I made it a point to go to mass at St. Philip Neri today after Fr. Michael mentioned that what I wrote about my monastic experience at Our Lady of Guadalupe gave him some ideas for his homily. We met for the first time Wednesday at the B- group meeting, and I'd sent him an email afterwards telling him a little bit about myself and included a copy of what I wrote at Our Lady. That, plus something his friend Mitch wrote about his own monastic experience, apparently gave Fr. Michael some inspiration.
His homily began with a reflection on a line from Leonard Cohen's "Anthem" — "There is a crack in everything / That's how the light gets in" — and the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew, which was the day's Gospel reading. In the parable, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a landowner who hires a bunch of workers throughout the day to work in his vineyard and pays each a full day's wage regardless of how long they've worked in the vineyard.
Our first reaction may be, as was that of the first labourers hired, that it's unfair to pay those who have only worked a few hours the same promised amount as those who have worked all day—the first should be rewarded more, right? But Fr. Michael said that this parable is a crack where the light of God shines through, challenging the ways of the world and teaching us to think bigger. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa 55:8-9).
So what's this story teaching us? Fr. Michael offered one answer: that this parable illustrates both the idealistic and pragmatic side of Jesus' teachings. Jesus said that the kingdom of God is at hand, meaning that the kingdom of God isn't just a nice idea to dream about, it's a living reality if we live it. And this parable is an example of that. This person goes out and hires everyone he sees without work and pays them a full day's wage regardless of how long they've laboured. Rather than being an illustration of unfair reward, which is how we may first perceive it, what it's actually illustrating is unconditional compassion and generosity.
One reason we don't tend to see it from this point of view, suggested Fr. Michael, is that we rarely witness or experience such unconditional generosity and compassion in our day-to-day lives; so when we do come face-to-face with it, we don't recognize it for what it is. In our enviousness and subjective sense of justice, we may think the first workers are being unfairly compensated rather than seeing the compassion and generosity underlying the landowner's actions towards the last. Where we see injustice, there's actually the fullness of justice, of equal treatment, of Jesus' admonition to love one another. Everyone gets a full day's wage without exception, i.e., everyone is equal.
Here, in this parable, our worldly thoughts and ways are challenged, and we're invited to raise our thoughts higher, to become more compassionate, more generous, and more loving. Not for any kind of selfish reason, but unconditionally. We're invited, right here in the here and now, to live in the kingdom of heaven. We're called to see everyone as an equal, to not let envy poison our hearts, to share in one another's stories and be inspired by them, and most importantly, to do all things with love.
Fr. Michael went on to say how my story, and that of his friend Mitch, were like cracks or thunderbolts, letting in the light of our experiences into his life and giving him a sense of enthusiasm that he hasn't felt in a while. He said that we all need to be shaken up once in a while because we have a tendency to become complacent and miss out on all the 'cracks' around us. And it really made me happy that he got something out of my experience and my reflections about it, just as I was getting something out of his.
After mass, I joined Fr. Michael and Matthew, whom Fr. Michael had introduced me to earlier as 'a fellow seeker,' for the french toast breakfast that happens every third Sunday. It was nice getting to know Matthew, and we talked a bit about Buddhism, the contemplative side of Catholicism, and various things of that sort. It was also nice talking to Fr. Michael some more. I especially enjoy his peculiar sense of humour.
The more time I spend at St. Philip Neri, the more I think I like it. All the people I've met so far have been quite welcoming and friendly. Many of the parishioners are interested in the more contemplative aspects of the Catholic tradition. And as far as Catholic parishes go, it's fairly liberal/progressive, with a strong social justice leaning. In their weekly bulletin, for example, there's a flier for a Jobs with Justice Faith Labor Committee discussion this Tuesday about wage theft. It seems like my kind of place.
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