Is. 55:6-9; Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18; Phil. 1:20c-24, 27a; Mt. 20:1-16a

“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near” is both an invitation and a warning.  The invitation is to recognize God in his infinite love and mercy calling us back to him.  He is with us even as we live in the flesh that our labor may be fruitful.  God is a generous God to those who serve him in his kingdom.  The invitation also includes a warning that our day is passing quickly and soon this life will come to an end and with it our opportunity to seek the Lord while he may be found.  If we but call out to him he is near to us seeking us in our hearts. 

The hope of the gospel is that we can come to God whether it is the first hour of our life or the last hour of our life while in the flesh.  The story of the landowner who goes out to hire workers throughout the day giving each the same wage at the end of the day has a parallel to the story of the prodigal son.  The son who remained with the father working all his life felt cheated by his father who received his brother back with great love and mercy after his brother spent his share of the inheritance.  In both parables, the landowner and the father demonstrate a generous heart.  The love of God is the love of a Father.  

Recall what we tell our children when they are little, “I love to the moon and back.”  They grow up and realize we can now travel to the moon and back so compared to God’s love of “infinity and beyond”, no comparison.  It wasn’t that long ago when our kids couldn’t wait to move out of their parent’s house and be independent and we were “helicopter parents” trying to follow them.  Now many are in no rush to leave the nest and we can’t wait for them to go get a job and have their own life.  The moon is college and they went there and have come back home.  The Lord reminds us, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways”. 

Those who come into his kingdom and serve God all the days of our lives receive the promise of heaven.  Those who are to come later in life can also receive the promise of the Father.  Some are faithful from the cradle to the grave but many of us have veered through our life separating ourselves from God, Church, even from our family falling into sin.  The love of God is mercy and justice.  In mercy God desires all to enter heaven and in justice he provides the path of purification we call purgatory to “wash our baptismal robes” as Dante claims. 

Purgatory is the promise of heaven but not yet and can be the joy of suffering in redemption for our sins already forgiven.  We can liken this to going to receive the sacrament of reconciliation.  When we go to confession the priest gives us the absolution and our sins are forgiven.  He then gives us our penance which we are to joyfully fulfill in thanksgiving to God for his love and mercy.  Purgatory is the heavenly penance we owe our Lord for his justice in final preparation for heaven. 

God desires all to be saved and today he gives us all hope that it is never too late to seek the Lord, turn from our ways and follow his call to salvation.