I went to the 7 AM Mass at St. Mary’s Basilica in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday this past week. The old Catholic church (the oldest one in the city) was a nice 10-minute walk from my hotel in a cool winter morning, and I got there just in time.
A young priest, whom I learned later to be Rev. Nathaniel Glenn, presided over the Ash Wednesday Mass. In his sermon, he recounted another sermon that he had heard from a wise old Jesuit priest while he was still in the seminary.
“I am worried,” said the old priest, “that purgatory isn’t about fire that cleanses me and all that. I’m worried that purgatory is a cozy armchair where I sit with my favorite cold drink and a big screen TV in front of me. The TV will play a movie that shows all the good and wonderful things that could have happened on earth had I not omitted them in my life. As I watch the movie, I feel immensely sad, and I can’t help but weep profusely.”
“We often think that at the end of our lives, we have to account for our sins,” said Rev. Glenn. “But perhaps, we will be judged according to how much goodness we produced (or failed to produce) instead.” I got his points After all, not sinning is not the same as doing good. We can simply live idly or live just for ourselves.
Rev. Glenn’s words reminded me of a line in St. Joseph the Worker prayer (written by Pope Pius X in the early 1900s) that asks for the Lord to give me the grace to “keep unceasingly before my eyes death and the account that I must give of time lost, talents unused, good omitted, and vain complacency in success …”
May this Lent season encourage us to do more good things to others – and not just by giving money, but more importantly, by sharing our time and talents.
NOTES:
- Lent is a 40-day period before Easter, starting from Ash Wednesday and ending on Holy Thursday. This year Lent falls on February 14 – March 28. For more information please visit What is Lent?
- St. Joseph the Worker prayer can be found at Prayer Before Work to St. Joseph The Worker
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE, WORK, AND FAITH IN THE 21ST-CENTURY AMERICA 