"Don't wait to come into the vineyard!"

Bishop Fulton Sheen used to say that there are three possible perspectives on the life of any human person. Take, for example, yours' truly: there's the life of Fr. Ray as Fr. Ray sees it (that, I can assure you, is a very interesting perspective!); there's the life of Fr. Ray as other people see it (all of you know something about that); and there's the life of Fr. Ray as Almighty God sees it. But out of those three perspectives there is only one which is guaranteed to be 100% accurate; that, of course, is my life as Almighty God sees it. We may think we are perfectly objective, but in reality our judgement of our own righteousness or the righteousness of others can very easily become distorted. On that note, I just finished reading Dr. Bernard Nathanson's autobiography, entitled The Hand of God. Dr. Nathanson was one of the founders of NARAL (the National Abortion Rights Action League) who presided over approximately 75,000 abortions in the early 1970's. He even aborted one of his own children. Thankfully, he has since changed and become one of the strongest voices in the pro-life movement. Amazingly, in his autobiography he said that when he aborted his own child he felt no remorse whatsoever; quite oppositely, he felt a deep sense of accomplishment. Reflecting back on that event, and on the years when he was deep into the abortion business he wrote, "There was never a shred of self-doubt, never a wavering of the supreme confidence that I was doing a major service to those who sought me out." Dr. Bernard Nathanson was a murderer, but that was not the perspective he had on his life at the time. He saw himself as a righteous caretaker of the oppressed. How easily our self-perception can become distorted!

This propensity we have to misjudge ourselves and others should make us extremely grateful for the message of today's Gospel parable. As we listen to this story, we may be tempted to see ourselves as the laborers who are there from the early morning--or at least from around midday. And yet, only the Lord knows absolutely whether or not we are in the state of grace right now; only he knows if we really are in his vineyard. Yes it's true, we can have a moral certitude about being in the state of grace, based on a thorough examination of conscience in light of the teachings of the Church--but only the Lord knows for sure. Consequently, we should thank God that we always have the opportunity to repent and enter his vineyard--even at the last second of our earthly existence. Such is the glorious mercy of God. Dr. Nathanson could tell us all a lot about that, since his 75,000 sins of abortion were washed away just a few short years ago when he was baptized at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. The grace he received at that moment, brought him into the Lord's vineyard and entitled him to a full share of the wages (to use the imagery of the parable). The wages here of course symbolize the eternal inheritance which Jesus died to give us.

So Dr. Nathanson now has the possibility of going to heaven. Praise God. But here's an interesting follow-up issue, which isn't often addressed: Presuming that Dr. Nathanson dies in the state of grace, does this mean his experience in heaven will be exactly like St. Peter's or St. Paul's? The answer is: No. I hope it is, but it might not be. Why? Because the Scriptures indicate that there are "degrees of beatitude" in God's eternal kingdom. Jesus spoke of "the least" and "the greatest" in the kingdom of heaven; he said, "In my Father's house there are many dwelling places." This is the truth he was alluding to: that some of the saints will experience God's glory more fully than others. Along these lines, I remember my mom telling me that--in her mind--certain people deserved "the front seat in heaven." She made it sound like heaven was a movie theater! But she definitely had the right idea: those who attain great holiness in this life have a greater capacity to experience God in the next life. And that's what we need to keep in mind as we try to interpret this parable. Otherwise we might be tempted to say, "Why should I convert now? Or why should I struggle to stay close to Christ? Why shouldn't I wait until I'm on my deathbed? After all, the laborers in the parable who came at the very end of the day got the same wages as those who worked the whole day!" Yes, but it doesn't say how much of those wages they actually enjoyed! That's a different issue entirely.