What Does God Owe Us? (25th Sunday, Year A)

To listen to this homily, click here.

A story is told about a woman waiting for her connecting flight in an airport. She had a “red-eye” flight and had to kill time in the terminal until midnight. She was tired and hungry and the nourishment she settled on was a box of cookies at the Hudson News bookstore. She sat down and opened her carry-on, searching for her book. A man sat down next to her and, almost immediately, opened the box of cookies and ate one of them! This upset the woman but she didn’t want to create a scene. Besides, she thought, “Well, he is only eating one.” But then he took another one. Rather than get into an argument, the woman simply took one herself. Then he took one and she took another. This continued until there was only one cookie left. The man picked up the final cookie and said to the woman, “Would you like to split it with me?” She was so furious that she grabbed it out of his hand, took her bag and stormed away. When she got on the plane, she was still fuming and mumbling insults about the hungry hog that offended her. Before she sat down, she reached into her bag to find her book. What she pulled out was the box of cookies which she had bought!

The man she was angry with turned out to be the generous one. Which is similar to what we see in today’s parable. We can get mad at Jesus about this parable and think how unfair it is to pay everyone working in the vineyard the same amount. Somehow we feel entitled to be compensated for every little bit of work we do for God and His Kingdom, as if God owes us something. It gets even worse when we start comparing ourselves to other people. Why do they get more money, better health, more opportunities, less suffering, and better looks?! Doesn’t God know that they haven’t sacrificed, prayed, or worked as hard as me?!

However, this angry, self-pitying attitude is based on the false belief that God owes us something in the first place. In truth, God owes us nothing at all, not even our existence; much less the comforts, blessings, mercy, and love we enjoy throughout our time here on earth. In relation to God, everything is a gift. It all belongs to him. When we stand before God, we cannot demand any rights or entitlements. For the workers in today’s Gospel it seemed unfair that the ones who worked only an hour got the same pay as the ones who worked the entire day. But that presupposes we have a right to work for God in the first place. If we can humble ourselves and take a step back, we would see that simply being invited to work in the vineyard on behalf of the Lord is an honor and privilege we don’t deserve. That He offers to reward us for this honor is generous beyond our comprehension. This might be the first lesson of the parable: God owes us nothing. It is an honor to work for him. He can share his gifts in any amount or way he desires; whatever we receive from him is a blessing and we will only find unhappiness when we look around, comparing ourselves and what we have received to others. 

We can also learn something from the workers who waited, hoping to be chosen to enter the vineyard. Day laborers, in Jesus’ time as well as ours, didn’t have the security of consistent work and benefits like so many of us enjoy. All they could do is present themselves at the market in the hopes that an opportunity would find them and they could earn something to feed themselves and their families. We can imagine that those who did not get picked early in the morning were extremely disappointed. How many days had they returned home, ashamed, hungry and empty-handed? They had to make a choice: Would they continue to wait or seek more pleasant surroundings? The day was getting hot and it would be easy to give up, call it a day, and feel sorry for themselves. The more desperate might stay until noon. The remarkable thing in today’s Gospel is that some of the laborers waited until five in the afternoon. What sane person would expect someone to hire them for just a few minutes worth of work?! 

In some ways, the waiting and hoping are more difficult than working. When it comes to God, our blessings are not necessarily tied to how long or hard we work. Which is not to make light of the many selfless and dedicated people who serve God day in and day out; God will not be outdone in generosity in blessing their faithfulness. But, what is most important is how faithfully and patiently we wait for God’s invitation to join him in the vineyard. Some of us will be called early in the day, others halfway through, and some right at the end. Don’t worry about when or how God invites others. Just take care of presenting yourself every day for service to him. That is what prayer is all about, patiently, consistently, humbly listening to God and making ourselves available to him! It’s not hard to do but it sure is difficult with the many other voices, distractions, and false masters that call out to us in our society. 

What are some practical ways to help us be waiting and ready to accept the invitation from God?  Don’t spend hours and hours in front of a screen, gorging on mindless entertainment or pointless wandering online. We should learn to be comfortable with some degree of quiet and solitude, which are most often where God chooses to speak to us personally. We should work to get rid of any and all addictions with the help of God and people who love us. Indispensable are things like solid reading that feeds our minds, listening to talks and music which lift our spirits, cultivating healthy friendships, considering what other people (especially our elders and even those who have different world-views) say to us. Any and all of these practices will help us refine the virtue of patient listening with God.

Let’s thank the Lord, today and every day, for his extravagant generosity. When we are called is not as important as how generously we respond. God wants each of us working in his vineyard. He has a job for each one of us to do. It is not important that we are all invited to do different things at different times. It does not matter that we are rewarded in different ways. What really matters is that God is asking each of us to be laborers in the vineyard. Listen patiently, consistently, and prayerfully every day; and respond with your whole heart to God’s offer. He will pay us infinitely more than we deserve. 

 

Don't Hug the Anger Cactus! (24th Sunday, Year A)

 To listen to this homily, click here.

Fairly often an article is published about the negative effects of holding onto anger. It seems like an obvious fact but science shows that anger causes your heart rate to speed up almost immediately. From there, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels skyrocket. If the anger is chronic, the stress it causes can be responsible for nearly 90% of the illnesses that afflict us and we feel its presence in stomach aches, headaches, and even heart attacks. I even saw a funny sign once that said, “road rage gives you wrinkles.” Yet, for all we know about the negative effects of anger, it seems to be everywhere around us and within us. How many times have we made the promise, “I’m not going to get mad”, “I won’t lose my temper” only to fly off the handle, despite our best intentions? Whether our anger is explosive and directed outward in an angry outburst or is stuffed deep inside of us, brewing beneath the surface like a dangerous volcano, it is bad news! Perhaps it would be helpful to look at the role of anger as part of the human person and then reflect on the remedy given by God in the scriptures.

Anger is an emotion or passion. That means, in its earliest stages, we don’t have control of when we feel it. It comes and goes depending on temperament and situation. Believe it or not, anger can serve a purpose! God put it there for a reason and, in fact, Jesus experienced anger himself. Anger can be good, holy, and purposeful when it is a reaction to serious injustice or wrongdoing. Righteous anger alerts us that something is hurting us or someone else and must not be ignored. In its proper context, anger moves us to do something about an offense against God, ourselves, or others. Once we confront the wrongdoing or threat, we have to let it go immediately. The human person is not meant to hold onto anger. If we do, it ends up eating us alive, corroding our soul, breaking down our body, and stealing our peace. It must be like a booster rocket on a space vehicle, which burns only long enough to help us escape the pull of apathy or laziness but then falls away. Anything more, like holding onto anger, nursing a grudge, or wishing evil on someone who has hurt us are both sinful and unhealthy. Righteous anger should not be confused with impatience, annoyance, losing our temper, or hatred. Those are personal flaws that need to be addressed and cannot be justified as good or Godly. Also, anger that leads to violence or revenge is never justifiable and is completely different from any indignation one might feel in a case of self-defense. 

Long before science, the biblical writers knew this. The author of the book of Sirach tells us today that “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” What a great image! Isn’t it true we often embrace the very thing that drags us down? Our anger becomes an anchor dragging us down; its like bear-hugging a cactus; that’s definitely going to leave a mark!

So what is the remedy to this common, yet serious affliction of anger? I like to remember the cure with three “r’s”: reflect, receive, and re-distribute.

If we hope to be inoculated against anger, we have to reflect constantly on the fact that God is infinitely merciful. Our psalm tells us, “The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.” As we think back on our lives, we should be able to see many moments where God has shown mercy to us by sending us people to help and love us. We will also call to mind ways God has blessed us even when we didn’t deserve the good things we received. Most importantly, we remember he sent his Son to suffer and die for our sins, not because we deserved it but because he loved us so much. If our image of God is full of fear, if we aren’t convinced he is merciful to his core, then we have to bring that misperception to prayer. We have a God that is literally dying to share mercy with us and with the whole world. Reflecting on this reality helps us believe confidently that he forgives our sins, no matter what.

But it’s not enough just to think about God’s mercy; we also have to receive it! It must drive God crazy that he offers to forgive the sins of humanity, especially through the sacrament of confession, and yet so few make use of it! One of the interesting dynamics of the spiritual life is that we learn how to give something by receiving it. In other words, if I am going to be able to give forgiveness to people in my life, I have to first receive it and receive it often. There will be moments, probably every day, where we fall short of the mark, where we lose our temper and hug the anger cactus. We need to cultivate the habit of asking God for mercy and going to confession frequently so we don’t become prisoners of anger or bitterness.

Lastly, re have to re-distribute God’s mercy to others. We can’t just hold onto it for ourselves. One of the truths of forgiveness is the more we give it away, the more we receive. Just as we have freely received mercy from God, even though we didn’t deserve it, we must give it away to those who have hurt us. We cannot have the attitude of holding onto anger and grudges until the other person “earns” our forgiveness. We are forgiven by God in the same manner we forgive others. So, best to give freely so as to receive freely!

It’s no secret that anger is flowing all around us these days. With a perfect storm of pent-up frustration from COVID-19, racial tensions, a presidential election year, and a non-stop news cycle that promotes constant outrage and division, many of us are walking around with tremendous amounts of anger and tension within us. I am convinced, in many cases, we aren’t even aware how tightly we are embracing this destructive emotion until we take the time to reflect more deeply. Perhaps it would be good to end this homily asking the following questions: Is there someone with whom I am deeply angry or that I hate? Was there a situation from many years ago that had a negative impact on my life? Or maybe it is a recent offense that is gnawing at me? Do I feel entitled to hold onto a grudge or feed hatred in my heart? Or maybe I hate myself. Maybe I did something terrible many years ago and have believed I cannot be forgiven, at least not until I “pay the price.” Am I mindful of the things that lead me into anger and provoke my wrath? I think we, as modern people, are addicted to outrage which is constantly enabled by the 24 hr news and social media. For many of us, this is a near occasion of sin! There is no moral obligation to know every single current event and political story happening around the world! If our efforts to stay informed are leading to anger, despair, and a loss of peace, we need to stop embracing those things.

The readings say very clearly, "Let go. Let go of the battle stories. Stop hugging anger and hatred." Forgive those who hurt you and insult you. No exceptions. This hatred has turned our lives into a prison. It has been the chain that holds us back. We are called into the joy of the Lord. We need to offer up our anger and move onto mercy. We need to trust in his promise of forgiveness, especially in the sacrament of confession. We need to let go of the list of grudges and wrongs we have suffered. The result of giving and receiving mercy will be the freedom of the daughters and sons of the Lord: freedom from anger which destroys body and soul: freedom to Love!