Saint Bogey?

What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work today in the vineyard.”

“I will not,” he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, “I will, sir,” but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted?

 “The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.”

                                                 

                                                                                  Matthew 21: 28-31 (NIV)

Today in the homily, our priest was commenting on the gospel passage above. By way of an example, he talked about how in the recently past century (I've got to get used to that -- the 20th century was last century, wasn't it?) actor Humphrey Bogart often played movie characters who gave no pretense of having any redeeming qualities, but who in the end would do the right thing. All of us can appreciate, I'm sure, that our actions ultimately carry more weight than empty words. 

I'm not sure what the priest said after that. My mind began imagining a stained glass window in church with Humphrey Bogart off in the lower left panel. Then I imagined if by some time warp, what if Michelangelo had had the opportunity to know Bogey? I'm sure we would be able to find him standing somewhere in the background of that Sistine Chapel painting.

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