A promise is made to be broken!

What are the things we normally promise? We often hear the saying, “Promises are made to be broken.” How true is that for us? I have experienced a lot of broken promises from the people I thought they would keep it. When I was a kid, I was promised many things by my parents and people dear to me. They did fulfill some, but broke some. Broken promises would always leave a scar. However, we all do have broken a promise maybe to our family members or someone we love and cherish.

As St. Anthony of Padua reminds us, “Actions speak louder than words.” This is precisely what we see in this Sunday’s Gospel. The one who said “Yes” did not obey, while the one who initially said “No” eventually changed his mind, obeyed, and went to work in the vineyard. Many of us if not all, promise God to follow Him, turn to Him, and be changed. At times, we may feel that we failed to keep that promise. But we keep on promising again and again yet, we also failed again and again. While we climb back into clean slate, we always feel the urge to correct things according to what we have promised. Because, there is also that feeling that no matter how we fall back, no matter how we failed, no matter how we have mistaken, there is that one who corrects us, forgives us and catches us. Jesus does not only look at how we do things, He also looks after us when we cannot do those things and catch us when we fall, heal us when we are broken, forgive us when we are mistaken.

In the end, it doesn’t matter how many times we make our promise nor how many times we broke them. What matters most to Jesus is how we trust Him even on our own brokenness. And sometimes, it doesn’t matter to Him whether we still keep that promise; what matters to Him is how we say Yes to Him with trust, confidence, and hope.

Fr Christian