Twenty Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time A.   Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30. Isaiah 55:6-9.  Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a.  Matthew 20:1-16a.

St. Theresa of the Child Jesus is one of the greatest saints of modern times.  She spent her whole life closed up in a Carmelite Monastery.  She was not put to death for the faith, nor did she travel to foreign lands to proclaim Christ amidst great adversity.  She was not involved in a great ministry to the poor of the world.  She worked no miracles during her lifetime. Theresa died when she was 24 years old.  Theresa’s great gift to the world was her overwhelming sense of the goodness and mercy of God.  While it would seem that some saints gained heaven by their mighty works and powerful deeds, Theresa knew the truth of our Catholic Faith.  God is good.  Life is a gift from God.  Heaven is also God’s gift.  The way to peace and joy and a good life even now is complete trust in the goodness of God.  Jesus said that unless we become like little children, we will not enter the Kingdom of God.  Theresa believed in the words of Jesus and she approached life with the simple trust of a little child.  Her vocation as a great spiritual teacher in the Church began with her prayer for a convicted criminal who was about to be put to death for the crimes he committed.  As he approached death the man was obstinate and even insulting.  Theresa prayed even more intensely for him.  In the moments before he died the convicted man reached out for the crucifix offered to him by the prison chaplain.  The convicted man kissed the image of the crucified Christ.  He had surrendered himself to God’s grace in the last moments of his life.  Heaven would be his reward as it is the reward of all Christians, including the greatest Saints, who have been faithful for a lifetime.  Theresa rejoiced in the goodness and mercy of God. 

Some might say, “Well that is not fair?”   I have struggled to keep the commandments since I was a child.  I have come to Mass every Sunday for years.  I have contributed to the support of the Church and I have been generous to the poor.   It is not fair that this man will get into heaven along with the rest of us who have worked so hard at living our faith.  It is to people like us that Jesus addresses in today’s gospel parable.

Jesus tells us about a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.  At the end of the day the landowner chose to pay those who had worked only a single hour the same amount that he paid those who had worked all day in the burning sun.  The landowner said to one of the all day workers, “My friend, I am not cheating you.  Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?   Take what is yours and go home.  What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?  Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?  Or are you envious because I am generous?”

I have stood at the bedside of people who are retuning to the practice of the faith after a long struggle with sin and false values over a lifetime.  Heaven will be a gift to them just as it is a gift to you and me.  If they get heaven anyway, are they missing anything by delaying repentance and conversion to the last moments of their lives?  My sense is that they have already missed a lot.  They have already missed the peace and joy of a whole life filled with Christ.  They have already missed the wisdom and the strength that our daily walk with Christ gives us.  They have already missed countless opportunities to enjoy the rewards of doing good and building a family and a world around goodness.  Heaven is not a place that we go to at the end of our lives.   Heaven already surrounds us as the living Christ reigning in our hearts now.  Heaven is about all the values and attitudes we hold in our hearts now.  The man in the parable who is envious or jealous because the landowner is generous has not yet surrendered to the grace of God.  Heaven happens to us even now as we surrender to the goodness and generosity of God in our dealings with ourselves and with others.

Julian of Norwich was a 14^th Century English mystic who lived at a time when disease was ravaging Europe and thousands of people were dying in every country.  As she clung to life in an illness that brought her very close to death Julian had a series of visions of God and of heaven.  She asked to see a vision of hell so that she would not go there.  The Lord would not give her a vision of this dreadful place.  He only instructed her to believe about hell what the holy Church of God teaches and to believe that all would be well.   Julian said, “Our faith is grounded in God’s word and part of it is that we who believe in that word of God will be saved…another part of that word is that many creatures will be damned.  This being so I thought it quite impossible that everything should turn out well.”  When she insisted on an answer from the Lord he said, to her, “What is impossible to you is not impossible to me.  I shall honor my word in every respect, and I will make everything turn out for the best...   All will be well.  You shall see for yourself that all manner of things shall be well.”    Julian lived in a world filled with sickness violence and sin, but her heart was already in heaven.  She was filled with hope because she was allowed to see the goodness and mercy of God, even when she did not understand it. 

Pope John Paul said much the same thing in one of his Wednesday addresses to visitors to Rome.  He said that we know that hell exists, but we don’t know the name of a single person who is in hell except the devil himself.  We know the names of many people who have gone to heaven, but we know the names of no one who is certainly in hell. 

The Prophet Isaiah tells us, “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.”  Sometimes we may think that we need someone to be punished or to go to hell to make our lives worthwhile or to make us happy.  God is not like that.  We begin to live with the joy and peace of heaven in our hearts when we surrender to the generosity and goodness of God, even when we don’t understand it.  For this, we give God thanks and praise.