By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your
ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as
the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my
thoughts above your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel
of Christ. Philippians 1:27A
“ ‘What if I wish to give this last one the same as
you? Or am I not free to do as I wish
with my own money? Are you envious
because I am generous?’ Thus, the last
will be first, and the first will be last.”
Matthew 20:14B-16
Piety
Piety is the degree to
which we are alive TO THE PLAN OF GOD in the moment. The Good Thief steals heaven at the end of his
life because he has his cross next to Christ’s cross. The fullness of God’s love is expressed in the
mystery of the cross. Much is said by
the Father in the simplicity of the cross of His Son being permitted. “God so loved the world that he sent his Son
to reconcile the world to Him.” How do
we accept the love of a God who gave us the best of Himself in the dying of
Christ on the Cross? Christ is the Good
News of Salvation. Christ came to give us a claim on heaven in our
acceptance of the crosses of our lives. God
is love and He has all of His love waiting for us in our oneness with His Son. Those that God truly loves he bring close to
the Cross of His Son. In the
crosses of our lives we put up with the difficulty of life for the sake of our
people. We fill up what wants to the
suffering of Christ’s Body, the Church. All
we need to do is to go out into the harvest of souls. Our gospel today is all about the mercy and
the love of God who takes care of us whenever we accept his invitation. It is never too late to work for the Father. He is generous to us in how he rewards our
labors no matter how late we go to work for him.
Study
Christ gives us a parable
to study to understand the generosity of the Father. Unemployment helps us understand the
generosity of the Father. It is not how
long we work that matters. Work is its
own reward for those who are without work. How glad they are to have a chance to do
something that matters. The Master of
the harvest answers the question of those who expect more because they worked
longer. He gives good pay to those who
work. Why cannot we be generous to those
who appreciate even more the having a chance to work? Those, who bore the brunt of the heat of the
day, were well paid. Why are they jealous when others have the chance to
work and are paid as well for less time? God is such a lover that he can give us the
reward for a life well lived when we do our best for the last moment of life.
It is not the job that we have or how long we worked at it. It is how much appreciation and love we have
for doing our best with the work we have. The boy and the girl saints have a gospel that
says they fulfilled a long time in a short time.
Action
It is important to put all
of ourselves into the moment we are now living.
Love is the coin of the realm of heaven. It is possible to work a lifetime in the
moment we are in. Peter says an afternoon
with the Lord can be worth a thousand years. There is no greater love we can give than to
work with all that we are in the moment we have. Only the moment now touches the eternal “now-ness”
of God who identifies himself as the “I am who I am.” We do not have to wait for a job worthy of our
efforts. Doing our best makes the
ordinary extraordinary.
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