Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 55:6-9
Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a
Matthew 20:1-16a

Lay women are a relatively recent addition to ministry in the Church. When I began working in the Church, my initial thought was that there were no models. I was wrong. I remember Sister Paulita Morris, a Mercy sister whose work in the Chicago Church had reached almost legendary proportions before her death. I recall Sister Carol Frances Jegen, BVM, who had forgotten more than I would ever know and I remember countless other religious women whose footprints were clear enough for me to follow. They never seemed to resent the fact that we laywomen who were late on the scene often got more credit than they. They knew how to welcome those of us who came at the “eleventh hour.”

Today’s liturgy is not as much about justice as it is about that sort of generosity. The workers in the Gospel were not as generous as the one who hired them. It is easy to understand their hostility. Why should those who worked for only a little time receive what others had labored long to achieve? Adjusting the salary of those who had been in the field from the beginning was not going to happen.

Religious women might well have resented lay women taking the positions they had worked so hard to acquire. For the most part, that has never been true. And even though there are still those who think a male — particularly a priest — will always trump a woman, no one has been more generous in sharing their ministry than priests.

No matter when the Lord calls us to faith, he calls us to the same reward. Those who are last to be called to the banquet will not necessarily have the last places. It is the Lord who calls and we are asked to be as accepting of his generosity to others as we are of his largesse toward us.

The Prophet Isaiah reminds us that God’s ways are different from ours. Our own selfish spirits are a sufficient reminder. Yet, we are called to live in a way that is “worthy of the gospel of Christ.” We are not the ones who will determine the place of others in the kingdom. We are, though, those who are able to make others feel welcome and wanted here on earth.

At this liturgy, we are challenged to welcome others into relationship with us, to be as generous as the Lord. We look to those who minister with us and to our history for those who have welcomed and mentored us. We give thanks for those whose generosity has been an extension of the Lord’s magnanimity.

For the welcoming spirit of the Church, we give thanks and praise on this day.