August 19, 2026, Wednesday of the 20th week
Ezekiel 34, 1-11; Matt 20, 1-16
Homily
According to all the principles accepted today in the field of labour relations, the employer in our Gospel acts in a rather strange and even unacceptable way. His attitude certainly does not correspond to our criteria of justice, and is even disconcerting. Equally disconcerting are the last words of the parable: ‘The last will be first and the first will be last’. The first Christians seem to have been confused by these words of Jesus, each of the Evangelists placing them in a different context, and Matthew even repeating them twice.