Beloved parishioners, as you are most likely aware, this is my last Sunday with you. I was reading this morning in the Acts of the Apostles where St Paul was leaving the people of Asia and exhorting them to stay faithful. I thought I would do something similar. I know my work here is done and I am very confident that Fr Vincent will continue this work of God, as I continued it from Fr Peter. It is all God’s work. I have been edified at what has happened through the grace of God here. And through your example and prayer, I have grown in my understanding of and desire to love God. Thank you for that. I have always believed that we are here to work together to grow in holiness. I hope that God has blessed you as He has most certainly blessed me.
We have much to accomplish here in the parish. There are many souls who do not know and love Jesus and therefore need our witness and testimony. I got my hair cut for the last time here and I expected my regular barber but he had moved to Kamloops (maybe he has a bishop, too). The lady who cut my hair told me that she doesn’t really have much to do with religion, so we had a conversation. There are many souls like this here and they need our witness. The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few. Become a labourer.
How does one become a labourer? The most important thing is to have tried the product. Many of just heard about it but it hasn’t changed our lives. So we must pray and read Scripture every day. Why Scripture? Because each time we read Scripture and ask for its meaning in our day we have a miraculous occurrence. We must have met the Lord and let Him save us before we will share Him. Save us from what? Sin first of all, then human faults and failings, disordered addictions. I think there are many people who have given up on trying to be better. You are right on giving up on trying to be better on your own. I know it is frustrating when you don’t succeed. But you don’t succeed because you have not let the Lord journey with you in your struggles. I know we have prayed to the Lord take them away. And we are angry or disheartened when they don’t just disappear. I have been, too. I have learned that our struggles are here for a reason, that something got disordered and journeying with the Lord through them is our means of holiness. In fact, the harder life, the greater the struggle, is the greater opportunity to grow in holiness. But only if we go with God.
I just listened to a story by JR Tolkien, “Leaf by Niggle.” It is a story about a man whose greatest desire is to paint a tree leaf by leaf. He loves the detail of a single leaf. He is constantly interrupted by his neighbour who is ungrateful and who sends him off on errands, one that eventually kills him. Niggle does begrudge his neighbour but has the grace to think well of the small kindnesses he paid him. When he gets to judgement and goes through the tribulation, he one day comes upon his tree, now in real life. He sees that his masterpiece is almost complete and with the help of his neighbour they complete what is left. Niggle thought that his desire was to paint a masterpiece yet he later discovered that what he did for others was the real masterpiece.
How can we start making our life a masterpiece? If we do the small things well in the presence of God in our lives, though perhaps simple, we will be surprised of the effect they are having. Do not doubt yourselves because your life is not going the way you have planned it. That means God is working in your life. Do not be surprised if you don’t always know the right thing to say. Or if you think of it afterward. Trust that there is a reason for that. Much of life is not saying. We all want our words to make an impact but the truth of the matter is it is not our words that make the impact but our investment that makes the impact. What we sacrificed for will make the impact. St Francis is known to have taken one of his brothers with him to go preaching and all they did was walk around. The brother asked St Francis, “Why didn’t we say anything? St Francis said, “We spoke by our lives.” Our lives say more than our words, not saying that we shouldn’t speak but more important is that we are attempting to live it and we are humbled when we are not living it. Ghandi was once asked by a mother, who had travelled a far distance to see him, what was wrong with her child. Ghandi observed the child and told her to come back in a month, which she did. Ghandi told her that the child ate too much sugar. She said, “Why did you not tell me that last time?” He said, “Because I ate too much sugar and I had to stop before I corrected your child.”
So taste and see that the Lord is good and you will be labourer in the vineyard. Look to the Lord, trust the Lord and always give thanks to the Lord for everything, even the bad things. Because God makes good come out of bad. God makes good come out of hell and sin. So give thanks always fear not, God is good.