# How Not to Think About Heaven - Bishop Robert Barron Daily Sermons

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 29 Jun 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72733599/how_not_to_think_about_heaven_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. You know, the parable that's at the
[0:03] Speaker 1: heart of our gospel today from Matthew twenty is one
[0:05] Speaker 1: that I love because, based on thirty seven years of preaching,
[0:09] Speaker 1: it's one of those passages in the New Testament that
[0:12] Speaker 1: really bothers people. I could pick out a handful, like
[0:15] Speaker 1: four or five. The Martha Mary story is another one,
[0:18] Speaker 1: but this is one that over all the years I've
[0:21] Speaker 1: been preaching, more people come up to me and say,
[0:24] Speaker 1: you know, Father or Bishop, I just I don't get
[0:27] Speaker 1: that parable, or it really bothers me.
[0:31] Speaker 2: How could this be right? I don't know what Jesus
[0:33] Speaker 2: is talking about here.
[0:35] Speaker 1: Well, see, I love that because it proves something very
[0:37] Speaker 1: interesting that the parable itself is doing its spiritual work.
[0:43] Speaker 1: What I mean is it's not just conveying correct information
[0:46] Speaker 1: about God. So some parables, you know, they teach us
[0:49] Speaker 1: truth about God and that's great. But other ones they
[0:52] Speaker 1: kind of reach into our souls. They bug us because
[0:57] Speaker 1: it's a bit like a urgent I supposed doing exploratory surgery,
[1:02] Speaker 1: that in this process he uncovers difficulties in the body. Well,
[1:07] Speaker 1: this kind of parable is like that in regard to
[1:10] Speaker 1: the soul. It unmasks, or it sheds light upon certain
[1:16] Speaker 1: darknesses in our soul, certain resistances to God. So it's
[1:21] Speaker 1: very interesting and important to follow our resistance here. Where's
[1:27] Speaker 1: that coming from? How come I don't like this parable?
[1:29] Speaker 1: How come this parable bugs me? Well, you know what
[1:31] Speaker 1: I'm talking about now, this parable about the Kingdom of
[1:34] Speaker 1: Heaven being like a land owner who went out and
[1:37] Speaker 1: hired workers for his vineyard first thing in the morning,
[1:40] Speaker 1: and he said, I'll pay you the daily wage. They said, great,
[1:43] Speaker 1: and so they work all day in the hot sun.
[1:45] Speaker 1: Others he goes out at noon, hires them, same deal,
[1:48] Speaker 1: others at three, and then finally at the very end
[1:50] Speaker 1: of the day he hires workers. And then the time
[1:55] Speaker 1: comes for payment, and those hired at the very end
[1:57] Speaker 1: of the day, who worked for only an hour, get
[2:00] Speaker 1: the daily wage.
[2:01] Speaker 2: So naturally the ones hired earlier.
[2:04] Speaker 1: Thinking hey, this is great, I'll be getting more, but
[2:07] Speaker 1: they get the same wage as those hired at five,
[2:10] Speaker 1: And even those who were hired at nine worked all
[2:13] Speaker 1: day in the hot sun. They get the same thing,
[2:16] Speaker 1: and they squawk, well, this is unfair, it's unjust.
[2:21] Speaker 2: You know, these people work for one hour. I work
[2:23] Speaker 2: for eight hours.
[2:24] Speaker 1: Why are we getting paid the same, Well, Chris, everyone
[2:28] Speaker 1: sees the connection to the spiritual life. Let's say you've
[2:34] Speaker 1: been at it your whole life long, honoring God and
[2:38] Speaker 1: doing what you're told to do and trying to be
[2:40] Speaker 1: a good person and following the commands of the church.
[2:43] Speaker 1: And I suppose there's somebody who, at the very end
[2:46] Speaker 1: of life, if you're living a terrible life of dissolution
[2:49] Speaker 1: or violence, deep sin, at.
[2:52] Speaker 2: The very end, repent.
[2:56] Speaker 1: Is that right that they get the same reward as
[2:59] Speaker 1: you would get. You both get to heaven. Remember hearing
[3:04] Speaker 1: the story from an older priest friend of mine. This
[3:05] Speaker 1: goes back to like the nineteen thirties or forties, and
[3:09] Speaker 1: there was a notorious gangland hit man in Chicago. I mean,
[3:15] Speaker 1: one of the worst people you can imagine, someone whose
[3:18] Speaker 1: whole life is dedicated to killing people. And he was
[3:21] Speaker 1: involved in some kind of shootout and he's lying in
[3:24] Speaker 1: the street dying. He was a Catholic, though, and he
[3:28] Speaker 1: had the presence of mind to ask for a priest
[3:31] Speaker 1: to come. And the priest came and with his dying breaths,
[3:35] Speaker 1: this man confessed his sins and then died, and the
[3:40] Speaker 1: priest was asked about it, and he said, well, yeah,
[3:43] Speaker 1: I'm sure he will acquire purgatory. But yes, this man
[3:47] Speaker 1: will go to heaven, just as Saint Francis ASSISI went
[3:51] Speaker 1: to heaven. And evidently this older priest friend told me.
[3:56] Speaker 1: It caused a real furyre in the press, people writing
[4:00] Speaker 1: letters in complaining how could this bee true?
[4:03] Speaker 2: That this hit man, this terrible person, this, with one
[4:07] Speaker 2: simple confession, he'll get the same heaven that Saint Francis gets.
[4:13] Speaker 2: Doesn't seem right, doesn't seem fair or just. I'll give
[4:17] Speaker 2: you an example from the scriptures. How about the good thief Dismus.
[4:21] Speaker 1: In fact, we call him Saint Dismus, don't we We
[4:25] Speaker 1: don't know anything about him, but his life ends on
[4:28] Speaker 1: a Roman cross accused of thievery. So I mean, we're
[4:31] Speaker 1: not talking about Mother Teresa here, right, We're talking about
[4:34] Speaker 1: someone probably lived a kind of wicked life, but at
[4:39] Speaker 1: the very end he reaches out to Jesus and was
[4:45] Speaker 1: he here today you will be with me in paradise.
[4:51] Speaker 1: And well, again, imagine someone who even Catholic, all their life,
[4:54] Speaker 1: they've gone through all kinds of struggles and temptations, but
[4:57] Speaker 1: they've hung in there and they've done the Lord's work,
[4:59] Speaker 1: and they've try to be good and just and loving,
[5:02] Speaker 1: and they struggled and struggled and they made it through
[5:06] Speaker 1: and they get the same reward as that guy as
[5:09] Speaker 1: dismiss in fact of Saint Dismus. It just doesn't seem fair.
[5:15] Speaker 1: It doesn't seem just now, at this point, this is
[5:20] Speaker 1: where the scalpel see is cutting. This is where the
[5:23] Speaker 1: light is shining. This resistance needs to be looked at.
[5:28] Speaker 1: And let me do so now under two different rubrics. St.
[5:32] Speaker 1: Catherine Siena said this, because Jesus said that he himself
[5:38] Speaker 1: is the way, then the way to heaven is itself Heaven.
[5:45] Speaker 1: Let me say it again. Jesus said I'm the truth
[5:48] Speaker 1: in the life, right, but he also said I'm the way,
[5:51] Speaker 1: and that means the way to heaven is itself heaven. See,
[5:59] Speaker 1: here's a false way to think about things spiritually. Heaven.
[6:04] Speaker 1: It's this great candy land, it's this great reward, it's
[6:09] Speaker 1: this great prize that I get after what, after this
[6:15] Speaker 1: terrible tough slog through life I'm asked to do.
[6:21] Speaker 2: I mean, God knows why, but I'm asked to do all.
[6:23] Speaker 1: These really challenging, difficult things. You know, to pray, to sacrifice,
[6:30] Speaker 1: to love, yes, even my enemies. And I've tried, and
[6:35] Speaker 1: it's just a tough slog and there's no letting up.
[6:41] Speaker 2: It's supposed to go on your whole life long.
[6:45] Speaker 1: So I guess, you know, after I paid that terrible price,
[6:50] Speaker 1: then I deserve this reward at the end. I deserve
[6:53] Speaker 1: the prize of heaven. And someone see, therefore, who hasn't
[6:58] Speaker 1: done the work, He hasn't gone through the long slot.
[7:01] Speaker 1: He's lived this kind of you know, self indulgent life,
[7:04] Speaker 1: and maybe at the very end he does the right thing,
[7:07] Speaker 1: he gets the same reward I get. Come on, remember,
[7:12] Speaker 1: Catherine Sienna, the way to heaven is heaven. Let me
[7:18] Speaker 1: put it this way. Do you really think that Mother
[7:21] Speaker 1: Teresa of Calcutta, now in heaven, confronted there with someone
[7:27] Speaker 1: in need, offered there the opportunity to love, would say, Nah, No,
[7:35] Speaker 1: I'm done with that. I did that all my life
[7:38] Speaker 1: long on earth. I put up with all these people,
[7:41] Speaker 1: you know, all my life long, and now I deserve
[7:44] Speaker 1: a little hour and r I deserve my nice reward
[7:46] Speaker 1: here in heaven. No. The point is the way to
[7:51] Speaker 1: heaven is heaven, meaning the love that she was demonstrating
[7:57] Speaker 1: all her life long is precisely what was preparing her
[8:03] Speaker 1: for the fullness of life in heaven.
[8:07] Speaker 2: I worked in the hot sun all day.
[8:11] Speaker 1: Rather, I was given the enormous privilege of participating in
[8:17] Speaker 1: the divine life all my life long, and maybe dismissed
[8:22] Speaker 1: the good thief or that mob hitman. They didn't have
[8:25] Speaker 1: that grace, They didn't have that opportunity. This is not
[8:31] Speaker 1: some drudgery that were forced to go through in order
[8:34] Speaker 1: to get some reward. But rather we must see the
[8:39] Speaker 1: path of love as itself already and anticipation of heaven,
[8:45] Speaker 1: to see how the resentment we feel is a sign
[8:48] Speaker 1: that we haven't yet got this right, that we haven't
[8:52] Speaker 1: thought this through. If you're wearing your religious obligation like
[8:57] Speaker 1: a terrible albatross around.
[9:00] Speaker 2: Your neck, then you haven't gotten it yet.
[9:04] Speaker 1: Think about this. Let me turn that Mother Teresa image around.
[9:08] Speaker 1: Suppose somebody who's a great sinner is suddenly sent to
[9:13] Speaker 1: Mother Teresa's mother house in Calcutta and told I want
[9:16] Speaker 1: you to live the life of the sisters for the
[9:18] Speaker 1: next year. He's completely unused to it. He has been
[9:22] Speaker 1: a self indulgent person, never engaged in the works of love,
[9:26] Speaker 1: and now here he is in the worst slum in
[9:28] Speaker 1: the world, caring for the poorest of the poor. He'd say,
[9:31] Speaker 1: I've just landed in hell. But now I imagine in
[9:36] Speaker 1: time as he gives himself to that life, as he
[9:40] Speaker 1: surrenders to it, and he realizes this is the life
[9:44] Speaker 1: of love that I've been called to. Without changing his address,
[9:50] Speaker 1: he'd go from hell to heaven. See when you're saying
[9:54] Speaker 1: I've labored in the hot sun all day, well, then
[9:56] Speaker 1: you're still in the hell of your own self regard.
[10:02] Speaker 1: So let the uneasiness you feel upon hearing this work
[10:06] Speaker 1: its way in your soul. And now here's the second
[10:09] Speaker 1: observation I want to make. If heaven is the life
[10:15] Speaker 1: of love, and that's how all the great spiritual masters
[10:18] Speaker 1: would say it. Right, there are three things at last, faith, hope,
[10:21] Speaker 1: and love, And the graves of these is love. That's
[10:25] Speaker 1: because in heaven faith will fade away. I mean, I'll
[10:27] Speaker 1: see God face to face. I don't need faith. Hope
[10:30] Speaker 1: will fade away because I've realized my goal. But love remains,
[10:34] Speaker 1: because love is what heaven is. Heaven is the place
[10:39] Speaker 1: of perfect love. Love is willing the good of the other. Right, Okay,
[10:45] Speaker 1: go back to this parable.
[10:48] Speaker 2: You mean that guy who worked for one hour is
[10:52] Speaker 2: getting the same reward I'm getting.
[10:54] Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. I worked all day in the hot sun.
[10:59] Speaker 1: I should get eight times what he got. What's on
[11:02] Speaker 1: display in that attitude but an extraordinary lack of love.
[11:08] Speaker 1: To love is to will the good of the other. Notice, please,
[11:13] Speaker 1: if you find this the letter of James, our great
[11:16] Speaker 1: tradition has nothing at all against justice, but mercy or
[11:21] Speaker 1: love trump's justice.
[11:24] Speaker 2: It goes beyond justice.
[11:27] Speaker 1: If we're caught in a pure justice frame of mind,
[11:32] Speaker 1: then we haven't moved to the level of true love,
[11:35] Speaker 1: willing the good of the other. Now move into that space.
[11:40] Speaker 1: And so you've labored all day. Yeah, Hey, I've been
[11:42] Speaker 1: given the opportunity to love all my life long. But
[11:47] Speaker 1: someone who hadn't been given an opportunity, someone who at
[11:50] Speaker 1: the very end that the mob hitman, but he gets in.
[11:54] Speaker 2: Well, if your heart is filled with willing the good of.
[11:57] Speaker 1: The other, what's your attitude terrific? I'm delighted. Hey, wait
[12:04] Speaker 1: a minute, it's not fair.
[12:06] Speaker 2: I'm kind of.
[12:06] Speaker 1: Beyond this preoccupation with fear and unfair. All I want
[12:12] Speaker 1: is what's good for the other. And this is look
[12:16] Speaker 1: he gets into heaven, he gets to share the life
[12:17] Speaker 1: of God.
[12:18] Speaker 2: Beautiful, beautiful. I rejoice in that.
[12:21] Speaker 1: And what love has done is it's burned away any
[12:24] Speaker 1: preoccupation with you know, well, who deserves it more and
[12:28] Speaker 1: who's worked harder, and that's burned away. See. Let this
[12:35] Speaker 1: parable everybody shine its light upon the darkness in us,
[12:40] Speaker 1: which just means an absence of love. Let our very
[12:45] Speaker 1: resistance to it be a spiritual lesson. It's functioning. You know,
[12:51] Speaker 1: I've been in spiritual directions since I was a kid
[12:53] Speaker 1: in the seminary. A bad spiritual director just says yes
[12:57] Speaker 1: to you all the time, says you're doing great, nothing
[12:59] Speaker 1: wrong with you, everything's fine. A good spiritual director shines
[13:04] Speaker 1: light in dark places, turns things over to reveal truth
[13:09] Speaker 1: that maybe we don't want revealed. This parable functions as
[13:14] Speaker 1: a good spiritual director. If it bothers you, good. It's
[13:20] Speaker 1: meant to shine light on some lack of love, and
[13:24] Speaker 1: God bless you.

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