“God’s plans are infinitely greater — and, let us say, more ‘human’— than those that we, men and women, marked by sin, can conceive or bring to fruition.”
Pope Leo XIV gave this comforting reminder on Sunday at noon during his Angelus address to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Read Pope Leo’s Full Angelus Address
In his remarks, the Pope recalled that in today’s liturgy, through the words of the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord gives us great cause for hope, telling us that His thoughts are not our thoughts, that His ways are not our ways.
Thus, Pope Leo said that the Prophet’s call for us to “abandon our warped ways and return to the Lord, who is mercy and forgiveness,” is more relevant than ever.
What God has in store for us
The Holy Father recalled that in the Gospel, Jesus’ Parables reveal the newness of what God has in store for us; yet they also reveal the resistance we generally offer to a more generous justice and greater love.
In today’s Gospel reading, the Pope recalled that we hear the story of the laborers called to work in the vineyard, some of whom work for a full day, others for only a few hours, and some only as the sun was setting.
In the Parable, the Holy Father pointed out that the landowner treats the last ones in the same way as those who worked all day.
Notably, he gives the steward a specific order that the workers are to be paid “beginning with the last and then going to the first.”
Resentment could have been avoided easily
Pope Leo points out how easy it could have been to avoid the negative reaction of those who had worked all day. But, this he says, was done intentionally to demonstrate that the revelation of God’s goodness is for everyone, not just for a few.
He reaffirmed that God has different ways and fresh ideas even for those who consider themselves to be first and believe they have earned what they have or that they deserved the results they have achieved.
“Instead,” Pope Leo marvelled, “we all gain joy, wisdom and a better future when the law of love interrupts that of calculation, when the experience of mercy broadens that of merit, and when the gift of peace suspends rivalries and brings us closer together in gratitude.”
No room for envy where God’s newness breaks forth
While calling it “a grace” to be God’s “co-workers” by “laboring” in His vineyard and serving His Kingdom, Pope Leo insisted that “there is no room for envy or division where God’s newness breaks forth.”
For this reason, he said, “let us seek the Lord while He may be found; let us call upon Him while He is near; let us abandon crooked paths and wicked thoughts.”
Pope Leo XIV concluded by urging the faithful to look to the Blessed Mother, “a creature like us yet without blemish,” who “can help us to hope in God and to entrust ourselves to His mercy, so that His ways may become our ways and his thoughts may become our thoughts.”
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