The Lord compares himself in the Gospel of the Mass1 to a father of a family who goes out at different times to hire laborers to work in his vineyard: at dawn, at the hour of the third, the sixth, the ninth.... With the first ones - those who were hired first - the salary was adjusted by one denarius. The others were hired for whatever was fair. At the last hour, when it was near the end of the workday, at the eleventh hour, the master of the house went out again and found others who were not working, and said to them, How is it that you are standing here all day? And they answered him, Because no one has hired us. And he sent them also to work in his vineyard.
The Lord wants to give us a fundamental teaching: for all men there is a call from God. Some receive Christ's invitation at the dawn of their lives, at a very early age, and a special divine predilection falls on them for having been called so soon. Others, when they have already traveled a good part of the road. And all of them in very different circumstances: those of the world in which we live. The denarius that all receive at the end of the day is eternal glory, participation in the very life of God, in an endless happiness at the end of the journey of life, and the incomparable joy, already here, of working for the Master, of spending one's life for Christ.
To work in the vineyard of the Lord, in whatever age we find ourselves, is to collaborate with Christ in the Redemption of the world: by spreading his doctrine, with occasion and without; by facilitating to others the sacrament of Confession, perhaps teaching them the way to make the examination of conscience, exposing the great goods that derive from this sacrament; by calling others to follow Christ more closely through a life of prayer; by participating in some catechesis or formation work; by collaborating financially to create new apostolic instruments; by removing someone from a situation in which he might offend God, with appropriate advice or through fraternal correction; by asking a friend, with the necessary prudence and after insistently asking for light in prayer, for the possibility of giving himself more fully to God. ..
Those who feel called to work in the Lord's vineyard must, in many different ways, "participate in the divine plan of salvation. He must go towards salvation and help others to be saved. By helping others, he saves himself".