Whether it be the warning against the false
shepherds from Ezekiel or the parable we just heard, today’s readings alert us
to the elusiveness of real service, of real love. Jesus allows us all to get
pulled into the story of the landowner, how he goes out in the early morning
hiring laborers. A persistent landowner we have to admit, going out at 9th hour,
then at noon, afternoon, and still yet in the late afternoon.
By then we have fully identified with those who went out early and worked the
whole day. How could any landowner possibly pay the same wage to those who went
out at 5 in afternoon as to those who went out in the early morning? Jesus turns
our pragmatic, commercial way of thinking inside out.
It is so easy to begin thinking that relationship with God is earned when it is
something far more engaging. The Kingdom of heaven is a sharing in God’s own
life. The reward of our labors as Christians and monks is no less than
participation of Christ’s own life, of letting him live in us all day through,
from the earliest hour of the morning into late at night.
Let me suggest that this is where St Rose fits so perfectly into the picture. A
very attractive young Peruvian woman, she was touched by God. Given over to
Christ she couldn’t give herself to the many suitors in pursuit of her. We are
taken back by the austerities she practiced, dying at the early age of 31, all
of which only makes sense in the light of her being inflamed by the love of
Christ.
The whole city of Lima, Peru, turned out at her funeral, the dignitaries vied to
pay her homage. She knew what real shepherding, what real love, what the reign
of God was like.
Michael Casagram, OCSO
Abbey of Gethsemani
August 22, 2005
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