From Catholics to Christians

As I mediated on today’s Gospel, what popped into my head was, of all things, the now-infamous 2013 “Who am I to judge?” quote from Pope Francis when asked about gay people and the Church. What the Holy Father actually said was, “If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?" But all anyone heard was, “Who am I to judge?” I remember the uproar at the time – lots of strong words and opinions. And it still comes up even now, ten years later.

What makes it remarkable today though isn’t so much the brouhaha back then – “The Pope is condoning homosexuality!” – even though that’s NOT what he said. It’s remarkable because Pope Francis, our Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ’s Church here on Earth, did not feel empowered or worthy to sit in judgment on our behalf. I mean, isn’t he the one to whom we look for all things “church”? if not HIM, who? “Who am I to judge?” just does NOT sit well with us – because we judge what’s right and what’s wrong all the time.

Just look at today’s Gospel. It doesn’t seem fair. The landowner hires workers for his vineyard all throughout the day. Some of them work from sunrise to sunset, toiling all day in the hot sun. Others come in at midday, others at midafternoon. And some start as the day winds down, working only an hour or two before day’s end. But when it comes time to settle up, all the workers get paid the same, a full day’s wage! And when the ones who worked all day complain it’s not fair – that they should get more – we’re probably right there with them. To us, the landowner’s actions seem random and arbitrary. Our REWARD should be based on our LABOR, right? We should be paid based on what we actually do. It’s only FAIR.

We might want to think that through, though. By our very nature, we are sinners. It’s the human condition. So maybe we should seek something else. We THINK we want justice – we want what’s FAIR – but what we really want, what we truly pray for, is MERCY, not justice.

And that is exactly what God has done for us, the point of this parable. We’re ALL called to be workers in God’s vineyard here on earth, sinner and saint alike. Some of us will toil tirelessly throughout our lives. Others will answer Christ’s call much later in life. And some may never come to the table. Yet God has offered every one of us the same reward, the gift of mercy and forgiveness, the gift of His Son, the gift of eternal life. That’s the point of the parable. Our reward isn’t something we earn through our works – it’s a gift from our Father in heaven, unwarranted, freely given out of infinite compassion and love for his wayward children.

That kind of love and self-giving is really hard for us to comprehend and accept, though. It’s just SO FAR beyond our limited vision, our human understanding and judgment. We don’t seeas God sees. That’s exactly what Isaiah’s telling us in the first reading. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.”

God is God // and we are not. We KNOW it. We GET it intuitively. But yet, we struggle with it nonetheless. The Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft puts it this way: “The depths of a valley are measured by the heights that are next to it. God’s greatness and our littleness show each other by contrast. Especially our moral littleness and his moral greatness. God is always more of everything good. That is the best word for God: more. Always more.”

So how can we expect to understand and comprehend the infinite wisdom of an infinite God, trapped as we are in our “littleness”? I’ll give you a hint. That’s why we’re here, in this place, today. We may never fully grasp the WONDER of God’s love for us. It’s simply too much. But the Church exists to help us discern God’s will for us, and to strengthen us to live out our Christian mission. Through Scripture and the inspired teaching of the Church, we’re able to better understand our calling. Through the Sacraments, we receive God’s grace. And in our traditions and liturgies we’re hopefully able to draw closer to God, to hear His quiet voice amidst all the noise of our daily lives. Our Catholic faith empowers and strengthens us to do God’s will. And, God willing, it can help us open our hearts to allow Christ to transform us into a new creation made in His image. Truly, faith matters.

We need to be careful though. There’s a trap here, and too often we fall into it. This past week my fellow deacons and I were blessed by a very fruitful retreat. At one point, our retreat master made the comment, “We’re much better Catholics than we are Christians.” Boom! RIGHT between the eyes! But it’s true. Once again, we’re trapped by our littleness, our judgmental human nature. Instead of focusing on what Christ needs us to do, we’re arguing about language, which way we face, and the right way to worship. We’re lost in the rules, the “legalization” of our faith, in making sure we’re doing “Catholic” right. We’re so focused on the HOW, we’re forgetting the WHY. We’re completely missing the point.

Our Catholic faith is a beautiful and magnificent gift, helping us discern God’s love for us, and leading us to SEE as Christ does, to LOVE like Christ. But being Catholic is only a steppingstone, a tool for understanding. It’s a waypoint, not a destination. And we can’t stop there. We are being called by Christ to be SO MUCH MORE. It’s not about what happens HERE (inside the church) that matters. It’s about what happens HERE (in our hearts), and what we take out those doors as we leave.

That’s the message for us today. We need to love not as Man does, trapped in our “littleness,” but as God does, without limit or reason. We need to be transformed, to rise above our human weakness, our judgmental nature, and our limitations to become, not just better Catholics, but the better Christians we are called to be.