The Divine Meritocracy, Sermon by Fr. Paul Robinson, SSPX

Political conservatives often advocate for a meritocracy, that is, a system whereby people get pay and power based on their skills and hard work rather than on their connections or their social position.It rarely works that way on this earth, for a number of reasons related to our human condition. But we Catholics believe that, in the next life, we will get exactly what we deserve for what we have done in this life.On earth, it is often difficult for humans to know exactly what people deserve, according to their talent and work. But God knows us better than we know ourselves; He knows everything that we do and exactly how good or how evil our actions are.On earth, it is hard for humans to be completely just in giving out rewards or meting out punishments. We often have biases that influence our attitude towards people. But God is perfectly just and will not be influenced in any way by any biases.For that reason, after this life is over, we will receive a reward or punishment that is precisely fair because we will be receiving it from an all-knowing, all-perfect God.On this feast of Our Lady’s Assumption, I want to focus on the question of heavenly merit. We know that, for each one of the actions that we perform in the state of grace and for a supernatural motive, we deserve a heavenly reward.Basically, if we do a supernatural work, for something beyond this life, then we deserve a reward that is beyond this life. And that reward is greater or lesser based on how many supernatural acts we have performed and the intensity of the love of God with which we have done them.If, in the next life, we all receive from God the reward that is due to us, what, we may ask, is the reward that Our Lady received after her death?Well, since Our Lady’s actions in this life were the greatest of all human beings, next to her Son, her actions were the most meritorious. They deserved the greatest reward from God.What was the reward that God assigned to her for actions? They are the rewards that we meditate upon in the fourth and fifth mysteries of the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary: Our Lady’s Assumption in Heaven and her Crowning as Queen of Heaven and earth.We believe that Our Lady has been given the highest position in heaven, after her Son, because she merited more than anyone else.