Payday for Priests

Seeking to be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous

11/06/2017

Luke 14:12-14 On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

       Everyone loves payday; that is, receiving a just salary for an honest day’s work. Nothing could be more American, and indeed, the opportunity to work and enjoy economic advancement is what brings many immigrants to these shores. That’s what brought my family to America. But some people look forward to payday so much that they forget to come back to work after they get their paycheck. My father learned this lesson the hard way when he ran our Indian restaurant in Little Rock. Some employees just worked for one paycheck and then never returned for work. We didn’t have the restaurant for very long.

        The Church’s canon law actually tries to thwart this desire for payday among Catholic clergy. We priests can only receive one stipend per day for Masses, no matter how many Masses we say in a given day. Even if I said six Masses in a day, I would receive only one stipend. And sometimes there is no stipend at all, and of course, we still have to say that Mass: no payday for the priest! That’s when I send Fr. Pius to do the Mass.

        In the gospel today, Jesus also wants to teach his apostles not to get too excited about payday. Now, Jesus is not talking directly about salary and employment and a just wage; he’s not trying to undermine natural economic dynamics. But he is talking about our deeper feelings of fairness and justice, and to avoid calculating in a worldly way as Christians. He says: “When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the cripple, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.” In other words, following the Lord Jesus is not about getting a paycheck and looking forward to payday (good as those things are in the natural order). Rather, Christianity is about loving for the sake of love, where love is its own reward. This is another area where we have to be careful not to measure our Christian lives by cultural standards. Jesus calls Christians to a different kind of calculation.

        Let me suggest a few examples of how Christians do not work for payday. First, I’m so pleased and proud of the Eucharistic Ministers who take Communion to the sick daily. They believe Jesus when he said in today’s gospel: “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous,” but not today. I think of spouses who love even though they feel the relationship is one-sided and not reciprocal, but they love anyway because loving has become its own reward. They look forward to being “repaid in the resurrection of the righteous,” but not today. I’m humbled and inspired by so many people who work for the Catholic church and in Catholic schools but are compensated far below their competence and their commitment. They are also looking forward to being “repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” but not today. And let me not forget all our generous benefactors, especially those who give to the poor who cannot repay them. They, too, look to be “repaid in the resurrection of the righteous,” but not today.

        There’s an old quip that goes: “working for the Church doesn’t pay much, but the retirement plan is out of this world.” My friends, do a quick “cost benefit analysis,” and you’ll see that Christians will be compensated eternally for the sacrifices they make temporarily. In other words, as a priest, I’m looking forward to payday even more than you are.

Praised be Jesus Christ!