Holy Family Maronite Church

As a young boy I was always a very good student. By “very good” I mean a student who consistently got the highest grades in his class, and was as a result regularly praised and congratulated by parents and teachers. It mattered little to my family or my school – both in charge of my education and formation as a person - that my academic excellence required minimal effort on my part: I have a natural propensity to learning.

By the same token, it mattered little that some of my classmates put in long hours and exhausting efforts into their school work, but had only low or average grades. What lesson did that teach me and my classmates? That only results mattered. How one actually achieved those results, or what circumstances lead to them, was not taken into account.

I learned that same lesson in gym class too - this time from the losing end. Being one year younger than all of my classmates, and not particularly gifted in sports, I hopelessly tried to master this or that sport, run faster, or grow a few more inches…My performance having stayed lousy, not once were my efforts recognized by my gym teacher.

Lesson reinforced: results! results! results!

I have a suspicion that my childhood experience is not unique. Some of you might have one way or another learned that same lesson. Even as adults we are similarly conditioned to pursue good results, with little attention to the means adopted. As adults, the workplace becomes the place where ignoring the “results-only-matter” principle can cost you your livelihood. In fact, very few bosses would give you an “at-least-you-tired” end-of-year bonus. As long as you proceed in a “legal” or non-actionable manner, the business community allows for and expects some morally gray business practices – as long as you get things done!

Where am I getting with this auto-biographical tirade? What is the problem with this kind of social conditioning? The problem is we all bring this kind of mentality to our parish life and activities. After all, in our parishes too we have fundraisers and projects in which we hope to succeed. However, when you try to lead a Christian life, you MUST FORGET that precious childhood lesson.

Why? Simply because, unlike our parents, teachers and bosses, God’s narcissism is not tickled by our successes, his public image not brightened by our talents, and his bank accounts won’t be fattened by the huge business deal we just brilliantly closed. No. What matters to God is not whether we succeeded or failed, but HOW we proceeded before and after the success.

God would ask us: did you truly try your best?
Did you proceed with honesty?
Did you ask me to reveal my will for you regarding your project?
Did you count on me in your dark hours?
Did you have faith in my love and providence when you doubted your own abilities?
Did you pray the Spirit to enlighten you on the right measures to take?
Did you, along the way, marginalize or alienate others?
Did you give proper credit to people who deserve it?
Were you jealous or envious of other people’s achievements?
If you succeeded, how did you handle your success?
Did you use your success and influence to benefit other people as well?
It is based on the answers to these questions that God determines the value of our actions, the degree of our achievement, our success or our failure.

My dear brothers and sisters, we now, as a parish, are facing this same challenge. Convinced that relocating to a different church is vital for our growth, we engaged in a huge multi-million dollar project. What will matter to a lot of people, including ourselves perhaps, is whether we actually succeed at moving or not. Resist that temptation. Because, if there’s a time when the process counts more than the result, it’s when you work for the greater glory of God. It’s the present time, this present project.

You and I are blessed with this wonderful opportunity to grow in our faith. We can focus only on achieving our goals, or we can benefit from this learning experience, and achieve our goals THE RIGHT WAY! Our journey won’t be easy, but God willing we will succeed! Friends and community might recognize and rejoice for our success, but for our success to have any value IN GOD’S EYES, we have to always count on his love and providence, make sure we are honest, pouring our hearts and souls into our work, and keeping charity as our bond, faith as our weapon, and hope as our drive.