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No matter what I’m going through I feel the urge to laugh when I speak to a brother in Christ—and now I know why—true fellowship reminds us that God laughs at our trifling fears.
Rembrandt, “Self-Portrait”, (1668)
by Orlando Hernandez
Right now, a dear friend of mine is dying in an ICU bed at Queens General Hospital. I am reminded of verse 23 in my beloved Psalm 104:
“ People go out to their work,
to their labor till evening falls.”
In this Wednesday’s Gospel we re-visit our Lord’s parable of the workers at the vineyard of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 20: 1-16). Their workday can represent the short, precious span of a human life. The landowner ( our God! ) starts hiring workers at dawn. He hires more workers throughout the day, even up to five o’clock in the afternoon. At he end of the day He chooses to pay them all the same salary even though some of them had been working for many more hours than others. This seems very unfair to those workers, maybe even to us. Our Lord tells us:
“My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous? Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (v.v. 13-16)
This parable reminds me that the Kingdom of Heaven starts right here on Earth, and it is greatly about commitment and work. We must work through word and example, to spread the news of God’s infinite love to all the people we meet. It is not easy work, especially when we must start the work on our very own selves. I pray that we will do the best we can, and yet we must recognize the littleness of our accomplishments, how in the end we are just “unprofitable servants”, whether we started at dawn or at five o’clock!
It’s OK, because this Kingdom of God is most of all about the generosity of this Landowner, who loves us with an unfathomable love, and wants to give us the payment of eternal life with Him. When we are given EVERYTHING, what does it matter if someone else “deserved it” less than we did? We don’t lose anything. This is not a “zero-sum game”. This is an “everybody wins” type of blessing from our magnificent God. I am reminded of the story from Therese de Lisieux’s “ Story of a Soul “ , where she writes about the arrogant , unrepentant murderer who was about to be guillotined in Paris. She had prayed so much for his salvation and at the very last moment the condemned man knelt, grabbed a crucifix, and begged for God’s forgiveness. With her heart full of joy the “Little Flower” truly believed that this man had been saved. But what sort of “Kingdom work” did that man do during those last few seconds of life? Only God knows. For one thing he worked on himself, and his example of humility and fear of God before so many people must have touched more than one hard, stony heart in that crowd. Such is the mercy of God.
I personally can relate to those laborers in the parable who did not start working until 5 p.m.. After 43 sinful, selfish, unbelieving years, the Lord came and took me as a servant of His love. Thank You Merciful Father!
Now, I must recognize that I took some “time off” when I stopped writing for this blog for the last two weeks! My wife and I were left in charge of our two very beautiful and active granddaughters. Should my excuse be that I did not even have a free second to dedicate to this writing, and if I did I was too exhausted to do anything? Naaah, no excuses. I should be “docked” . Instead, the Lord lavished upon me one bonus after another, because these girls brought such light and joy into my life.
Yes, the ultimate salary is eternal in scope, but in the meantime, our Lord gives us a multitude of “advance payments” every single day: the beauty of His creation, the love of people around us, like my friend Edith Pruzan, the strength to go on despite all challenges and losses, and most of all the gift of faith, prayer, His very presence in our lives. Wow! To go from vineyard laborer to zillionaire! Thank You Beloved! Keep Edith in Your loving arms. Amen.
Orlando Hernandez
Vacations take you away from home to somewhere else. My somewhere else for the last few days was Cape May, New Jersey, a small old town along the Jersey shore at the tip of the state.
I went fishing but caught no fish. I went bird-watching at a good spot off the beach, but saw few local or migrating birds –except for the line of gulls perched on a shelter roof looking out to the sea. (Above)
Patient, they were. Why? I wondered. Were they expecting a feast from the nearby waters. Schools of baby blue fish had moved towards the shore, some fishermen said. Was that why no other fish were to be caught?
Were bigger fish on the way to feast on the baby blues? Who knows?
Something mysterious about the gulls perched patiently on the rooftop, though. Were they just taking a break, or did they know a feast was on the way and were gitting ready to swoop down on leftovers on the shore?
There are a lot of things we don’t know. You don’t have to go far from home to find that out.
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How do we know if our prayer is answered?
When we no longer remember what we requested. When we discoverer inexplicable peace and experience inexplicable joy—even though we ride a hot, crowded, slow-moving subway car and have no idea if the specific circumstances surrounding our lives have changed in the least.
We know God is real, His will is perfect, and He never abandons us. We know we don’t need to understand. We know that somehow the peace and joy within us are actually related to our lack of understanding. We trust. We believe. We know “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” *
We know we’ve been blessed.
We know our faith has increased.
We know God has answered our prayer.
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For today’s homily, please play the video below:
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My constant companion.
My acting partner, my motivational coach.
Sometimes I forget you’re there.
Such lack of gratitude, such empty graciousness.
But you remind me, lest I forget.
There you are once again.
Right beside me.
Center stage.
All the world to see.
Hard to imagine you any other way.
My constant companion.
My antagonist. My adversary.
Middle of the night, just you and me.
Another standoff. Another scene.
Good or bad, there’s always drama.
One day we’ll part ways I suppose.
But for today, this hour, you continue to goad.
Pestering and probing.
A reaction, any, is what you want.
Like a needle in my hay stack
Pricking my limbs.
Especially my heart.
Weakness.
That’s who you are.
You play your role.
Upstaging the stronger, more noble parts of man.
Clever, cunning, looking for the upper hand.
Curtain up or curtain down.
You’re a character for sure.
Smile or frown.
Jester or clown.
Your disguise is basically the same.
Some sort of wise man, a plot all your own.
But you, Sir Weakness, you are important.
Like tragedy.
Like divine comedy.
You give good measure.
You give the chorus something to say.
And despite your best intentions.
You help establish strength.
You remind people the height of stars.
Without you, my dear Weakness, no hero could ever be.
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“In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
—Luke 14:33
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Butterflies fly.
They sail beautifully and somewhat clumsily at the same time.
It’s as if even their own weight is almost too much to carry.
Hard to imagine them bringing anything else along for the ride.
Paper-thin wings—watercolored and air-dried—the rain keeps them tucked away, hidden, out of sight.
Even little drops of morning dew keep them from flight.
But the hour will come.
Just wait and see.
Still. Quiet. Like an upright leaf.
They position their wings just right.
The sun to burn away all unwanted drops.
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Have you dew-covered wings?
Does the dew of life weigh you down?
Do you want what’s unwanted to be burned away?
Have you tried pointing your wings toward the sun?
Or do you really not want to float above?
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“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.”
—Galatians 5:13
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For today’s homily, please play the video file below:
Some people complain about the selections from the Old Testament we’re reading at weekday Mass these past few weeks. Too long, they say, they don’t tell us anything. They’d rather hear what Jesus is saying and doing.
Why do we read from the Old Testament? Reading from the Old Testament is a lot like reading from the New York Times or the Daily News, or following David Muir on ABC each evening. You’re not going to hear much about Jesus there either. The media gives us the news of the day as it happens and, especially these days, it’s not encouraging.
Not much encouraging news in our Old Testament reading today from the Book of Numbers either. (Numbers 13-14) Giants are out there blocking the way to the promised land. Israel’s scouts face giants as they reconnoiter the world ahead. There’s no way ahead.
Our media tells us the same: giants are blocking our way– North Korea, the Middle East, storms from climate change, political giants who seem to get in the way of a world of justice and peace. And we don’t have answers what to do.
But the Old Testament tells us more than the media. It’s salvation history. More than the story of the Jews, the Old Testament is the story of the human race and all creation on a journey, from the beginning of time to its end. Human sinfulness, tragedies and delays are there, but the story begins and ends in hope. God is there.
That makes the Old Testament stories so different from the stories the media serves up everyday. God is there from the beginning. That’s the way our selection today from the Book of Numbers begins: “The LORD said to Moses [in the desert of Paran,]‘Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan,
which I am giving the children of Israel.’” And God is there as his people experience the consequences of their foolishness and lack of faith.
The columnist David Brooks in the Times yesterday said he has to think less about Donald Trump or he’s going to go crazy. He needs to think more about the deeper shifts taking place in society, he says.
I wonder if thinking about the deeper shifts is enough to stop you from going crazy these days. We need hope from another source. That’s where the Old Testament and the rest of the scriptures comes in. Some prefer calling it the “First Testament.” It testifies that the first thing to keep in mind about time is that God is there, from beginning to the end. God is our Savior.
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All human beings are creations of God.
God loves all His creation.
He wills the best for each and every part of it.
His will is the best.
You are one of His creations.
So is the person you hate.
So is the person you dislike tremendously.
So is the person who annoys you to death.
God loves us all.
God offers us forgiveness for being so unkind to His other creations.
He loves us so much He gives us the freedom to choose the wrong path.
He loves us so much He sent His Only Begotten Son to show us the right way.
Jesus loves us so much He sent the Holy Spirit to strengthen and accompany us.
God smiles.
All three persons smile.
They are One God.
God’s love is all powerful and infinitely kind.
God’s gift of freedom is a gift He intends for us to use.
God desires for us to choose to become like Him.
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The Victor's Place 