Working for Free

     What are some things we do for free? Here's a short list of what I came up with:

• going to Mass
• visiting/taking care of sick family members
• doing work around the house for the benefit of our family
• community service

     Reflecting back to this past Sunday's Gospel (Jn 10:9-18), Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd. He holds Himself in contrast to a hired worker, who flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. We have a tendency to measure our work by the compensation we receive for it. We value our school work because it will make us more employable. We value our jobs because they pay the bills.

     Certainly, a job that covers our expenses is an important part of a life and can bring us a certain degree of fulfillment as well as afford us the opportunity to be charitable to others. Yet these things we get paid for pale in comparison to what we do for God, for neighbor and for the salvation of our own souls. If we look at our lists of things we do for "free",  we should begin to realize that these are the things that bring us closer to God. Our compensation cannot be measured in monetary terms, because we do not do these tasks for the world. When we attend Mass, we are doing so out of concern for our relationship with God. When we help others, we are both manifesting God's love and receiving God's grace through our actions.

     Let us take care to remember that the greatest things we do are those actions that are done out of concern and love- modeling Jesus the Good Shepherd, who worked for free and not as a hired hand.