Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church issued the following announcement on Sept. 20

Today we hear about a landowner who hired laborers to work in his vineyard. The first hires agreed on a day’s pay. When work ended the men were paid, the first hires receiving the same as the late hires. Imagine the grumbling! Fairness and justice in the marketplace are essential. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum (“Of New Things”).

This ground-breaking document discussed the relationships and duties of labor and capital, governments and citizens. It called for just wages for people to support families, and the right of labor to unionize. The pope rejected both communism and unrestricted capitalism, and affirmed the right to private property. In the Gospel, Jesus is not addressing these issues, but God’s relationship with people.

God acts with justice: like the laborers who worked all day, we receive what God promised. God also gives beyond simple justice, giving unexpectedly and lavishly. In God’s economy we all get what we deserve and more than we ever bargained for.

Original source can be found here.