24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Brothers and sisters,

You and I were made for Heaven.

When most of us describe Heaven, we describe the future. No more suffering. Perfect peace. The beatific vision. Maybe a few beautiful, green fairways. (That last one might just be me.) These images are likely true, but if Heaven is only something waiting for us after death, we've missed the heart of the Gospel. The kingdom of God is at hand. Not someday. Now. Here. For you and me.

In this parable, when Jesus is describing the kingdom of Heaven, he is not merely describing a distant reward. He is describing a kingdom that is already breaking into the world wherever mercy is lived. The servant who was forgiven an impossible debt walked out of that throne room holding Heaven in his hands. He just didn't know it. He went looking for what he was owed instead of living inside the gift he had just received. And in doing so, he stepped right back out of the kingdom.

Mercy is a virtue we ought to practice. Absolutely! However, not as a means to earn our way into Heaven. Mercy is the atmosphere of Heaven. When you forgive, you are not just doing something good. You are freely choosing to live inside the reality of Heaven, right now, on Earth. Think of the last time you truly forgave someone. That lightness you felt, that was not just relief. That was Heaven.

But remember where it starts. Before we can give mercy away, we have to receive it. The servant's tragedy was not cruelty. It was blindness. He never let the king's forgiveness land. He walked out unchanged. And we do the same thing every time we approach God as though we have to earn His love rather than simply receive it.

You are not worthy of love on your own merits. Neither am I. We are made worthy by the merits of Our King, in accordance with His mercy. Living on those merits, and entrusting them to others, brings about Heaven.

The kingdom is not for the worthy. It is for the forgiven.

Receive it first. Then give it away freely.

That is Heaven on Earth, and it is available today. Now. Here. For You and me.

Tim Broderick
Development Director