Several Gospel readings that we have heard in a period of a couple of weeks have spoken about those who are laboring for Jesus in order to bring in the harvest. He talks about the laborers as he himself is going out to the towns and villages proclaiming the message of God’s kingdom, of healing people of different diseases and illnesses, of feeling pity for those who are troubled and abandoned.
I always find it interesting going to different places within our Diocese and in other parts of the country in my role as a priest. Since I came back from Spain at the end of May, I have been to visit parishes in Northeast Mississippi, I have gone on mission appeals in parishes in Rhode Island and Southern California, and I have continued my different ministries at the two prisons and with the Carmelites. We all have our own reality, right? We are called to be laborers in the vineyard in different ways. In Rhode Island, there are a lot of parishes that are going to have to consolidate or to be closed down. The priest I spoke to said that process will be starting soon in their diocese. In Los Angeles, the parishes are huge. I had nine Masses for the mission appeal out there for the weekend. It feels like running a marathon. And right now the reality in the prisons is even worse than normal. The problem of drugs coming in there seems like the worse it has ever been. The rules change weekly. The inmates and I try to follow the rules, but I don’t even know what that means anymore. The prisoners are on edge. I am on edge. Not a good reality.
We do our best right. We labor in the Lord’s vineyard in the midst of our reality. And the Lord is with us.
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