As we read the signs of the times, and all that is happening in our Church, our Nation and our World, now like none other we need to seek the Lord. As we turn to Isaiah 55 we find ourselves face to face with the truth of the God who loves us and directs our lives calling us back to Him, as he did His ancient people Israel.

We are first reminded of who God is and how God has been and continues to be active in our lives. God has a plan and direction for salvation and for His people. The hand of God directs the path he has called us to go. To walk with our God.

I took time to look at the Book of Isaiah starting with the 44th chapter and bringing us to todays 55th Chapter calling us to seek The Lord. With all that is happening from sickness and death, to division and strife, we seem to have forgotten that “We are the Lords, we belong to Him” Romans 14:8 This truth is fundamental in our lives, as persons, family, church, nation and the world. God created us and we belong to Him. In the 44th Chapter of Isiah he says “Thus says the Lord who made you, your help, who formed you from the womb…. I will pour out water upon the thirsty ground, streams upon the dry land. I will pour out my spirit upon your offspring my blessing upon your descendants.”

We are reminded that not only did God create us but even more profound is He desires to be an active part of our lives and He encourages us to seek Him as he desires to bless us, provide for us and lead us into a place of greatness, healing, and prosperity as His people. We have become His people by adoption through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ” Ephesians 1:5He predestined us for adoption as His children  through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,“

As we turn to the Gospel from Matthew chapter 20 we see Jesus instructing us that our thoughts and are ways are not like the Lord’s. To often in our proclamations, our thoughts about faith and our relationship to God we think we know and have the final word on how God sees and relates to us and we to Him. Isaiah tells us that are thoughts are far from God’s thoughts, His ways are high above ours, but we speak, and act like we know it all, and our way is the best. The oughts’ and shoulds that are so often proclaimed fail to truly recognize God thoughts and way above our own. Seeking the Lord and listening to His voice above our own clamor and noise has the ability to lift us out of our conflicts and despair.

So look at Jesus, to teach the truth He speaks a parable of a generous landowner, he sees the needs of his workers who served throughout the day or even for an hour. But recognizing their need he chooses to show generosity to those that only worked an hour realizing that they probably had the need of a full days wage. But the key point for us is that God’s generosity and God’s way of doing things is not like ours. So often we here shouted, “it’s not fair” or we say “I’m being treated unfairly” In this case it isn’t about fairness, but rather the great generosity that is shown because God sees the need and chooses to provide for it.

In all that we face today, the suffering, the hurt and division, we are called to seek Christ. Here at St. Joseph we provide that opportunity daily, from daily Mass, to daily adoration, to our study sessions of Know truth know faith, to our Zoomed CCD connections. We seek the Lord, and we encounter Him most especially in the Eucharist. That special place where Christ is truly present and encounters us in the most intimate way, by sharing His true and real body and blood with us. Christ is present, He is hear, quiet our thoughts, set aside our personal ways and simple be in the Divine Presence, that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he who created the world and all that is in it. The Divine Word spoken and active in our lives today as he was in the beginning. The great and awesome God!