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."

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