26th Sunday Year A

Readings http://www.pcentral-online.net/catholic/lectionary/26th-sunday-a.html


"'No, I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and went."


The gospel for the 26th Sunday of the Year, September 28, is about
the parable of the two sons. Jesus presented this parable as a
case for the leaders of His people: the chief priests and the elders.
In the parable, a father ordered his two sons to go and work in the
vineyard. One son said, "Yes", but did not really go. The other son
said, "No", but later on, went to work in the vineyard. The lesson
Jesus wanted to teach through this parable was: even if we have
failed to do what we promised to do, when we have repented, and then
went out to do what we were supposed to do, then we will be have
eventually obeyed the Lord's will.


A popular saying comes to mind when we reflect on this parable:
"action speaks louder than words". In our life as young children, or
even as teenagers, we often disobeyed our parents (or in the case of
the more obedient, only occasionally). Our disobedience is made
more serious when we do an action that we were not supposed to do.
We may have argued with our parents, or we may have even outrightly
shouted, "No", to one of their orders. But this disobedience in word
carried a lot more weight and serious matter when it flowed into an
action displeasing not only to our parents, but most especially to
God.


It is therefore a very important lesson for us to understand that as
adults, who have responsibilities in work and in family, before the
Lord, we are still His children - He being our Father. Let us then
examine the many times we went against our consciences. Did we repent
and do the proper thing? If we did not, then as long as there is
time to do so, then the Father will always be there to receive us
back to Him. And, let us also examine our present active life. Do
we pray to live a more virtuous life? To be more patient, forgiving,
prudent, moderate, just, persevering, generous, and chaste? Although
what we are in prayer before the Lord is also important, we are
called to do what will really please Him. And the Psalmist of the
Old Testament tells us what pleases the Lord: a humble and contrite
heart, that heeds His word, and with the gift of faith, puts it in
action, to serve Him through our family and work.

25th Sunday Year A

Readings http://www.pcentral-online.net/catholic/lectionary/25th-sunday-a.html


"The reign of God is like the case of the owner of an estate
who went out at dawn to hire workmen for his vineyard."


This Sunday, September 21, the gospel will teach through a parable,
about the generosity of God and His justice. Because of the way
God expresses His generosity in this parable, we will see that His
justice in not the way the world practices justice - especially in
the manner of compensating workers, laborers, and employees for the
work they have performed. The parable that Jesus uses to teach this
justice of God, truly makes us see (as the first reading from the
book of Isaiah teaches also), that because of God's mercy and His
generosity, "His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are
not our ways". And, Isaiah also adds one more detail about God:
"God's ways are higher above our ways, and His thoughts are above
our thoughts". (Isaiah 55:6-9)


What is important in our Christian living, is that we never forget
that God is very merciful, very generous with His gifts and blessings,
and just in all His ways. To have faith in this as individuals, or
as family, is a gift we need to ask God in prayer. For despite all
the bad things that may happen to us (even though we always strive
to be good), we will surely at one time or another, suffer some pain
or injustice. But we will suffer all the more if we focus our problem
and look at it solely from a human point of view. If, however, as the
gospel this Sunday teaches, we focus on the generosity and justice
of God, we will be given the gift of understanding and the knowledge
to see God's ways and thoughts as truly above and beyond our own.
The lesson we are taught is not only to rely on our own intelligence
but to trust in the mystery of God's will.

24th Sunday of the Year, Year A

Readings http://www.pcentral-online.net/catholic/lectionary/24th-sunday-a.html


"Not seven times; I say, seventy times seven times."


The theme of the gospel for the 24th Sunday of the Year, is God's
mercy and forgiveness. The gospel begins with Peter asking Jesus
a question: "how many times must I forgive my brother, seven
times?" Jesus replied, "Not seven times; I say, seventy times
seven times." Then, Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the
merciless servant. In this parable, a servant owed his master a
large debt of money. When his master asked that he pay the debt,
the servant pleaded for mercy. The master pitied the servant and
wrote off the debt. But then this servant went to another fellow
servant who also owed him an amount of money. But when his fellow
servant could not pay, the merciless servant had him put in jail.
When the others saw this happen, they reported it to their master.
The master of the merciless servant got very angry with the servant
and handed him over to the torturers - for he was shown mercy but
did not practice it with his fellow servant.


When St. Stephen the deacon, one of the early Christian martyrs,
was about to be stoned to death by his accusers, he forgave them
for what they would do to him. Many of the Christian martyrs also
did the same - forgiving those who were to put them to death. This
is certainly in imitation to the forgiving and merciful nature of
Jesus, who, despite all the physical sufferings he endured from
his torturers, forgave them all. Jesus knew that they did not know
what they were doing.


In the passages of the Wisdom books in the Old Testament, it is
said: "do not repay evil for the evil done upon you. Rather, let
vengeance be upon the Lord's hands, for He will always vindicate
the just. It is but a human reflex and an instinct for self
preservation to hit back when we are harmed. This is a base desire
in our being human. But Jesus was sent to us by the Father so
that we will share in His divinity - especially, that of being able
to forgive those who have caused us pain or evil. We can be able
to imitate Jesus in this sense, when we begin to have greater faith
in Him and His teaching. Just as He forgave those who nailed Him
to the cross, God's justice vindicated Him and He was raised to
life again in the power of the Holy Spirit. So, whenever we have
experienced an injustice, or we have been badly mistreated and
hurt, let us pray for the gift of Christ's humility and patience,
and imagine placing ourselves at the foot of the Cross where Jesus
was nailed. Just as our Master was vindicated for his being
merciful, forgiving and just, so shall we share in the blessing
Jesus received from the Father, if we learn to forgive and be
merciful like Jesus.

In the gospel for the 23rd Sunday of the Year, we will learn of two
sayings of Jesus: one on fraternal correction, and the other on the
power of united prayer. If we were to refer this teachings of
Jesus to how He Himself lived what He preached, then we may obtain
insights into what He really meant by these two sayings.


As we read the gospel of Matthew, especially in the previous
chapters where Jesus is increasingly being set against the
Pharisees, he was already correcting the people's understanding
of what the Law in essence meant: the spirit of love, humility and
mercy should be above the Law. And He made this point through the
teaching of parables - like the parable of the lost sheep (Mt
18:10-14) and the parable of the merciless official (Mt 18:21-35).
As for the saying of Jesus as regards prayer, we know that in the
early chapters of the gospel of Matthew (in the Sermon on the
Mount), Jesus taught His disciples how to pray with the "Our
Father" - a prayer which we can infer Jesus Himself prayed and
which truly expresses our being of one spiritual family, asking
God for what we daily need, and seeking God's mercy for our sins.


In these two sayings of Jesus, Jesus is helping us to understand
that part of being His follower requires us to take responsibility
for our brothers and sisters who are in error, most especially
those who are in a morally wrong situation in life. This is
indeed difficult. The power of our good example is easier to
do, than to speak and preach and teach as Jesus and the prophets
did. But according to the saying of Jesus, we can only win our
brother or sister's heart when what we teach them as morally
right, can be backed up by a life that is also morally upright
and righteous like Jesus. And this we cannot do alone. We also
need the help of others who are also good and morally upright,
and who sincerely desires to bring others to Christ. The best
form of obtaining the power of persuasiveness and of fraternally
correcting with charity and gentleness, is through the united
prayer we do in the Eucharistic celebrations. As one family in
God, we ask the Lord for the graces and the virtues necessary
to shepherd all those who are lost back into the fold of Jesus,
the Good Shepherd. We fraternally correct others as a Church;
and we get the power to do so through united prayer.