MAY232024

The wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud and have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. Fr. Dennis tells an experience he had in New Jersey. A workman came to see him. He had been working for several months on a building project which had just completed. The contractor did not pay him for his last week of work. Fr. Dennis went to see the contractor sure it was an oversight. No oversight, said the contractor, I make my profit by not paying the workers for the last week since I won’t need them anymore. So the Biblical stories of the poor being exploited have never ceased. While it is easy to criticize in such a situation what about me? Where do I live “in luxury and pleasure” in a way that harms the common good? As much as I bemoan climate change and global warming I haven’t reduced any of the luxuries and pleasures that make my life easier but which do harm to the environment. The Bible challenges me, us, to change because of the love we have for all God’s children.