We each have a list of things that we would like to accomplish in this life. Some things that appear on our to do list will be accomplished no matter what attempts to get in our way. Other items on our to do list exist with the sole hope that we will be able to one day get around to them. Nevertheless, we should all realize that we only have so much time to accomplish the things that appear on this list. For example: if we desire to go to a sporting event and fail to get a ticket early we could easily find ourself realizing that the event has been sold out and thus find ourself being out of luck. We should also realize that our to do list never really gets finished because before we know it something else of importance arises in our life that we must do. Again these items can fluctuate from something impulsive like an item that we see in a store and desire to have to something more important like taking care of a family member who is sick. When we think about it we can never really be made whole because there is so much that we desire to do.
So without a proper relationship to God we most definitely would never be made whole. With Christ we are given everything that we will ever need and thus do not need to be filled by items which attempt to grab our attention. With a relationship to God the suffering that we may experience with a family member or even ourself takes on authentic meaning. Instead of having a to do list that only fuels our love for self and our need to accomplish a vast array of possessions; our relationship with Christ shows the complete opposite where we finally experience a love that is not restrictive, but is giving. In Saint Paul's letter to the Philippians we hear this reflected because we are told about God who is filled with love. This love was so great that He did not desire to remain at a distance, but instead took on human flesh in the incarnation. This love did not stop here, but instead it lead to Christ accepting His own death upon the wood of the cross in order that we may each be forgiven from our many transgressions against God the Father.
I hope that through our own experience with Christ that we will see the authentic love that is found here. From this love may our life finally take on meaning instead of leaving us wondering around in need of discovering something more. Through Christ we will and have received everything that we will ever need if only we can allow ourself to trust in Him and finally allow our life to not be disordered in sin, but instead to be ordered through our love for Him. If we develop this love and this trust in Christ we indeed will no longer bend our knee to sin and confess sin to be our Lord, but instead we will live out the words of Philippians and allow our knee to bend at Christ alone and to truly confess with our words that Jesus Christ is Lord. This can never be accomplished if we so easily shrug off our Catholic faith and ignore what we believe and profess to be the truth. If we continue to place more stock in the events of the world at the cost of our own faith and relationship with Christ we will always be like the man who did not go out into the vinyard to work.
We must each be willing to go out into the vinyard of to work. We cannot be content at saying that I will get around to it one day because as we know time does eventually run out and we will be held accountable for the actions of our life. We will be held accountable that we have professed Christ to be our Lord through our baptism and yet were never willing to lead other souls to Christ or even to allow our own knee to bend as we confess Christ to be our Lord. What we find in the Catholic Church is the fullness of faith that will lead our soul and other souls to Heaven, but so often we fail to surrender ourself to the fullness of faith that is found here. We think that we know better then Christ and His Church. Christ has given the Sacraments as a gift to the Church that each of us may continue to be drawn into a deeper relationship with Him. We cannot live out our life of faith as if all of the Sacraments are not of great priority to us.
And so, the Eucharist that we will receive today is a great gift from God where Christ is truly present in both His Body and Blood that we may be able to order our life after Him. Confession is a necessary Sacrament, as the precepts of the Church say: A Catholic must confess their sins at least once a year. Confession is not an option for us, but instead it is most necessary for us to be prepared to work faithfully in the vinyard of our Lord. May we each begin to place more attention upon the necessity of the Sacraments, upon the necessity of prayer especially before the Holy Eucharist and our fidelity to the rosary of Our Lady, and also upon our own necessity to be moved into relationship with God who is love and in return to share this authentic love with others. It is not enough for us to hold onto mere words, but we must also put these words into action by the way that we live out our life. May responding to this call to enter into the Vinyard of the Lord truly be a top priority on our to do list; which we will never allow to be overshadowed by the many other items that are found upon this list that distract us from our relationship with God.
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