Homily for Wednesday, 20 August 2014– Memorial of St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Wednesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Ezekiel 34:1=11; Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6; Matthew 20:1-16

How fair would it be if somebody were to arrive at work on time or early every day without fail, and then if somebody else were to arrive late consistently or not at all many days? What if, on pay day, the employer were to give the same wage and bonuses to both employees? I do not think this would be very fair of the employer.

Now, what if this employer were God? Our God may be exceedingly generous with the late-arriving employee to the vineyard in today’s Gospel, but unless God intends to stir up anger in the workplace, to give the same wage to the late arrival as to the employee who has worked all day is not a very fair employment practice!

“The last will be first, and the first will be last.” Would not the workers in the vineyard who have worked all day be justified in complaining about the late arrivals receiving the same daily wage as they do? And yet does not our Gospel reading today remind us not only of God’s generosity, but first and foremost to ask ourselves: What have we already received from God’s generosity; God’s mercy; God’s grace?

Our competitive social environment does not do well with “the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Competition in a society can be positive. Our society glorifies “the last” who rise to be “the first.” We call this “the American dream”: that anyone who works hard, at least ideally, can reap the prosperity of our land. But we do not regard well those who are prosperous seemingly with little effort of their own.

How does this affect our Christian faith? Let us take the example of the person who comes into our faith; our Church late in life, or the person who has lived a dissolute lifestyle who repents late in life? Are these people not to receive the same eternal life as all of us are promised; the same wage as those who have worked in the vineyard all day, to use the metaphor of our Gospel reading today?

“The last will be first, and the first will be last,” precisely because we cannot earn entry into God’s Kingdom. Our God is more generous than we could ever be through our generosity in return. Christ died and rose so that “the first” and “the last” would inherit God’s Kingdom together.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, whose feast we celebrate today, once said that many people want to be canals of God’s grace when it would be better if we thought of ourselves as reservoirs. Water, like God’s grace, flows through a canal; it is not allowed to build up as in a reservoir. When the reservoir becomes full, it overflows. So it is with God’s saving grace to the world if we let it fill us to overflowing. Once we are full, we cannot lose anything; we remain full while the overflow enriches the world.

God’s generosity; God’s grace saves us; fills us to overflowing if we let ourselves be reservoirs of this generosity; this grace. And so “the last will be first, and the first will be last,” with no distinction among the faithful in God’s vineyard; God’s Kingdom.

Homily for Friday, 14 March 2014‒ Friday of the First Week of Lent

Readings of the day: Ezekiel 18:21-28; Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7bc-8; Matthew 5:20-26

How many of us, especially those of us who are parents, have heard the complaint directed at us, “That is not fair! This person did this bad thing; you cannot let her or him get away without consequences!”

Those of us who have ever been accused of being unfair for what was in fact the right decision can take comfort from our readings today: “The LORD is not fair!”

At least this is the accusation we hear leveled against God in our reading from the Prophet Ezekiel: You cannot allow the wicked to get away unpunished, even if they repent! Truly, as we hear the people of Israel complain in Ezekiel, “The LORD is not fair!”

Those who complain that “the LORD is not fair” have a point. The Lord is not fair; the Lord is merciful. The Lord gives us all a chance to repent; a chance at forgiveness of our sins. This chance at repentance and forgiveness is central to the meaning of this season of Lent. Indeed it is central to the meaning of our Mass, which hinges on our recognition of God’s mercy; that God is not merely “fair” but is merciful. And so we pray at the beginning of Mass, “Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.” Again, just before receiving communion, we pray, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

God is not fair, and so with the Psalmist we rejoice in God’s mercy: “If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?” The more our own society and we as individuals obsess over fairness in place of mercy, the weaker we stand. Conversely, only with mercy, repentance, and forgiveness will any of us, sinners all, stand.

This week a story appeared in The Democrat and Chronicle about local college students abusing an animal at a party. The comment column on the previous page was full of proposals to bring hard justice to those involved: “Throw the book at them!” And so on… I remarked to Fr. Joe Trovato,[1] who was reading the newspaper with me: “What good will that do?” Fr. Joe wisely suggested that the perpetrators should be offered community service time in a facility that cares for abandoned or stray animals. The former approach is that of fairness; the latter is that of mercy.

The Lord is not fair. Our Lord is merciful, and so we are invited to be not merely fair but merciful toward one another, if we are not already, beginning with our observance of Lent.

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[1] Fr. Joseph Trovato, CSB, is a senior Basilian priest serving at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish in Irondequoit, NY.