To Live is Christ

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author.

“You too, go to work and my vineyard.” “You too, go to work in my vineyard.” Who is the you? Who is the Lord talking to? He’s is talking to you. That’s why He says you because you. So He’s speaking to you. He’s calling to you to do what? To go and work in His vineyard, the vineyard is immense. And there’s so much work to do. And so many of the workers who should have been there, never showed up. And so there’s a lot of work. Each one of us is called, each one of us is called to work in His vineyard. And so it’s a good question to ask yourself, have you responded to this call to come work in His vineyard? Have you responded to that call? St. John Paul, he wrote a beautiful encyclical on the laity and the mission of the laity called Christifideles laici.  And if you haven’t had a chance, that’s a beautiful, like a lot of the things he wrote, it’s a little bit it’s, it’s sometimes it’s a little bit dense. But it’s a very helpful meditation on the role of laity. And one of the things he points out, because he focuses on this, in that document, he focuses on this parable. And one of the things he points out is that how the saints interpreted what Jesus is saying, that, that people are called at different times during the day. And he says that, that corresponds to people hearing God’s call at different stages in their life. So I’m here already as a child, and some in adolescents, some in their early adulthood, some in their full adulthood, some may be very late in life. So maybe, maybe we’ve, as we, maybe we’re hearing a call, we feel that we’ve wasted a lot of time. But that’s why this parable is so heartening, because even those who responded, who heard the call late, if they responded fully, the Lord could give them a very generous reward. And so no matter what stage of life we were in, it’s not too late to respond to His call. And again, the work is immense, the need is urgent in this vinyard. And that’s why, that’s why the head of the vineyard keeps coming out, even at almost at the end of the day, because there’s so much work to do. It’s so urgent and so important. So how, if you are called, how can you be a fruitful worker in the vineyard of the Lord? And we have a good example today in the second reading from St. Paul, at the time that St. Paul is writing this, he’s in prison. And he doesn’t know how long he’s going to be there. If he will soon be, or if he will be released, or if he will more probably be condemned. And so he doesn’t know, he thinks that probably, it might not be too long, but he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. So there’s a lot of uncertainty. In fact, this is the scholars think that this was about a year or two before his martyrdom. So St. Paul raises the question of what is our life about? So that’s a good question for you to think about. What is your life about? Some people’s life is about their family, caring for their family, caring for their marriage. That’s very good. Some people’s life is most mostly about their work, very focused on their work. Some people want their life to make a difference. They make a difference in this world. That’s a noble, noble goal. Some people are mainly focused on their health, being of good health, some people are, above all about money, making more money. Some people are seeking fame. Some people simply seeking pleasure. Have a pleasurable life. Some people don’t really know what they’re seeking just kind of wandering around without any clear goal. So what does St Paul say about this question, about what is his life about? So if someone asked you that question, what is your life about? Think about if you were trying to give a very honest answer, what would you say? Don’t say it out loud. But I just say, what would you, what would you say if you had to give an answer? What is your life about? Because that’s an important question, right? We only have one life, it goes by fast. So if we don’t know where we’re going, it’s very hard to get there. And so think of that question, what is your life about? And so St. Paul gives us not a long, complicated answer, but a short clear answer. He says, for me, to live, is and he says in one word, “to live is Christ.” St. Paul expresses what his life is about, in one word, “for me to live is Christ.” And that’s a very clear, simple, strong response that guides his life. Sometimes we have an idea of spiritual people, as people were kind of there with their heads in the clouds aren’t very realistic about what life is really like. But St. Paul is very aware of the dangers and the opposition in the struggle that he’s in. And he’s already paid very dearly. And he’s right now, he’s in jail because of that, and is soon going to be martyred. So he’s a person who has a sense of, I think, a pretty realistic sense, is not fleeing reality. Sometimes Christians are accused of fleeing the world the way it really is, he’s not fleeing reality. He’s very engaged and involved with this world. He’s very engaged in, as we said, helping to make a difference, helping people, helping communities, transform their own lives, come together in unity, and grow as persons and as communities. So he’s very involved. He’s one of the most effective workers in the vineyard that the world has ever seen. So his focus on Jesus didn’t make him less effective or less realistic, it made him much more effective, much more realistic, much more fruitful. As Jesus says, “He who remains in me will bear much fruit.” And St. Paul is remaining united to Jesus, and so bearing much fruit. So St. Paul says, For me to live is Christ, where does that come from? It’s because St. Paul has first of all, a sense that Jesus has chosen him. Before St. Paul chooses Jesus, he realized that Jesus has chosen him, and just kind of out of the blue. It’s very clear for St. Paul, because he was actually trying to persecute the followers of Jesus. And then he realized that Jesus was choosing him. And so but who else has been chosen by Jesus? If you are baptized, that’s a sign that you have been chosen by Jesus. All of us have been chosen by Jesus. And Jesus wasn’t just kind of like a hobby, or pastime for Him, for Jesus union with you was something that He devoted His whole life to. And He died for that. So union, as Jesus says to St. Faustina, to understand the value of His sacrifice, you have to think of it as being done just for you. So union with you was so important to Jesus, that He devoted His whole life to it. But it has to be a two-way street, right? Jesus is wanting to be united to you but, He also respects your response. And so you also have to make a response.  And we’re here, we see St. Paul’s response – for me to live is Christ. And so his life, the goal of his life is union with Jesus. And so the goal of his life is union with Jesus, so that he surrenders his life to Jesus. And so he’s neither fleeing life. He’s not running away from his responsibilities. He doesn’t take his own life, but he’s also not trying to hold on to it at all cost. So he’s not fleeing this life, nor is he trying to hold on to it. Rather, he’s trying to use it well, use well the time he’s given. He says, if I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, fruitful, labor, fruitful labor in the vineyard of the Lord. So if the Lord has me here, it’s so that I’d be working in his vineyard. And so if that’s what he wants me to do, then that’s how I’ll spend it. So this gives St. Paul a very clear, simple direction for his life. And so he knows, to help guide his whole decisions, all his orientations, he just has to ask himself, does this help me get closer to Jesus? Or does it on the contrary, distract me from Jesus. So that gives a unified direction for his life. And it puts his whole life in a clear, and with clear indication about which way he should go. Like Jesus says in the Gospel, what profit a man, if he achieved a lot of things, gains the whole world, makes a lot of money, but loses his own soul. So St. Paul realizes that he is called to union with God. And so that’s the goal of his whole life, and what inspires his action. But what about all the hard, painful things in life which St. Paul had, which we encounter also in our life? And what about death? A lot of people see death, physical death, as the ultimate loss, the ultimate loss. But what does St. Paul say? For me, life is Christ. And death is, a gain, he doesn’t say it’s the ultimate loss. Does anyone say it’s a loss? It says it’s a gain for him. So it’s a whole different way of living. He says, My desire, why is it that a gain, he says, because my desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better. So he’s already seeking Jesus, there’s already a union with him already, but has not yet the full union that he’s desiring. And so death is that opportunity to go be with Jesus in fullness. And so that’s what he says is far better. So he’s very dedicated, is really acts here on this earth, he’s doing all he can to use his time well, but he wants to die. He doesn’t take his own life. He doesn’t commit suicide. But he’s anxious for that moment to come. Not because he’s fleeing life, but because he’s so anxious for the fullness of life. So what we call death, is for him the passage to the fullness of union with Jesus, the fullness of life. And so what about all the sacrifices that we have to experience, all the losses that we experiencein this life? Because there’s a lot and as we get older, they accumulate more and more things that that we have to let go of, sometimes very painfully.  St. Paul says, “I count everything as loss, because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.” That is nothing is worth holding on to, compared to gaining Jesus. “I count everything as loss, because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord,” compared to knowing to compare the union and knowing it’s knowing, in a Biblical sense of union, knowing Jesus union with the Lord, compared to that, nothing else is worth is worth it. Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, “for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things.” All the advantages he had in life he gave up. And it doesn’t just say I suffered the loss of them, he says, and I count them as garbage. All the privileges that I had that I was holding on to, being a Pharisee, and so forth. He says, now I just think of that as garbage in order that I may gain Christ, gain Christ and be found in him. So again, that’s Saint Paul’s very clear goal which motivates him and everything to gain Jesus Christ, to be united to him. And then he says, not that I have already obtained this, or I’m already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Jesus Christ has made me His own. So again, St. Paul realizes that, first of all, it’s Jesus, who has chosen him as His own. Jesus has made me His own, He has chosen me. And so I want to respond by making Him my own. Jesus has chosen me, but He also is calling me for me to respond. “So one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind,” forgetting, what lies behind what we think when we see so many things which make us sad, right? Opportunities that we lost, things that maybe we had that we don’t have anymore. Maybe bad things that we did. So much stuff in the past, it’s weighing us down. And St. Paul is saying, forgetting all that, and straining forward, to what lies ahead, straining forward to what lies ahead, what lies ahead for us, old age, right. And death. That’s really encouraging. Right, straining for it to be an older, right. I’m gonna get older and older. Yay, another birthday older and older. Yeah. I mean, when you’re young birthdays are great. As you get older, they can come too fast, right? So straining forward, but St. Paul is not held back by nostalgia, he is straining forward, not just for old age. But because he’s seen where this is leading him to. It’s leading him to union with the Lord. “Straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the price of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” And so what about all the bad things, all the trials that happened to us? St. Paul doesn’t deny that the trials we experienced can be terribly painful. But the question that he asked, a key question, but can it separate me from Jesus? The trials are painful. But can they separate me from Jesus? He says that’s the key question, does it separate me from Jesus? And what does he say? “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” So it doesn’t say, Who shall separate us from our money, or health, or life even, or good name, or property?   But he says, because a lot of people can separate us from that. But he says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution or famine, or nakedness, Or peril, or sword? No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors.” So all these things can be very, very, very terrible trials. But he says, but they can’t separate us from Jesus. He says in these things, we are more than conquerors, because of Him who loved us, not because of our own strength, but through Him who loved us, because of the grace of the Lord. “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else, in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.” So not only does he has this clear goal, but he realizes that nothing can separate us from that, except my own decision, to sin, to turn away. Nothing else can separate. So he doesn’t say it’s easy. But he says, Even these trials, we can become more than conquerors. Even death becomes a gain. And so just to conclude, with these words of St. Paul, for me, life is Christ. And that is a gain. So remember where we started. Jesus is calling you to work and His vineyard. And even more than working in His vineyard, He’s calling you to union with Him. We don’t have to be the greatest, we don’t have to be the most intelligent, the most capable, the most spiritual, we need to do one thing, and that is choose Jesus. Accept Jesus, trust Jesus. So what is your response to the call to the vineyard? To work in the vineyard? What is your response to God who has chosen you and is calling you to union with Himself. This Mass is an opportunity to respond. And if we feel we’re not able to respond, we can even ask the Holy Spirit, at least ask Him, help me to respond. Help me to respond to your call, to work in your kingdom and to union with you. We have St. Paul interceding with us and especially have our blessed mother or a mother. So this Mass is an opportunity to say yes to the call of God, to say yes, “for me to live is Christ.”  Amen.

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Matthew 20:1-16
Phillipians 1:20-24, 27
St. Paul