My friends, I am presently reading, again, parts of Nora O’Donnell’s 2026 offering, We, the Women, and came upon the following quote from Mary McLeod Bethune, whom you may know came out of a large family that lived in slavery in South Carolina, with Mary being the 14^th child of 17, and the first, not born into slavery as she came into the world in 1875.  But, she went on to devote her entire adult life, dying at 79 years of age, to the betterment of her black sisters and brothers, familial and otherwise through education and the political system in the time of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. 

   Before she died, she wrote the following: “I leave you love. Love builds. It is positive and helpful – it is more beneficial than hate.”  Now coming out of the hateful system of slavery in this country, this is quite a statement!  And it prepares us well, I feel, for today’s readings, for each one really lets us know that we are loved by our God.  Now at first glance you may not agree, because to get to their full meaning, each one encourages us to, as we say here, “go deeper.”

   The 1^st reading from Isaiah is a case in point as God lets us know, through the prophet, that indeed, “God thinks differently than we do!”  Now if we were only looking topically at God’s words, we might be apt to say, “So yes, what does that mean?”  And those words are followed by, “Seek God while God can be found.” 

   And here too, God may sound somewhat “arrogant,” except for the fact, that as displayed in Jesus’ story in today’s gospel of  “the last shall be first and the first last,” God does indeed think differently that we do, and it would behoove us to try and understand, through this story, just how loving our God truly is. 

   Over time many people, probably most people, get “hung up” on this story thinking in a rather “black and white” way that the owner seeking workers for his vineyard  is really being quite unfair, when rather than giving an hour’s pay for an hour’s work, he pays all the workers the same no matter how many hours they worked. 

   But my friends, this is a case of where, with the owner – with God, we must go deeper.  We must recognize that those hired at midday, or at day’s end, may have wanted to work the entire day, but no one hired them earlier.  No doubt those who looked healthiest and most able were chosen first.  It is kind of like when teams on the playground, at school are chosen – the biggest kids, and those who are known to be good at the sport, are chosen first – no one wants the little kid, and if truth be told, the girls either.

   The owner of the vineyard (think God) knows the “black and white,” often unfair and unjust ways that we humans operate at times, and basically tries to even things up a bit.  My friends, when we move through our world, operating more or less out of rules and regulations – “the way it is done,” so to speak, in rather black and white ways, we in effect, “distance” ourselves from the “heart” of God. One sees overtime, that God always moves out of the “heart” first, and if you disagree, then you are probably reading a “doctored” version of Scripture. 

  Paul, in his letter to the Philippians is really speaking out of the “heart of God,” when he encourages the people to, “conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel…” because he knows that if we walk in Jesus’ footsteps, we will live better, more productive and happier lives.  It is this very idea that Paul wishes, and believes I feel, when he says, “I will never be put to shame for my hopes” … and we might insert, “in you, and all that you are capable of.

   The psalmist in #145 believes and encourages us to believe that we never have to do, what we attempt in our lives, for good, alone – “O God, you are near to all who call on you,” the psalmist says. 

   My friends, in conclusion then, moving back to where we began, with Mary McLeod Bethune’s words that, “Love builds … is more beneficial than hate,” let’s not “overthink” our responses in the needy world in which we live, let’s simply show up, be present, when we do, to what we find in any situation, and do as Mary Bethune said, “what is [most] positive and helpful.

   At present, our parish is part of a budding documentary on women priests – an action, that of women seeking to follow their God-given calls to ordination, that the hierarchy says estranges us from the Catholic church.  But, actually, this is an attempt to simplify our Church, making it more understandable and meaningful to all people – basically returning us to the message of Jesus who wanted all to be included, because he saw God’s desire that we all would be seen as equal  and good, worthy to embody the Christ, and to share that goodness with others. Amen? Amen!