"Most Satisfying Work In The World" - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Homily

My summers during college, I worked as a construction laborer.

Thought it'd be fun to compare that with being a laborer in God's harvest as a priest.

About the same pay for each one.

I don't remember what I made in the early 90s as a laborer, but about the same as now, which is not very much.

I was pranked early on as a laborer.

One of my first days on the site, the foreman said, go get us a brick stretcher.

There's not a brick stretcher.

Nothing to stretch the brick.

But yet, I went looking everywhere, asking the laborers and the brick layers, where is the brick stretcher?

Like, oh yeah, you see that big pile of stuff?

Yeah, go in the bottom and just dig through it, it's in there.

Okay.

Yeah, good prank.

Then, I've been pranked plenty as a priest.

I've also pranked plenty as a priest.

But down at GW, when I was a Chaplin one of the students gift wrapped everything in my office.

uh Sofa, chair, stapler, pens, everything.

They'd seen it on the show, The Office, and they thought that was a good prank.

Each one, you do what you're told.

Remember the brick stretcher story.

Now it's the bishop, holy obedience, when he says, I do.

In each one, you see something beautiful constructed.

I really marveled at the brick or stone masons building a wall or a patio.

It was like watching an artist at work.

It's different construction now, although we did just build the Adoration Chapel in the past year, which was cool.

But to build or rebuild a parish, families, marriages, help build prayer lives, vocations, all with God's help, which is to see something beautiful being constructed, it's something

to be a part of, it's awesome.

Tired, different kind of tired, but hitting that pillow at night, going right out.

Everyone who works hard knows that.

Great experience of conking out because you're so tired from a long day of work.

it's, you know, I remember four summers working construction manual labor.

I'm like, I'm cut off office work.

That's where that taught me.

did sales, worked hard there, and then got to the priesthood.

And that is really tiring work because it is body, mind, and soul getting right into people's lives.

Heart the matter stuff, matters of the soul, acting as another Christ and the person of Christ.

It is tiring.

I remember my first vacation as a priest, it six months in, and I was driving down North Carolina to see a friend and I didn't know if I was going to make it.

I was so tired.

yeah.

So we hear this passage to pray for more priests.

The harvest is abundant, the laborers are few.

Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.

It means to pray for more priests, but pray for the priests now who given everything we got and are really, tired through it all.

It's the best tired though ever.

It tiresome is awesome.

I look back and the day I labored for college money, now it's laboring for souls.

Tools, as laborer I use, uh yeah, a wheelbarrow, shovel, brick tongs, those actually exist, those carry the brick.

stretch the brick.

Occasionally I try to use my hands but the craftsmen are like let us handle that okay.

Bring us some materials please.

But then as a priest, first day as a priest, your hands are anointed as Christ having been ordained a priest of Jesus Christ and afterwards people were kissing my hands.

That took a little getting used to.

And it's through these hands that bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ and sins are absolved.

All the power comes through.

We've got the healing mass this afternoon.

So much power coming through.

You get a sense why it's so draining.

But yeah, these hands and the power that comes through, the grace and the tools that the readings suggest through the church of comfort and peace.

Every one of us is called in this gospel.

It's not just priests.

And I think as Catholics we think, well we take this literally, the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.

And so in each parish, there's only a few doing everything.

So maybe hear it this way, the harvest is abundant but the laborers are you.

They're you.

Now here it is more than a few.

It's amazing the amount of people here who are laborers for God's harvest and the harvest is abundant.

I've been told that this is the most fertile soil in the county on our property and I've always seen that spiritually it's true as well.

This is fertile ground for the harvest.

We have laborers who need more.

Adoration chapel for example, we got 99 % of all the hours in the week covered by one adorer.

It's amazing.

Every hour is covered, but two.

But only 20 % have a second adorer.

So we need more.

That's ideal, two per hour.

You can hear an announcement at the end of the Mass for the new outreach center here.

Open house is next weekend.

Check it out.

Might be a way, again, you can get involved as a laborer.

Those who do the labor for God's harvest, it is the most rewarding, fulfilling work on earth.

Again, tiresome but awesome.

Fruitful, abundant harvest that God calls us to labor in.