25th Sunday Ordinary Time (A) 24 Sep 2023 Working for God
Working for God means doing or enduring, or being whatever He wants from us in any particular situation.
It is a very flexible reality as there are many different aspects to it.
We do what God wants from us in all sorts of ways. It would include long-term things like being faithful in marriage, working (as in career), and short-term things as they arise, like helping a sick person, feeding the hungry.
The earlier we start in life, and the more enthusiastically we embrace the idea, the more ‘work’ we can achieve.
The parable of the labourers in the vineyard (Mt 20,1-16) shows us that one can start serving the Lord at any point of life.
On one reading the parable might sound like the latecomers had the best deal because they had only a little bit of work to do, and the rest of their time was their own.
They were fortunate indeed to achieve salvation in time before death, but more fortunate still are those who discover early in life the need to live life under God's providence.
The early starters get the best of both worlds - the chance to serve God here on earth, and the joy of eternal life.
This would be the position of many of us here. We have been turning up to Mass and other events for most or all of our lives. Because it is work it requires a certain discipline and perseverance. However it is the best way to live, because it brings us close to God in the present and the future.
If we seek the Lord while He is to be found (first reading, Is 55,6) it is better if we find Him early.
The work that God requires from us is sometimes hard work, but we do not allow ourselves to be bitter at what adversities we encounter.
If we are on course for that ‘one denarius’, that possession of eternal life, then we are in the right lane.
All our disappointments will be washed away by the infinite mercy of God.
This is our main way of coping with grief, which is a shorter-term suffering, eventually assumed into a much longer-term happiness.
From another angle we can see ourselves as the late workers because we are rewarded out of all proportion for the good that we have done.
We could never, strictly speaking, inherit the kingdom of God, because all our goodness just would not be good enough.
However by the generosity of the master of the vineyard we can receive that reward anyway.
All our prayers and good works are carried out with the knowledge that essentially all of us are being overpaid - the early and the late comers.
All glory to God, who has set things up in this way for our benefit.
St Paul worked very hard in every sense of the word ‘work’. Yet he knew it was more than he deserved! For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Cor 4,17)
Taking his example may we take up our various kinds of work with enthusiasm. It will not be long before the day ends.
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