Something I enjoy thinking about when I'm getting frustrated in my work or with my struggle for deepening conversion to Christ is the looks of joy on the faces of the Blessed Mother and all the saints when one day, by the grace of God, I'll cross the threshold of Heaven. I find great encouragement in imagining what the joy in heaven over my repentance would look like and what the consequent welcome into paradise I might receive would entail—shaking hands with the Doctors of the Church, pats on the back from the Martyrs, perhaps a solid punch in the arm from the Apostles, and a true mother's embrace and kiss on the forehead from Mary… It truly is a beautiful image to think about our welcome into the City of God.
Contrast this with the resentment of the early-bird workers in this Sunday's gospel. Rather than rejoicing that their brethren finally received some gainful employment, they are resentful of their master's generosity. It is clear that the laborers have little, if any, connection to one another. There is no rejoicing over the good fortune of those who come late to the vineyard, and apparently no promise of any sharing in the benefits of the landowner's generosity. We must never allow this to be the image of our work for God's kingdom.
On a very practical level, I'm left wondering where all of these extra laborers kept coming from throughout the day. Jesus does make it sound as if there is a constant trickle of new laborers coming to the marketplace for the landlord to hire each time he goes out. What I would be left wondering if this were a real-world situation is, "Why aren't the workers bringing one another to the vineyard?" There is very clearly more than enough work to go around. This lack of sharing the good news of employment actually makes more work for the vineyard owner who must constantly go out looking again and again for more workers.
I think Jesus is telling us something here about the immensity of the work of the kingdom. It is a task that will require the labor of every single person on earth, not only the most industrious early risers. No, the task of restoring the fallen state of creation back to God's original plan demands the participation and struggle of every single one of us. Particularly for those of us who will be priests, this means that along with our labor in the vineyard itself, we also must take on the responsibility of inviting our brothers and sisters with us into the fields. As a very wise priest once said, "Our journey to Heaven is not about being able to say to the Lord, 'Look, here I am!' but rather 'Look, here I am, and see whom I have brought with me!'" Then, and only then, will we truly be in a position to rejoice over the lavish generosity of our Heavenly Father.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!
~J
P.S. I am back at Mundelein, and this reflection was for our Cam night on 3-Blvd last night. Thought I'd post it just to give some kind of update. Things are off to a fast start; not even two weeks into things, I'm already behind! There are still pictures from some of my 'adventures' over the summer I'd like to be able to post.
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