Sept. 24, 2017: 25th Sunday A
Sept. 24, 2017: 25th Sunday A
How many of us are attracted by beauty? Beauty has the power to heal hearts and souls, Pope Francis once said, and he called on the believers to “make beauty shine, especially where drabness dominates daily life.” He also said that beautiful sacred buildings like a parish church can be an oasis of peace where one feels welcomed and where one encounters God and experiences neighbors as brothers and sisters. Last week at the Priests Conference in New Orleans, I arrived an hour early at St. Louis Cathedral for the mass with 400 priests from around the state of Louisiana to begin. I noticed a young mother with her child wandering in. They were tourists dressed for the hot, muggy New Orleans weather. The mother was busy pointing out various parts of the sanctuary to her daughter, snapping photos all the while. I could hear the drum beats and jazz trumpet blasts from street musicians outside the Cathedral. Oblivious to the chaotic distractions, the mother was captivated by the beauty inside the church, looking as if she found her peace that Pope Francis spoke about.
A church is beautiful not just because of the architecture, colors, or symmetry. It is beautiful because it is God’s house, a place of his presence, where we can find and encounter Our Lord. This Lord we encounter is the same one who gave his life up for us on the cross regardless of our worthiness or holiness. God’s mercy is indescribably beautiful. His mercy defies our human definition of what’s fair and just, as illustrated by Jesus’ parable of workers in the vineyard.
Do we feel perturbed to hear that the one who worked only an hour in the vineyard got the same pay as the one who worked all day long? I suppose that we have an innate sense that what’s fair or just is synonymous with equal pay for equal work or equal reward for equal merit. Yet God is not limited by our desire to measure everything out according to our merits. To God, everyone is equally dear to him which is why God is so generous in forgiving even those hurts and wrongs we never forgive. Our forgiveness hinges on our human understanding of fairness and justice, often demanding “payback what you owe.”
In last week’s gospel, Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus’ reply startled Peter and the disciples, “Seventy-seven times.” Last week’s parable of an unforgiving servant drove home the point of the incalculable generosity of God’s forgiveness that we are called to imitate by bearing patiently the wrongs of others. Through the grace provided by the Holy Spirit, we hope that the person who wronged us would someday come to know how much God loves them.
In a similar way, this week’s parable of the generous employer illustrates that God is eager to call and welcome all of us to work on his vineyard, both sinners and latecomers as well as the upstanding and hardworking. The reward for all is the same -- eternal life with him. This is the magnificent beauty and generosity of God which we all are called to imitate. He shatters our human tendency to interpret another’s advancement, being chosen, or gain in terms of our loss. Ironically, the word entitlement does not belong in the kingdom of God; Our Lord said, “the last will be first, and the first will be last." In the kingdom of God, no one is above or below the other. That is why our tendency to envy others is so detrimental to our spiritual life. When we feel sad from thinking that we are deprived in some way because of another person’s excellence, good fortune, or success, we are no longer aware of the great grace God specifically and uniquely poured upon each of us. The only remedy to such sentiments is to gaze upon the merciful face of Jesus and thus recognize God’s lavish generosity in the flesh. Human logic is limited, but the Mercy and grace of God is boundless.
Mother Teresa always encouraged those she encountered, “Let us do something beautiful for God.” How can we do something beautiful for God on this side of the earth? Will it require us to spend much of our financial resources or great sacrifice? Mother Teresa offers us this insight, “I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather he will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did?” It is not the amount of service given, but the love in which it is given that matters. As long as we serve others with great love for God, all service ranks the same with God, no matter how much money was spent.
