Warning against self-righteousness

“THE kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at

dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.” (Mt 20,1) Thus starts the

gospel we heard recently at Mass. It’s a parable that contains a

precious lesson—a warning, in fact—especially to those who feel

advantaged and privileged in life for a number of reasons.

            As the parable continues its story, the landowner agreed

to pay the laborers who were hired at the first hour the “usual daily

wage.” But since he noticed there were still idle people in the

different parts of the day, even at the last hour, he decided to hire

them just the same, promising to pay them what he thought would be

just.

            At the end of the day, when paying time came, he chose to

pay all his laborers the same “usual daily wage,” including those who

were hired at the last hour. Obviously, those hired at the first hour

felt unfairly treated.

            “These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made

them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat,” they said.

But to this, the landowner said, “My friend, I am not cheating you.

Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours

and go…”

            The parable simply tells us at bottom that God cares for

everyone of us. He does not make distinction of persons insofar as

loving is concerned. His love is universal. It covers all.

            This is the thought that should be with us everytime we

see the differences and the great variety of conditions we have among

ourselves. Yes, we have to acknowledge our differences, our advantages

and disadvantages, etc., but we should not forget that God loves all

of us and that we too should love everybody else the way God loves

all.

            Let us remind ourselves that our differences are meant to

develop, if not enrich, everyone through the dynamics of

complementation and supplementation. Let’s see to it that we are not

unduly entangled with the unavoidable tension and conflict, and that

we manage to go past them and see the bigger picture.

            What is incumbent on us is to give what we have, what has

been entrusted to us by God—our talents and other gifts—as much as we

could for the common good. This is where our true joy and

self-fulfillment. It’s in giving that we truly love, and that we truly

get blessed.

            We should never think that our talents, gifts, blessings

and other privileges and advantages we can have in life are a right to

lord it over others, or to be proud and vain, or to expect more

privileges. They are never meant to make us feel superior to others,

turning us into conceited persons.

            If ever, these things should only make us more aware of

the greater responsibility we have to contribute to the common good.

That consideration, which we should try to be with us always, should

sober us and stop us from making fantastic, baseless ideas of

ourselves.

            These gifts and blessings should make us more humble and

more responsible, as well as more discerning as to what God has in

mind for their proper use. That’s because when not referred to God,

these things can have no other effect than to spoil us.

            And that’s when we, unwittingly perhaps, lead ourselves

down the road to a blinding self-righteousness. We have to be most

wary of this danger which is very common and can come to us in subtle

ways.

            The worst form is when we use our “sanctity” because we

may be a priest, a nun or a monk, as a claim to superiority over

others. This can happen when we have little or even no patience for

those who may not behave “properly” in certain liturgical celebrations

and we feel we have the right to scold them in public.

            The real saints and heroes never thought it beneath them

to suffer the inadequacies and the mistakes of others, following the

example of Christ who even went to the extent of washing the feet of

his apostles, and who clearly said that he came to serve and not to be

served.

            Since any authority on earth is a participation of the

authority of God, those who have it, especially the sacred ministers,

should see to it that the exercise of their authority would make

others see God instead of their own selves.

            We have to follow the example of St. John the Baptist who

said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”