Once again we offer our prayers and support for all those innocently caught in the harshness of natural calamities especially from hurricanes and earthquakes, violence and injustice. While the news reports on large numbers of persons affected, the truth is that the impact is one by one, one person and one family whose lives are forever changed. We have also seen once again the courage and dedication of first responders and many volunteers who at personal risk offer hope in the midst of destruction.
I was especially moved by the scenes from Mexico in an area where I led a pilgrimage just last October. I can envision the beautiful countryside, including a rural church high up on a hill dedicated to St. Michael and an urban one in Puebla dedicated to Mary and the rosary. The Adoration sisters here at this Cathedral are personally affected because their home monastery is in the vicinity and surely some of their families have been touched. Our prayers are with all affected. Our Lady of Guadalupe, you are an icon of God’s love, pray for and intercede for them all.
Now to the readings. Jesus told parables for a purpose. They are teaching moments that tend to jar us because they are set forth in circumstances that we can relate to and the characters in them act in unexpected ways that encourage us to seriously contemplate how we might respond to those circumstances. That is true of today’s parable of the workers.
In an attention getting fashion it describes the expansiveness of God’s love. As noted in the first reading from Isaiah, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord.” With that in mind St. Paul in the 2nd reading implores “conduct yourself in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ.” To which of God’s ways revealed in this parable ought we to conform? I think it is to overcome our human tendency to envy the blessings of others and therefore to model the virtue of generosity in all things.
The facts in this parable on its surface do seem unfair. Some worked a full shift and received pay for a full day. Others worked only a few hours and received the same pay. That is not fair, or is it? The agreement with the first employed was for a full day’s pay and that agreement was kept. Why this sense of injustice then? There was envy rather than rejoicing in the good fortune of others. “Are you envious because I am generous?” asked the employer. Envy, the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, represents a form of sadness and therefore refusal of charity. Someone said envy is counting the blessings of others instead of our own.
Like the workers in the parable, we tend to compare ourselves with others. As kids we look to see who got the bigger piece of cake. As teenagers we look to see who is more popular. As adults we compare ourselves in terms of money, position, things or appearance. Focusing in on ourselves is a form of sadness because we can never be satisfied. How much more positive it is to rejoice in the blessings of others and acknowledge our own blessings which we can do when we focus on God.
This parable is about God’s generous love that we are called to emulate. “Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money”, asked the employer. Is not God free to do as he wishes with his grace and forgiveness and love, and should we not be grateful for that love? It is not something we earn, but rather is God’s gift to us and to others. Jesus forgave the repentant thief who hung on the next cross in his last minutes of life. Who are we to question that? When someone has led a sinful life, owns up, genuinely seeks forgiveness and is welcomed into the church, we ought to rejoice. One who was lost has been found. We should express our joy in God’s generous love in any way we can.
I relate to this parable. I did not seek God until in my thirties about noon in the parlance of this parable. Once I did search for him I was welcomed despite my lingering past. I received my first communion at the age of 39. I was not penalized for my late arrival; I was given the fullness of Our Lord. When I speak to those children receiving their first communion I tell them how blessed they are in a way which I was not because they can receive Our Lord, body, blood, soul, divinity all their lives from such an early age. God’s love is there for our asking at any time. We choose whether to receive it. When we do, God’s love in its fullness becomes ours and it changes us forever. It ought to influence how we conduct ourselves as St. Paul noted.
Some years ago in New York City every Saturday morning a woman would slowly come through the door of an outreach ministry for the poor. She would softly close it as if not to offend. With tired steps she would walk to the desk and lay on the counter four pennies. In a whispering voice she would say that this was all she had left from her pay to give to Christ for the poor. Then with a little bow she would ask for prayers, turn and leave, closing the door quietly behind her. It was learned that her name was Martha. A widow, she worked nights cleaning offices. For four years each Saturday she came with her four pennies. Then she stopped. After inquiry it was learned that Martha had died and been buried in an unmarked grave in a section of a cemetery for the destitute. That beautiful lady did not envy and so was able to show charity and generosity in her own humble way. She conducted herself in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ.
We are called to conduct ourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ which means if we count or compare anything; it should be our blessings and gratitude for the blessings of others. “Are you envious because I am generous? The last shall be first and the first will be last,” Jesus taught. The truth is that there will be times when we because of personal choices might be last. Thank God his generosity is not tied to our choices but rather to our humble search for oneness with him.
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