An Equal Outcome, Though Not in the Way You Think

Should everyone receive the same reward regardless of their effort?

Most people would intuitively respond no. We generally believe that greater effort should lead to greater reward. While initiatives like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion aim to create more equal outcomes, the principle of solidarity, as understood in Catholic social teaching, suggests a different approach. It emphasizes that we should create a society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. This can lead to a fairer distribution of resources, but it does not mean that everyone will achieve the same sort of outcome.

This past Sunday had two different observances in the Catholic Church. Some regions began the pre-Lenten season of Septuagesima (seventy days before Easter).  Most other regions observed the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. These two different observances mean two different Gospel readings were used. While seemingly disparate at first glance, I believe these readings, when considered together, offer valuable insights into just rewards and the equal opportunity of salvation.

Let us first consider the Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday. In this Gospel, Jesus tells the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. In the parable, a landowner hires workers at 9:00 am, 3:00 pm, and 5:00 pm, yet pays them all the same daily wage, regardless of how long they worked. Like the workers hired earlier in the day, many of us would find this unfair. We might ask ourselves, “Why work longer and harder for the same pay?” This parable, with its seemingly equal, and perhaps even unjust, results, appears to contradict Jesus's teachings elsewhere about greatness and leastness in the Kingdom of Heaven. Why then would he tell this parable?

Saint Augustine, in a sermon reflecting on this parable, suggested that the equal pay represents the equal reward of eternal life for all who persevere in faith until the end. He clarifies that this does not mean everyone receives the same degree of reward in eternal life. He says in his sermon,

“For although through diversity of attainments the saints will shine, some more, some less; yet as to this respect, the gift of eternal life, it will be equal to all. For that will not be longer to one, and shorter to another, which is alike everlasting; that which has no end will have no end either for you or me.”

Eternity is eternity, whether experienced by one person or another.

The parable highlights that everyone is offered the same opportunity for salvation, though many reject it. For those of us who accept, it is a reminder that regardless of our circumstances or efforts, we will all attain eternal life if we persevere. But what constitutes "effort" in the realm of faith?  Is it simply the performance of good works, or does it also encompass interior dispositions like humility, love, and a constant striving for God? Not everyone is called to perform grand acts for God's Kingdom, nor will everyone experience it in the same way.  But as Saint Therese of Lisieux showed, we can attain that kingdom in the acts of love we do for God, whether great or small.

The Gospel for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, in contrast, presents the Beatitudes and their opposites, distinguishing between the truly rich and the truly poor. In a homily on this passage, Saint Cyril of Alexandria explains that the Beatitudes describe those who embrace hardship and persecution for the Kingdom as blessed, primarily in the sense of inheriting eternal life. However, Jesus also assigns other rewards, showing that blessedness is experienced differently depending on the individual virtue, just as the woes of the rich, though varied, all lead to the same curse.

As we prepare for Lent, these two Gospel passages remind us not to be concerned with the perceived fairness of others' rewards, especially those who are new to the faith, and not to be jealous of them. Like the Good Thief crucified with Jesus, many will achieve salvation late, even on their very deathbed. Seeing this as ‘unfair’ diminishes the gift of eternal life itself, focusing on degrees of reward rather than the experience of God. Our Lenten resolutions bring us closer to that experience, where one day, as Saint Thomas Aquinas writes, we will see the Triune God, enjoying him as "...true light, fullness of content, eternal joy, gladness without alloy and perfect happiness."