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Pope Leo’s angelus reflection for 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
St Peter’s Square – Sunday, 20 September 2026
1st Reading: Isaiah 55:6-9
“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Sunday Gospel: Philippians 1:20-24 and 1:27
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard.
He made an agreement with the workers for one denarius a day and sent them to his vineyard. Going out at about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said to them, “You go to my vineyard too and I will give you a fair wage.” So they went.
At about the sixth hour and again at about the ninth hour, he went out and did the same.
Then at about the eleventh hour he went out and found more men standing round, and he said to them, “Why have you been standing here idle all day?”
“Because no one has hired us” they answered.
He said to them, “You go into my vineyard too.”
In the evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his bailiff, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last arrivals and ending with the first.
” So those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came forward and received one denarius each. When the first came, they expected to get more, but they too received one denarius each.
They took it but grumbled at the landowner.
They said: “The men who came last have done only one hour, and you have treated them the same as us, though we have done a heavy day’s work in all the heat.”
He answered one of them and said, “My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on one denarius? Take your earnings and go. I choose to pay the last comer as much as I pay you. Have I no right to do what I like with my own? Why be envious because I am generous?”
Thus: the last will be first, and the first, last.’
Philippians: 1:27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel
Pope Leo’s Homily
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today, in the liturgy, the Lord gives us great cause for hope through the words of the prophet Isaiah.
He tells us that his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. Indeed, God’s plans are far greater — and more “human” — than we, sinful men and women, can conceive or bring to fruition.
Thus, the prophet’s call is more relevant than ever: we must abandon our warped ways and return to the Lord, who is mercy and forgiveness (Isaiah 55:6–7).
In the Gospel, Jesus’ parables reveal both the newness of what God has in store for us and the resistance we generally offer to greater love and justice.Today, we hear the stor of laborers called to work in a vineyard—some for a full day, some for a few hours, and some as the sun was setting.
The heart of the parable, however, lies in the moment of payment when the landowner keeps his word to the workers hired first and pays them as agreed.
However, he wants them to witness his generosity, so he treats the last ones in the same way right before their eyes.
One detail should especially not escape our notice.
The landowner gives the steward a specific order that the workers are to be paid “beginning with the last and then going to the first” (Mt 20:8).
The negative reaction of those who had worked all day could have easily been avoided.
However, it was intentional because God’s goodness is for everyone, not just a select few.
God has different ways and fresh ideas, even for those who consider themselves first and believe they have earned what they have and deserved the results they have achieved.
Instead, we all gain joy, wisdom, and a better future:
– when the law of love replaces that of calculation,
– when the experience of mercy supersedes merit,
– and when the gift of peace suspends rivalries and brings us closer together in gratitude.
Brothers and sisters,
It is indeed a blessing to be God’s coworkers, to work in his vineyard, and to serve his kingdom of justice and peace.
There is no room for envy or division where God’s newness emerges.
Therefore, let us seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near, and abandon crooked paths and wicked thoughts. (Is 55:6–7).
Let us look to our Most Holy Mother, for she is a creature like us yet without blemish. Thus, she 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.
