In today’s Gospel, Matthew offers us the parable of the generous landowner. The workers who had worked a full day were given the same wage (the figure they had been promised) as the workers who worked for only an hour. The full-timers were not happy with the landowner’s generosity and let him know it. It was a travesty of justice! The landowner was quite straightforward in his response. I paid you what I promised. Who are you to argue with me about my generosity to the others?
The landowner is, of course, a figure of God. There is an old saying that God made us in his image, and we returned the favor by remaking God in our own. In the past and even today, we as a Church and a society have been pretty much focused on justice. So much of the rhetoric on immigrants is framed in terms of justice. They didn’t do it right, and even if they have been productive and law-abiding citizens, they need to be deported.
When Pope Francis proclaimed a Jubilee of Mercy and sought to reach out in mercy to divorced and remarried Catholics in a pastoral way to allow these families to participate in the Eucharist fully, there was an uproar that they were in adulterous relationships.
The God described in the Gospels is a God of infinite mercy and inclusion, a God who seeks out the lamb who is lost, the man attacked and beaten by robbers, the father who runs out to hug the son who had left him.
Our bishops have recently consecrated our nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a heart that welcomes all: sinners, saints, the confused, seekers, and the lonely into his loving embrace.
The Eucharist feeds and commissions us to be agents of mercy.
Let Us Pray:
Lord God of all creation, Jesus revealed you to be a loving and merciful Father, slow to anger and rich in kindness. The life, teaching, and ministry of Jesus invite us to be persons of mercy and kindness to everyone, especially to those most in need of them. Give us an abundance of your grace that, in imitation of your Sacred Heart, our hearts will be a source of hope, love, and mercy. Amen.
