Year of the Pig - Those who are last shall be first

" The Pig is the twelfth of all zodiac animals. According to one myth, the Jade Emperor said the order would be decided by the order in which they arrived to his party. Pig was late because he overslept... When he arrived, he was the last one and could only take twelfth place."

The pig was last but is still revered and honored in and through it's 12th-placed ranking.

I cannot help but relate this story to that of the Workers in Matthew 20:1-16. In essence, the Master or Householder invited laborers into his vineyard at different hours. Firstly, in the morning, at the very start of the day. Secondly, he invited laborers to work in his vineyard at the third hour. Thirdly, he summoned those standing idle in the marketplace at the sixth hour. Subsequently, at the ninth hour he still invited laborers. Lastly, he even summoned laborers at the eleventh hour. He then gave all the laborers an equal wage(one penny) regardless of how long they had labored for that day, to the displease of those who worked from the very start.

St.Gregory said, " The morning is our childhood; the third hour may be understood as our youth, the sun as it were mounting to his height is the advance of the heat of age; the sixth hour is manhood, when the sun is steady in his meridian height, representing as it were the maturity of strength; by the ninth is understood old age, in which the sun descends from his vertical height, as our age falls away from the fervor of youth; the eleventh hour is that age which is called decrepit, and doting. "

St.John Chrysostom said, "This parable was made to quicken the zeal of those who are converted in extreme old age, that they should not suppose that they shall have less than others. "

As long as one ultimately turns to God, he will get the reward of "one penny" which is to be seen as salvation and the Gospel warns us not to be envious or jealous if those whom we feel labored in His vineyard only for a little while do receive salvation.

Therefore, do not look down on the pig because it finished last. Likewise, do not rule off the salvation of the most ignorant and hardened sinners because God, in His Divine Mercy invites us even at the eleventh hour! In fact, let us pray for the conversion and salvation of those whom we view as the most ignorant toward God, those whom like the pig, have been oversleeping spiritually. Let's pray that they wake up and just finish the race! Let's never give in to the temptation to write off anyone's chances of salvation. No one is too far off or too deep in sin to be saved by God in His Divine Mercy.

So, let's not look down on the pigs and those who tend to oversleep for they have the opportunity to gain an honored place! In fact, they will probably be rewarded first as we see in the parable of the Workers, “Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.”