A hard sermon is good to find

I love a good sermon at Mass! Since I have been going to the Latin Mass at an FSSP parish, I never hear a lackadaisical, feel good homily anymore. Yes, yes, we all know Jesus loves us, but it gets pretty shallow when there is no substance other than that. We need to hear the hellfire and brimstone preaching that makes us really think about the devil, hell and our eternal salvation. Wishy-washy talk that preaches we are all going to heaven because God made us equal is well, simply NOT Catholic teaching. Not only that, it puts me to sleep, and we all know that sleeping in Mass is frowned upon.

Anyhow, back to my point. Sunday's gospel reading reading was about the workers in the vineyard who all received the same reward, no matter how much they toiled. Our priest told us a little (and true) story that really put that in perspective. It happened in Idaho. (Listen up Mark & Anita!)

An FSSP priest in Idaho, being freshly ordained, was called to the hospital to the bedside of a patient who was gravely ill. He went to the room number he had written down, not realizing he was on the wrong floor. The patient in bed was stable, and was recovering from a fractured leg. He seemed rather surprised to see the priest, and told him he had fallen away from the Catholic faith some years ago. Nevertheless (and with the grace of God) he ended up making a sacramental confession. Then he became very ill (I suspect from an embolism, as it is common after a femur fracture and is the reason many people die from a broken leg), and he died. Meanwhile, the patient who the priest was intended to see made a full recovery.

Now, there is the grace of God at work! The man who died was the vineyard worker who got full wages, even though he entered into his master's service at the eleventh hour. A good story, and a good sermon.