Homily
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time A
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
17 September 2011
Life isn't fair, and it's not going to be, because God has chosen to permit inequality. Yes, God, from whom justice comes, without whom justice is an illusion not grounded in ultimate reality, He whose thoughts of justice is are 'far above our thoughts' and whose ways of justice is 'far above our ways', yes, He permits inequality. The one who knows about fairness better than we does not force life to be fair, at least not by our standards. God permits inequalities, yes, we even dare to say he desires inequalities. Indeed, God seems far above our protestations of how we would run the world differently, rewarding the good and punishing the bad, preventing bad things from happening to good people. Indeed, the one who is the author of justice and fairness seems to scoff at our judgments. In our sense of justice, we identify with the laborers who go out at dawn and earn a full day's pay, while those hired last receive charity. We identify with the elder son who is loyal to his father, who has to watch his father kill the fatted calf for the delinquent younger son. We identify with Martha, who works in the kitchen tirelessly to prepare a meal for our Lord, yet is told in the end that her sister Mary who has done no serving has chosen the better part.
It is true in these great parables of Jesus, the basic justice and fairness of God is hidden, while a greater justice, that of charity, is highlighted. It would be the most superficial of readings of these great parables, to say that God is not fair, that he plays favorites, that in the end, each man will not get what he deserves. We have the parable of the separation of the sheeps and the goats, for that which you failed to do for my brothers and sisters, you failed to do for me. We have the great apocalyptic tradition of the Church of how God's justice will be at the end of time, the tradition of purgatory where everything will be set right before it enters the heavenly gates. We do not for a second need to read in today's parable a deficiency in God's justice. We might accuse God of unfairness, but in our heart of hearts we know that God is just, and that it is our ways, not his, that are unfair.
Nor should we read into this parable that a follower of Jesus can neglect justice to the preference of charity. It is never an either/or equation, but a both/and relationship. Catholics have been instructed that it is morally sinful not to participate responsibly and actively in the political process, to contribute to the civic good and the building up of a society that protects the rights of its citizens and works for justice. The Church for her part has the responsibility to correct societies and governments when they make errors regarding a true sense of justice, for example, in the area of abortion, and more importantly, the Church serves the state by forming the consciences of its citizens so that leaders with the highest understandings of justice and human flourishing may be elected.
But it should be easy for us to see, and to admit, in receiving the parables of Jesus, that justice is not the Church's final aim, nor her final responsibility. Jesus did not establish the Church only to make the world more fair. The Church contributes to the establishment of justice, but Her genius, the reason Christ established Her, is to show forth God's charity, the charity that shines so brightly in today's parable. In God's view, charity is not a means to justice, justice is the foundation of charity. Justice is not the end for God, it is the beginning. God's highest attribute is his charity, so much so that we are saying something more when we say God is love than when we say God is just. And so with us, made in God's image and likeness. We do not say that justice is our origin, justice our final calling, justice is our perfection in heaven. No, we say that love is our origin. Love is our constant calling. Love is our perfection in heaven.
Our view of heaven then is not a place where everything is finally equal, but the place where everyone has grown perfect in love. There will be nothing lacking in heaven, but what we'll notice ns heaven is not the fulfillment of justice, but the fulfillment of charity. Our view of the Trinity as Christians is not amazement in how three persons can share the Godhead equally, but our amazement is how completely the three persons give themselves away in love. In the same way here on earth, Christmas is not necessary for the redistribution of wealth, with the rich giving away what they have to the poor in a sense of justice. No, Christmas is much deeper than that, much more meaningful. Christmas is a gift-giving contest, where gifts are an expression of the deepest desire of the human heart, to grow perfect in love.
We all have a sense that there is something deeper than equality, something deeper than our own sense of justice. Even if we had equal abilities and equal possessions, the idea that the need for charity would be eliminated should appal us. The parables of Jesus show us that charity is greater than justice, that the goal in life is not to make sure everyone has the same, but to grow perfect in love by becoming more dependent upon God and one another. In this light we come to appreciate why God creates difference and permits, even at times seems to desire inequality, even to the point of raining his goodness on the unjust and chastising the just. God does all this for the greater purpose of enouraging us to grow perfect in love.
Even when justice is not yet complete, as in today's parable, opportunities abound for Christians to discover their vocation, to be called by God to work in his vineyard, to accept a personal invitation from God to give ourselves away completely in the priesthood, in religious life, in marriage or in other extraordinarily callings. Whenever this invitation from God comes in our lives, early or late, we should thank God for our vocation, and for the path that allows us to grow perfectly in love with God and with one another. This is the only acceptable daily wage for the true Christian.
While we work for justice in the world, so that more and more people have the opportunity to live in a good world where it is possible to love God and your neighbor with all your heart, and mind and strength, let us not forget that God permits inequalities so that we are all beggars and all givers, and that while working for justice, the opportunities to grow perfect in love are all around us.
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time A
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
17 September 2011
Life isn't fair, and it's not going to be, because God has chosen to permit inequality. Yes, God, from whom justice comes, without whom justice is an illusion not grounded in ultimate reality, He whose thoughts of justice is are 'far above our thoughts' and whose ways of justice is 'far above our ways', yes, He permits inequality. The one who knows about fairness better than we does not force life to be fair, at least not by our standards. God permits inequalities, yes, we even dare to say he desires inequalities. Indeed, God seems far above our protestations of how we would run the world differently, rewarding the good and punishing the bad, preventing bad things from happening to good people. Indeed, the one who is the author of justice and fairness seems to scoff at our judgments. In our sense of justice, we identify with the laborers who go out at dawn and earn a full day's pay, while those hired last receive charity. We identify with the elder son who is loyal to his father, who has to watch his father kill the fatted calf for the delinquent younger son. We identify with Martha, who works in the kitchen tirelessly to prepare a meal for our Lord, yet is told in the end that her sister Mary who has done no serving has chosen the better part.
It is true in these great parables of Jesus, the basic justice and fairness of God is hidden, while a greater justice, that of charity, is highlighted. It would be the most superficial of readings of these great parables, to say that God is not fair, that he plays favorites, that in the end, each man will not get what he deserves. We have the parable of the separation of the sheeps and the goats, for that which you failed to do for my brothers and sisters, you failed to do for me. We have the great apocalyptic tradition of the Church of how God's justice will be at the end of time, the tradition of purgatory where everything will be set right before it enters the heavenly gates. We do not for a second need to read in today's parable a deficiency in God's justice. We might accuse God of unfairness, but in our heart of hearts we know that God is just, and that it is our ways, not his, that are unfair.
Nor should we read into this parable that a follower of Jesus can neglect justice to the preference of charity. It is never an either/or equation, but a both/and relationship. Catholics have been instructed that it is morally sinful not to participate responsibly and actively in the political process, to contribute to the civic good and the building up of a society that protects the rights of its citizens and works for justice. The Church for her part has the responsibility to correct societies and governments when they make errors regarding a true sense of justice, for example, in the area of abortion, and more importantly, the Church serves the state by forming the consciences of its citizens so that leaders with the highest understandings of justice and human flourishing may be elected.
But it should be easy for us to see, and to admit, in receiving the parables of Jesus, that justice is not the Church's final aim, nor her final responsibility. Jesus did not establish the Church only to make the world more fair. The Church contributes to the establishment of justice, but Her genius, the reason Christ established Her, is to show forth God's charity, the charity that shines so brightly in today's parable. In God's view, charity is not a means to justice, justice is the foundation of charity. Justice is not the end for God, it is the beginning. God's highest attribute is his charity, so much so that we are saying something more when we say God is love than when we say God is just. And so with us, made in God's image and likeness. We do not say that justice is our origin, justice our final calling, justice is our perfection in heaven. No, we say that love is our origin. Love is our constant calling. Love is our perfection in heaven.
Our view of heaven then is not a place where everything is finally equal, but the place where everyone has grown perfect in love. There will be nothing lacking in heaven, but what we'll notice ns heaven is not the fulfillment of justice, but the fulfillment of charity. Our view of the Trinity as Christians is not amazement in how three persons can share the Godhead equally, but our amazement is how completely the three persons give themselves away in love. In the same way here on earth, Christmas is not necessary for the redistribution of wealth, with the rich giving away what they have to the poor in a sense of justice. No, Christmas is much deeper than that, much more meaningful. Christmas is a gift-giving contest, where gifts are an expression of the deepest desire of the human heart, to grow perfect in love.
We all have a sense that there is something deeper than equality, something deeper than our own sense of justice. Even if we had equal abilities and equal possessions, the idea that the need for charity would be eliminated should appal us. The parables of Jesus show us that charity is greater than justice, that the goal in life is not to make sure everyone has the same, but to grow perfect in love by becoming more dependent upon God and one another. In this light we come to appreciate why God creates difference and permits, even at times seems to desire inequality, even to the point of raining his goodness on the unjust and chastising the just. God does all this for the greater purpose of enouraging us to grow perfect in love.
Even when justice is not yet complete, as in today's parable, opportunities abound for Christians to discover their vocation, to be called by God to work in his vineyard, to accept a personal invitation from God to give ourselves away completely in the priesthood, in religious life, in marriage or in other extraordinarily callings. Whenever this invitation from God comes in our lives, early or late, we should thank God for our vocation, and for the path that allows us to grow perfectly in love with God and with one another. This is the only acceptable daily wage for the true Christian.
While we work for justice in the world, so that more and more people have the opportunity to live in a good world where it is possible to love God and your neighbor with all your heart, and mind and strength, let us not forget that God permits inequalities so that we are all beggars and all givers, and that while working for justice, the opportunities to grow perfect in love are all around us.
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