The Marketplace

25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

Isaiah 55:6-9;  Philippians 1: 20c-24, 27a

Matthew 20: 1-16a
 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the folks here at St. Gabriel parish. The kindness that you have shown to me and my family has been overwhelming. Thanks especially to Father John and Father Jim for going out of their ways to make us feel welcome. Thanks!

In the year that I have been a part of the St. Gabriel community, I have been particularly impressed by the way that this parish welcomes its new members. You embrace them and make them feel comfortable and at ease. Your hospitality is second to none.

When I look at the St. Gabriel community, I can’t help but think of one particular image from today’s gospel – the marketplace. Think about it a minute. In any community, the marketplace is where everyone gathers. Some come to the marketplace to sell food or other goods – they earn their living in the marketplace. Some come to the marketplace to purchase groceries and other items – they sustain their families through the marketplace. Others come to socialize and catch up on the news from the neighborhood – to see and to be seen. And some come simply because they have nowhere else to go.

For all of us, St. Gabriel serves as our marketplace. We come here to pray. We come here to relax and to socialize. We come here to learn. We come here to play sports. We come here to meet with others who share a common interest. But most importantly, we come here to worship. For some of us, this community is at the very heart of our lives. For others, it’s just a nice place to enjoy the mass. Whatever your reason for being here today, we the community of St. Gabriel hope that your needs are being met and your expectations are being exceeded.

Jesus said that where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. I know that it sounds a little like a Kevin Costner movie but if you build it, they will come. And so this marketplace that we call St. Gabriel has been built up and is sustained by its membership. Some have been here from the very beginning in 1953. Others like me are new on the scene. But whether you have been here for twenty years or twenty minutes, there is one undeniable fact about St. Gabriel parish:  God comes to us here. He comes to us here in the Good News proclaimed from this ambo. Jesus comes to us, not symbolically, but in true flesh and true blood in the Eucharist. The Holy Spirit comes to us in the sacraments that we celebrate, like the baptisms we will have shortly. He comes to us as we comfort our sick.  He comes to us as we memorialize our dead. God comes to us here.

Today’s Gospel reminds us though that while the marketplace is important, there is still work to be done in the vineyards. God doesn’t call us to the marketplace. We come here by our own choice and out of our own needs. God calls each of us to leave the marketplace behind. When God comes to us here, it is with an invitation to join him in the harvest. I know that sometimes life is too hectic. I know that sometimes we are too busy or too tired to think about that right now. But God keeps coming to us. If you can’t go at seven, He’ll be back at nine to ask again. He’ll be back at noon to ask again. For the harvest needs all of us and salvation awaits all who answer the call.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 21, 2008

(My first homily)