Dorothy Day thought that the parable of the workers from Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 20:1-16a) justified a Catholic’s support for the idea of a living wage. She wrote, “He spoke of the living wage, not equal pay for equal work, in the parable of those who came at the first and the eleventh hour.”
Small sparks of feeling that become all-consuming conflagrations can happen at any time, even, sadly, as one is preparing for Mass.
I write, of course, from experience.
The details aren’t important. Life is hard sometimes. Living with others, even when we love and value them, can still be a challenge. Stupid arguments encourage thoughtless pronouncements that turn seeming scud missiles – destructive enough – into H-bombs, where exteriors look unharmed while inside there is startling, shriveling death.