The Lord is constantly calling us back to himself. Let us turn to the Lord for mercy; to our God who is generous in forgiving (Is 55:7).
In my own humanity, when someone hurts my children or me, I am more apt to want justice rather than mercy. But with the Lord it is not so; his thoughts are not our thoughts, nor his ways our ways, as spoken by the prophet Isaiah (Is 55:8-9).
In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he struggles with his desire for heaven, yet his need to continue in God’s vineyard一to bring others to Christ. He acknowledges that as long as he is in the flesh, it means fruitful labor (Phil 1:24). I don’t know about others, but my labor doesn’t always feel fruitful. It mostly feels like labor, just burdensome. We are called to put on Christ, to imitate his character as we know it (Rom 13:14). Psalm 145 describes what that character looks like: The Lord is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, great in kindness, good, and compassionate. I’m sure in my everyday life I fall short in some of these areas. But what if I had the character of Christ? How fruitful it would be!
We are called to be laborers in the Lord’s vineyard. What that vineyard looks like depends on where we are in our vocation. Whether we are mothers just starting out, or we have been at it awhile, or if we struggle between family and laboring in the world. We are called to be fruitful, to reflect God’s character to others.
I know in my life, at times, that labor has felt grueling and endless. I am not proud to say that I have been envious of those who “seem” to do life with ease or those who lived life for themselves and then had a “coming to Jesus moment” later in life and revel at their newfound joy一a joy that has been a hard-fought grasping in my own life. I am human and subject to weakness.
I sometimes wonder what was in the minds of those faithful Jews when they heard the words spoken by Jesus to the thief on the cross, ‘this day you shall be with me in paradise‘ (Lk 23:43). Was it pure joy for the lost that had been found, or was there a little envy after they had labored so long?
As a mother, the greatest desire in my heart is the salvation of my family. I am so glad that Jesus doesn’t put a limit on when, where, and how we return to him. The Lord is near to all who call upon him (Ps 145:18). For those of us who know the pain of having loved ones away from Jesus, away from his sacraments, I am so very grateful that our Lord continues to call laborers from sunrise till sunset, and the “wage” is the same for all一mercy, forgiveness, and eternal life. Let us not be envious of his generosity. Let us rejoice!