HOMILY OF HIS EMINENCE FRANK CARDINAL LEO | Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto | Stewardship Sunday | September 20, 2026

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,

Praised be Jesus Christ.

Today is Stewardship Sunday which is observed annually across the Archdiocese of Toronto on the third Sunday of September. The parable which our blessed Lord taught, at first glance doesn’t appear to be about stewardship at all. It seems to be about a vineyard, odd hiring practices, and unfair wages. But if we listen closely, we discover it is really about how we live and experience what has been entrusted to us.

Notice how the parable unfolds. The landowner goes out again and again: early morning, midmorning, noon, afternoon, even the eleventh hour. God does not call us once; there are a series of invitations throughout life. Stewardship, then, is listening to these grace-filled invitations and being faithful to the hour we are in.

The trouble begins when the early workers stop living in their present moment. They measure their whole day against someone else’s final hour. Comparison pulls them away from their own call and blinds them to the situation of others; namely the late workers. Those who waited in the marketplace until the final hour were not on vacation; they were unwanted, passed over. Anyone who has been unemployed knows the pain of being overlooked and the fear of not having what it takes, not having the basic necessities of life. Imagine their joy and relief when they received the “usual daily wage”. The “wage” given is not their pay for an hour’s labour—it is mercy and a restoration of dignity and underscores God’s generosity and providential care for us. Source (an excerpt): https://www.archtoronto.org/stewardship-sunday

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