Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost

September 21, 2008

Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass

of the

St. Thomas More Society

celebrated at

St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church , 1013 Wood Street

Scranton, PA

Matthew 20:1-16a

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

            In 1977, our late Holy Father Pope Paul VI canonized Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first person born in America to be canonized a saint in the Catholic Church.  Born into a wealthy Anglican family from New York City, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton did not convert to Catholicism until after the death of her husband, with whom she had borne five children.  When she did convert, however, she devoted her life wholeheartedly to the life of the Church, founding an order of nuns, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, and establishing the first Catholic parochial school system in the United States.  When she died, in 1821, at the age of 46, Mother Seton had been a Catholic for just fifteen years, but her contributions to the life of the Church in America were greater than those of nearly all her peers, save for perhaps Archbishop John Carroll.

            In the canonization of Elizabeth Ann Seton, the Church demonstrated her willingness to uphold the contribution made by converts to the faith, even modern converts.  That is, holiness of life and great works of charity are not solely the possession of those who have been born into the Catholic faith.  Nor does one’s conversion late in life disqualify a person from attaining the eternal reward that is promised to every faithful Catholic school child.  As we heard in our Gospel this morning, the reward for those who entered this vineyard late in the day is the same as the reward for those who entered early.

            Therefore, the first thing we learn from today’s Gospel is that the Church’s generosity must be our own.  Not only must we respect and honor the contribution to the life of the Church made by those who only worked for the last hour of their lives, we also must be confident that there is a contribution for us to make, if we are among those who answered the call later than did our neighbors.  For example, we must honor the commitment of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton while recognizing that the same level of commitment can be ours, as well.

            The order that was founded by Elizabeth Ann Seton was dedicated to educating Catholic children.  At the time, around the beginning of the nineteenth century, no such order existed to fulfill this particular task; so the Church was happy to give her permission and her blessing to Mother Seton as she undertook this ministry.  The Church understood and affirms to this day that the various ministries in the Church are not in competition with one another.  Rather, they all have the same purpose of building up the Kingdom of God, even as they all undertake their work in the same vineyard.

            Some of the workers in today’s Gospel failed to see that the workers who came later in the day were a complement to their work, not in competition with it.  They fell prey to the temptation to envy, begrudging their fellow workers their reward, while imaging at the same time that they deserved more because they had worked longer.

            In order for us to avoid this same sin, we must see our fellow workers in the vineyard as Mother Church sees them:  they are not our rivals or our competitors. They are, instead, complementary, as dedicated to the salvation of mankind as are we, even if the details of their work differ from ours, and even if they have only lately started to work.  When we see them for what they are, when we see them as the Church sees them, as men and women grateful for the chance to be missionaries, we will banish from our communion this unhealthy spirit of competition, which can serve only to alienate our brothers and sisters in the Faith.  Moreover, those of us who have come into the vineyard later in the day should take comfort in knowing that the Lord and His Church value the work we do, particularly on those occasions when we encounter laborers who begrudge the Lord’s generosity to us.

            Rejoicing in the contributions of all the Church’s children and banishing a spirit of competition from affairs in the Church are the first two lessons from the Gospel.  The third lesson concerns the reward prepared for all who love Jesus and the Church’s mission to share the Good News.

            We see in today’s Gospel that it is true that some did not enter into the vineyard to work until the eleventh hour.  But when we look as to the reason why, we learn it is not because they did not want to.  Rather, they had never been called.  They came late because their invitation came late, yet the master is so pleased to have been able to receive them that he gives them the same reward as everyone else.

            In the same way, in faithfulness to the Scripture, the Church rejoices every time she is able to receive into communion those who only recently heard the call.  The Church rejoices that those who stood idle now have a mission, that those who wandered in the wilderness now have a home, that the newest converts to the Catholic faith will receive the same reward as those baptized into the Church when they were infants.  The Church rejoices when anyone embraces the Faith, no matter if he was born a Catholic, a Protestant, a Muslim or a Jew.  Whatever a person’s background, the Church makes no distinction and shows no partiality.

            Like the day-long workers in the vineyard, however, some life-long Christians would have the Church make distinctions and show partiality to those who have worked the longest.  The problem with such an orientation is two-fold.  First, it asks that attention be turned from our Master to the workers themselves.  Rather than working to glorify God, those who desire special recognition and special rewards show that they are working instead to glorify themselves.  Second, begrudging sincere people of faith their just reword indicates an unhealthy desire to be in control, a desire to take the reins from God, as well as the attendant distrust that is inherent to those with control issues.  Ultimately, it is a failure to recognize that we all are equally dependent upon God, not ourselves, not our labors. 

            Instead of begrudging others their just reward, a true spirit of charity is demonstrated when we rejoice with those who are rejoicing.  If we want to avoid the mistakes of the day-long laborers in the vineyard, we must rejoice with later workers that they have been given the opportunity to share in the work we ourselves love.  The good things that others receive always should make us happy.  If they do, then we know our focus is not on ourselves but on the Giver of all good gifts, where it belongs and where it must remain if we desire the greatest gift of all, eternal life.