going to get angry with the last ones, he deliberately calls the last ones first, as if to provoke the confrontational situation. And to give them the answers they needed. And also as if to say to those of the first hour: mess with me, big guy, leave the other workers alone. The owner is like a good doctor, who if he sees that a broken bone has been badly welded, he breaks it to make it heal again, this time well. Jesus, when he knew that he was being watched to see if he would perform healing miracles on the Sabbath, did them on purpose, so that he would have the opportunity for them to see the miracle and to talk to them so that they would know God better.
At the end of the day, the owner's threefold answer to the workers of the first hour is crystal clear: 1) He is righteous and keeps His Word. 2) He owns his things and manages them in His Perfect way, the workers are not going to be put above Him. 3) Here he makes them see clearly that they put a bad eye because the owner is good (when we put a bad eye it is because we are almost certainly guided by the evil spirit).
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About the second answer, it is as if we remember to examine ourselves if we are not doing one of the oldest sins of mankind, apart from disobedience: wanting to put ourselves on the level of God. The lying words of the serpent resounded in the ear of Eve: "You will be like God." In the OT the Jews spent their time making sayings offensive to God e.g. "God does neither good nor evil", if we meditate we realize that God governs everything with justice and mercy, and applies punishment after having warned us in time and form! He already warned in Isaiah (Isaiah 29:16) about man's pride: "O your wickedness! Is it that the potter is to be esteemed as clay, so that the work says to its maker: "He has not made me", and the vessel to the potter: "He does not know"?
And now, when we are approaching the end of times the Virgin Mary warned in the Messages of Our Lady of the Roses that science will put man to be worshipped. What a tremendous sin that of man, into which he almost always falls.
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This passage and the two before it have to do with hope. The rich young ruler did not know how to value the hope to which he had been called: a treasure in Heaven, eternal life, a to be perfect... But St. Peter and the Apostles, although they did not understand the words of Jesus at first because they thought (like the Jews) that the rich were the ones who were comfortably saved, that they were the favorites... they believed the Words of Jesus Christ and had hope and followed Jesus until they gave their lives for Him (with the exception of the Iscariot, who was a traitor).
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In this parable we see that the owner, who represents God, is so generous that he pays everyone the full day, giving everyone what they need. Only God is good, so we read in the first lines of the passage of the rich young man and this is how we read in the last lines of this parable: God is good.