FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
My Dear Parishioners
One of my favorite poems is “The Great Mercy,” by Irish poet Katherine Tynan, which succinctly and beautifully wrestles with the overwhelming mercy available to us from God. It starts simply and profoundly: Betwixt the saddle and the ground was mercy sought and mercy found. She imagines the rider of a horse who is suddenly bucked from his saddle, plummeting to his death, not having lived a life in line with God’s plan. Damnation seems imminent, until the rider cries out to the Lord for salvation. Even in that split second, God receives his conversion, and the gates of Heaven open for him.
The notion is beautiful, highlighting God’s insatiable desire that all souls will join Him in eternity if only they will choose Him. But perhaps there’s a part of us that finds this frustrating or unfair. Why do they get to go to Heaven when they joined at the last second. They’re bandwagon fans; they don’t get to celebrate the championship if they never suffered the crushing losses.
While we would not say this out loud, there may be a part of us that resent late in life conversions or the salvation of a soul at the last minute. Of course, we’re happy that they receive the Beatific Vision, but why did we have to do all the hard work of living the Catholic life? I should have just come at the last second! Hopefully this is not our real worldview, but notions like this can creep into our thinking. Catholicism is hard! If I don’t have to do the hard stuff and can still get to Heaven, then what’s the point?
In our Gospel, we encounter characters who spent varying amounts of time working in the vineyard… some, all day, some, part of the day, some, just the last hour. Yet they all get paid the same. We can empathize with those who worked harder and didn’t receive a better payment!
But spiritual life is not one of direct work and reward. Those who work all day complain of having endured the day’s burden and the heat. For them, the labor is simply a means to an end, a way to get the payment they deserve at the end of the day. So, if someone else can get the same payment with less work, wouldn’t that be better?
What this worldview, whether explicit or unspoken, misses, is that life in Christ makes my life better here and now, in addition to granting me eternity. Catholicism does not make my life easier; in fact, it often makes it much more difficult! But it does make my life better! Living out the Catholic life adds burdens, heat, and exhaustion… but it is much richer and energizing than any other way. Once I have fully received Christ into my life, I would rather work all day in the vineyard with Him than just come in for an hour or so. Catholicism gives meaning and purpose to my life, not just because of the goal at the end, but because it makes my day-to-day life make sense.
The Lord never promises to make our lives easier. But Christ does reveal us to ourselves, so I make more sense the closer I am to Him. One of the great beauties of Catholic life is that heaven is opened for me, but my life here and now is better as well! I’d rather take on the burden and the heat, because life in Christ speaks to the deep parts of my soul.
Can I explain, in three to five minutes, how Jesus has made my life make more sense, not just because heaven is open, but even here and now? Very often people are uninterested in Faith because they think it only deals with my final end. That is primary, of course, but can we show them that it also transforms my life now for the better? Not because I’m more prosperous, financially successful, or comfortable, but because my soul makes more sense.
Many souls do not enter the Faith because they are not convinced that it makes any difference in their current experience, and those of us who practice the Faith are at fault! In my life and in my conversation, do I express that the work in the vineyard is a privilege, not a burden, and that I love Jesus Christ not just because of a payment, but because of the life He gives along the way.
Peace,
Fr. Monteleone
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