By: Fr. Bel R. San Luis, SVD
A man died and went to heaven. At the Pearly Gate, St. Peter welcomed him then gave him a tour. As they were entering a big hall, the man recoiled with fear, seeing so many tongues hanging inside.
“St. Peter, how weird this place is! Why are there so many tongues hanging?” the man said. “Those are the tongues of those who had many good intentions but never acted on them. Only their tongues reached heaven,” St. Peter answered.
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In this 26th Sunday’s gospel the Lord relates the parable of the two sons. The elder son, who was told by his father to work in the vineyard, said he would go, but never went. Like the owners of those tongues in the story, the son had the good intention but never acted on it.
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The younger son who was also told to work, refused to go, but later regretted it and went. “Which of the two did the will of the father?” Jesus asked. The chief priests and the elders of the temple answered correctly, “The second.”
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The younger son represented the tax collectors and prostitutes whose lives had been a “no” to God, but who repented and entered the kingdom of God. In contrast, the elder son symbolized the Jewish leaders who professed to be religious but did not respond to John the Baptist’s call for repentance.
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Jesus was proposing this little “quiz” to see not how smart his listeners were but to drive home the point that, in their relationship with God, it is not what you say, not your good intentions that matter most but rather WHAT YOU DO.
As the saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
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Once a businessman was ordering 500 ballpoint pens from an office equipment salesman. The latter was writing the order in his notebook, when suddenly the buyer exclaimed, “Hold on! I’m cancelling the order.”
The salesman left the store wondering why the wholesaler suddenly changed his mind. His companion asked why he did it. “Why?” answered the man, rather angrily. “Because he talked about ballpens to me for half an hour, using every convincing argument, and then he wrote out my order with a pencil! His practice did not agree with his words.”
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In our relationship with God, it may not have to do with ballpens but the point is: are we practising what we say or profess?
Jesus’ parable is a WARNING for us. Besides warning us, Jesus’ parable also expresses HOPE. That’s why even public sinners like the prostitutes and corrupt tax collectors, who repented, were forgiven.
We may have been slaves to some sins, but we can rise up from them. We can change. There’s always hope. There’s no room for despair.
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SUPPORT SEMINARIANS. Did it ever strike you that seminarians are our future priests, bishops and popes? We cannot have them if we don’t support seminarians NOW.
So let’s support our seminarians.
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Those who want to help may e-mail me for inquiry at: [email protected].
