(Fourth Sunday of Lent (B): This homily was given at St. Pius X Church, Westerly R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani on March 9, 1997. Read Ephesians 2: 4-10; John 3: 14-21.)

"Why should God let me into heaven?"

John, Joe, Jim, Judy, Jane and Josephine are all good friends. Amazingly, they all die on the very same day and at the very same time. (These are obviously good friends who stick together.) Well, immediately afterward, they’re all swept away to the Pearly Gates, where they meet St. Peter (of course), who has the Keys to the Kingdom dangling from his belt. The saint says, "Welcome my friends. Beyond these walls that you see in front of you is the glorious Kingdom of God: the Kingdom that’s been prepared for each of you from the foundation of the world. Sounds pretty good, does it not? However, before I can let you in, you’ve got to do something. You’ve got to tell me why I should allow you into Heaven. If you give me the correct answer, then the Kingdom of God is yours. If not--well, we’ll discuss that later."

John is the vocal one in the group, so he’s the first to speak. "St. Peter," he says, "You should let me into heaven because I’ve led a very good life down there on earth. Why, I was once voted the nicest person in my hometown."

Joe says, "Yeah, Peter, I think I’ve been pretty good too. Sure, I’ve had my faults just like the next guy, but basically I’ve been a very kind and charitable person. I even gave a big donation once to the church."

Jim chimes in next. He says, "Well, in all honesty, St. Peter, I must admit that I was not the kindest or best person that I could have been during my earthly life. But I was certainly sincere. I can honestly say that I was always sincere. I had no problem admitting my faults. And because of my sincerity, I think that God should accept me."

Judy says, "I agree with Jim. I know I didn’t always succeed at being a good person. But I tried--at least most of the time I tried. And I think God should let me into heaven for making that effort--I mean, some people don’t try at all. They’re the ones who should go to that other place."

Jane (obviously the diplomat of the group) says, "St. Peter, you were the first pope. I learned that a long time ago in Catholic school; which means that you were the first visible head of the Catholic Church on earth. Well, your Holiness, guess what? I was Catholic too. I was a certified member of St. Pius X Church in good old Westerly, Rhode Island. I think that says it all. I think that should be enough to get me one of the biggest mansions in all of heaven."

Josephine chimes in, "Jane, Jane, Jane, just who do you think you’re kidding? Sure, you belonged to St. Pius, but as I recall you didn’t even know where the Church building was located. You got an invitation once to a wedding at St. Pius and you showed up at Immaculate. Be honest, my friend, you never went to Church--not even at Easter and Christmas. Now as for me, St. Peter, I did it all--I went to Mass every single Sunday. I put up with Fr. Ray’s homilies every weekend. Heck, sometimes I even paid attention and stayed till the end of the Liturgy. I paid my budget faithfully. I observed every fast. I followed every single rule that the Catholic Church threw at me. To put it quite simply, Peter, I more than paid my dues to God. If anyone deserves eternity in the Lord’s Kingdom, in all humility I would say that it’s yours truly."

My brothers and sisters, based solely on their responses, who should be allowed into heaven? John? Joe? Jim? Judy? Jane? Josephine? All of them? The answer is: None of them! And if you answer any differently, then you’re guilty of embracing one of the earliest heresies the Church had to deal with: Pelagianism (which basically taught that we could earn our way to heaven by our own power.) Notice, not one of these six individuals ever mentioned Jesus--as if they didn’t need our Lord to get into heaven--as if their own good works and intentions were sufficient.!

"But Fr. Ray, I thought we were supposed to perform good works in this life?" Yes, we are. But our good works don’t earn salvation for us--which is the mistaken idea that these six people had--which is the mistaken idea that I believe many Catholics have today. Salvation is actually a gift--a free, unmerited gift, which comes to us through Jesus Christ. Yes, it’s a gift that we accept by living a life of faith rooted in Baptism, but it’s still a gift. Our good works are supposed to be our loving response to the gift. In no way do they earn it for us.

Now, why is that the case? It’s because the gift has already been earned for us--by Jesus Christ! You see, we all owe an infinite debt to Almighty God because of our sins. But there’s no way that we could ever pay back that debt--not with a bizillion good works! Only Jesus, because he’s both God and man, could pay the debt--which he did--by his passion and death on the Cross.

This was precisely the message that St. Paul gave to us in today’s second reading from Ephesians, chapter 2. In light of what I’ve just told you, listen again now to this powerful, beautiful message:

God is rich in mercy; because of his great love for us he brought us to life with Christ when we were dead in sin. By this favor you were saved. Both with and in Christ Jesus he raised us up and gave us a place in the heavens, that in the ages to come he might display the great wealth of his favor, manifested by his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

I repeat, it is owing to his favor that salvation is yours through faith. This is not your own doing, it is God’s gift; neither is it a reward for anything you have accomplished, so let no one pride himself on it. We are truly his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to lead the life of good deeds which God prepared for us in advance.

We need to ask the Lord for the special grace to internalize this marvelous message. Because internalizing this message makes all the difference in the world! You know, from my observation, one of the reasons that so many Catholics and other Christians are miserable today is because they are constantly trying to earn God’s love and forgiveness: "Oh, maybe if I just go to 20 more Masses, maybe if I help 20 more people, then God will love me and forgive me for all the bad things I’ve done."

What a terrible way to go through life! God cannot possibly love us any more than he already does. In today’s gospel text from John 3, Jesus says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son." The Lord could not have loved us any more than that.

When we do internalize this message, and then respond to it by a living faith which flows out into good works, life suddenly takes on a new joy and a new meaning. Let me give you a real life example of what I mean. This past week, Brian Sistare from our parish formally entered the novitiate of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in New York (that’s Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s order.) Brian’s been with them (as most of you know) for several months, but now he begins his formal preparation for full entrance into the community.

Now I have no problem saying what I’m about to say, because Brian himself has talked about this publicly--to our teenagers and to other groups. Five or six years ago, this young man was well on his way to becoming one of the terrible statistics of our modern, American society. For lack of a better expression, he was a "wild, angry young man." He drank, he fought, he caroused--to an extreme. From what I understand, much of the time he was not a pleasant person to be around.

Well, thankfully, he let Jesus Christ into his heart, experienced a deep conversion--and over time he felt the call to serve God as a follower of that great saint--Francis of Assisi. Now there may be some people--people who knew Brian five or six years ago--who think that he’s becoming a Franciscan because he wants to pay God back for all his sins; because he wants to "make up" for all the bad things he did in his youth. Well, let me tell you, if that were Brian Sistare’s attitude, he’d be the most depressed, miserable, frustrated person on planet earth, because these would be his thoughts: "Oh Lord Jesus, I know how I’ve hurt my family, I know how I’ve abused my body, I know how I’ve mistreated other people. I don’t deserve your love and mercy. But maybe if I enter the Franciscans and I say enough prayers and do enough good works and help enough poor people--then you’ll love me, then you’ll accept me, then you’ll forgive me." What a horrible way to go through life; because there’s no way he could ever say enough prayers or do enough good works or help enough poor people. It would never, ever happen.

Well, if you know Brian, you know that’s not his attitude. And that’s quite evident, because he has a real joy and peace about him--it’s written all over his face. That joy and peace come from the simple fact that he knows he’s received a free, unmerited gift. Brian’s perspective is, "Lord Jesus, after all I did to my family, after all I did to other people, I didn’t deserve your mercy, but you gave me that gift anyway when I asked you for it. Awesome! And you continue to give it to me--especially through Confession and the Eucharist. Thank you Lord. You’re incredible, and I’m thrilled to death that you’ve now given me the opportunity to love you back. What a privilege! And so, Lord, I want to give you my life--my whole life; because when I was spiritually dead, and deserved nothing, you gave life--eternal life--back to me."

Now you know why Brian Sistare smiles a lot. May all of us develop that very same smile, through the same experience of God’s wonderful grace.