Today at Holy Mass we are told in the first reading by the Prophet Isaiah something that most Catholics have heard before….”As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts”…And while we all heard this statement before - I do not think we understand it - Not in the least bit! - Why? - Because no matter how many times we “HEAR” this read to us at Mass…We still “want what we want” and do not allow ourselves to “SEE” the world through the “lens” that God sees it……We “define” what is just according to “what works” for ME…..Clearly this is not the “calculus” of God…..As we see today in the Gospel…..”Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first. When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?” - Is this how YOU would have reacted to God if YOU worked all day and “some guy” who did a fraction of what you did got the same pay?….Hmmmmmm!….So the question then becomes…How do we “see” and “hear” as God does?…The answer to that question comes from our interior life….The closer we get to God, the more we “see” and the more we accept…Now there is a word - ACCEPT!!!! - What do I mean by “accept”?…When outcomes do not “go our way” - We simply say.....”OK GOD”….This mindset needs to be apart of our total surrender to God - Trusting him in all things…Fully “digesting” this idea that I just presented cannot be self-manufactured - It will only happen by developing a deep interior life - “Living and breathing” through Sacramental grace, daily prayer and fasting…….“You got this God - YOU know what you are doing”….Once again - Catholics all over the world will hear the first reading today read to them at Mass - ”As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts”…And when they get home from Mass and turn on the news - And hear something that “does not fit” into their agenda - They will “RANT” and “RAVE” - I know this to be true - Because I too am one of those people!!!…But I am trying - And I invite you to try too….To say these two simple words…And mean them from the bottom of your heart….”OK GOD”
“Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son”
Everything that happens - EVERYTHING - Both Good and Bad - God allows to happen through his permissive will…One may say - “Why does God allow bad things to happen?….For one - Because God does not interfere with our free will and when humans do bad things, God uses those events for a greater good….But one may then say - So many people suffer!….This is true…..However, God “plays the long game”….His goal is we are fully converted (and that is a long and sometimes painful process) and we arrive in heaven safely…And as many know who are reading this…That “process” is messy!….And only God knows what we “need” and what we must experience to make that happen…….In America since abortion has been legalized, it is estimated that 64 million children have lost their lives….No matter who gets elected - Even with the repeal of the famous court case that started it all - Roe v. Wade - The abortion industry rages on!…..Now stop for a moment - Before you “blow your mind” - Do you actually think God does not see what is going on?….That God will not “step in” and stop this atrocity?…..Clearly, I do not have the mind of God - But there is NO WAY God will permit this holocaust to continue indefinite - Even if it means dismantling the entire country “brick by brick”….And MAYBE that is what we are seeing before our very eyes today - As we all “WANT what we WANT” politically - God is tearing down what needs to be torn down!…In order to build up something new…….”As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts”….Or………How about the big debate in the Catholic Church today in America…The Latin Mass crowd vs the Novus Ordo crowd battle! - Its all over social media…..Many Catholics in America (many are my friends) want the Pope to bring back the Latin Mass in local Parrish across the nation…And frankly it does not look like that is going to happen……The Latin Mass was permitted for a time under the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI - ("Maybe Just Maybe") - This experience in Parrish life will serve as a bench mark to “elevate” the current Novus Ordo Mass, bringing it closer in line to how the Mass was intended as the Vatican II documents state very clearly…..We are one Church and there must only be one Mass!….So maybe God is “stepping in” - In a way we do not understand…..Patience obtains all things….God knows that he is doing - Maybe its time to say once again……”OK GOD”…..JMJ
"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.'
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