Dear Friends,

Once again, the wisdom of the prophet Isaiah reminds us that God alone is the “Subject” of the sentence of creation and the “Narrator” of the story of His loving design as it unfolds in our lives. If we attempt to put ourselves in those positions, things go haywire, and the narrative gets frustrated. He says: “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call Him while He is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. 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.” This sage reminder offers us some insight into how to read the Scriptures ... to seek God’s perspective, not simply the human. It is, after all, God’s Word, not ours. St. Paul in his reflection to the Church of Philippi challenges worldly wisdom as he admits his struggle whether to desire to continue living in this world serving the Lord or embracing death in this world in order to be united fully to Christ. Paul’s dilemma reveals that he has placed the Creator as the subject of the sentence and the narrator of the story of his life and Paul willingly submits his life to God’s Will and His loving design.

The themes of “Justice” and “Mercy” which have been woven through the passages from Matthew’s Gospel over the past few weeks surface again. In the parable presented in today’s Gospel, from the worldly perspective and a strict notion of justice, the opinions of the workers earlier in the day make perfect sense. If that is so, why do we get the idea that Jesus is not saying that? Once again, Jesus is challenging us to confront our spiritual sloth, break out of the religious comfort zones that we have created for ourselves and allow God’s Word to speak to us about the authenticity of Life and the genuineness of Love. In the broader context, God’s word cannot be reduced to certain words made up of various characters of human origin, or to one language or translation or interpretation. Beyond the categories of alphabet and rhetoric, God communicates His Word most eloquently in the life of Jesus Christ … the Word made flesh. Thus, if our focus is simply on the workers, we might feel the urge to challenge the injustice and protest the inequality seemingly presented in the parable, even though the workers who started early in the day agreed to what must have seemed to be a fair, if not generous, amount when they were contracted. Jesus, however, is always proclaiming the Kingdom of God and all His parables indicate that God gives generously and indiscriminately. From that perspective, might our focus be directed away from the workers and toward the compensation? The pay-out is not differentiated because of what the workers did or did not do. The pay-out has nothing to do with the laborers; rather the compensation is the same because God gives Himself completely to everyone at all times … there is no “more” or “less” in His gift of Self. In this way, His superabundant and merciful generosity shatters our shallow sense of justice or our feigned protestations against a perceived injustice.

At the moment in our lives when we are willing to open ourselves to receive whatever portion of the fullness of God’s Self-Gift that we choose to receive, we bear the “response-ability” to live in the light of that Gift and to open ourselves more and more each day to His fullness. Rather than feeling jealous that someone got the same pay for less work, those who truly know Jesus would feel compassion for that one who had not had the privilege of participating sooner in the Work of the Lord, that is, our own salvation. God’s Love is not given in portions … He always and everywhere gives us the fulness of Himself. In His patient compassion, He understands our weakness and our inability or unwillingness to receive Him fully. God’s Love is His very nature, His very Self. Because of our weakness, limitedness, cowardice, laziness and/or sinfulness, we receive this superabundant Gift in the portions that we can handle in the different moments and varied seasons of our lives. Let us then, Seek the Lord … He can be found at every moment of our lives! Call on Him … He is near, because in Jesus, He is with us, even to the end of the age!

Be of good cheer and have a blessed week!

Msgr. Grous