26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 27, 2026

What does it mean to say “yes” to Jesus?

GOSPEL

Matthew 21:28-32

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: "What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' He said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go. Which of the two did his father's will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes
are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him;
but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him."

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

There is plenty of room in our readings from Ezekiel and Matthew. Room for what? Spacious room to change. In Ezekiel, God challenges the complaint that God is unfair. The prophet points out that there is plenty of room in God’s heart for the person who turns away from wrongdoing and begins to live rightly. That person, God says, “...shall preserve their life; they will surely live, they shall not die.” Similarly, in today’s passage from Matthew’s Gospel, the first son refuses his father’s command: “Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.” He says, “No,” but later changes his mind and goes. The father then approaches the second son and gives him the same command. The son says, “Yes, sir,” but does not go. Jesus shifts our attention from words to actions. One son said “No,” but eventually followed his father’s wishes and went to work. The other said “Yes,” but did not. For our Christian community, the readings from Ezekiel and Matthew call us to shift our attention from words to actions. This is an important examination for us. When we gather, we say and do the right things: we profess our faith, attend worship, and speak about the values of compassion and justice. But the Gospel asks whether our lives and our community actually embody what we profess. We are invited to examine our “Yes.” Is it possible to say the approved prayers, come to Mass, belong to parish groups, and speak about faith, yet fail to do the works of the Gospel? On the other hand, someone whose faith has been weak, or whose path has been troubled, can turn around and begin to live a Gospel life with sincerity. God leaves the door open for conversion. The parish, therefore, should not become a community that labels people according to their past. We are called to be a community where people can change, begin again, and discover that God’s mercy is always calling us forward. The question is not simply, “Have I said ‘yes’ to God?” It is, “Where is my ‘yes’ taking shape in the way I live?” The connection between Ezekiel and Matthew becomes especially clear when we see that both readings are about conversion: turning our lives around and putting our faith into action. Jesus is challenging our community. Are we merely saying “Yes” to God, or are we actually going into the vineyard? This suggests a reflection for our Eucharist today. We need to ask the Spirit to guide us: “Where is the vineyard I need to enter, and once there, what work am I being asked to do?” There is good news here. Jesus does not say that the person who once said “No” is beyond hope. What matters is the willingness to change and then act. The Christian community is not a community of people who have always said and done the right thing. It is a community continually learning to turn around, hear God’s call, and put faith into practice. The question for us is not simply, “What do we say we believe?” but “What are we doing because we believe it?” I confess that I do not always pay enough attention to the Responsorial Psalm. So, following the spirit of what I have said above, I would like to stop and reflect on today’s selection from Psalm 25. The Psalm gives us a prayer that naturally flows from the Ezekiel reading: “Teach me your paths, O Lord… Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God, my Savior.” The Psalmist does not claim to already know the right path. Instead, the Psalmist asks God to show the way and lead them along it. That is precisely the attitude Ezekiel calls for. Conversion is not simply feeling sorry for the past. It is turning and choosing a new direction. There is also a beautiful connection in the Psalm’s emphasis on God’s mercy: “Remember that your compassion, O Lord, and your love are from of old.” Ezekiel’s message might initially sound severe: our choices have consequences. But Psalm 25 shines light on the other side of that message: God is merciful and willing to teach, guide, and forgive. We are never trapped by our past. There is always room to turn around. There is always room to change. And, in the heart of God, there is always room to begin again.

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Quotable

“God makes us courageous people who, by confronting evil, build up the good.” —Pope Leo XIV, April 16, 2026

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Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

Humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.—Philippians 2: 3-4

Back in 1987, I had my first intense encounter with a truly financially challenged family when I agreed to re-draw plans for a Habitat for Humanity home to accommodate their family of eight. They were living in a rundown rental house in Wake County that had no running water, a leaking roof, and a single front door. Yet, Dorothy, the mom, had the most expansive, joyful personality. As a mother myself, I don’t know if I could have been so optimistic in her circumstances. She changed the trajectory of my life when I realized that she had the same hopes and dreams for her children as I had for mine. Accompanying others beyond my immediate family brought a joy and fulfillment as a Christian that I could not have imagined. Actions to bring God’s just kingdom to the world is both an attitude and a practical response based on the principle that everyone should look at another person as another self. Solidarity with others at every level is a way of accomplishing this. Solidarity takes many forms: “solidarity of the poor among themselves, between rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among nations and peoples” (CCC, no. 1941). In the Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium, 201), the late Pope Francis echoes this teaching: No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. While it is quite true that the essential vocation and mission of the lay faithful is to strive that earthly realities and all human activity may be transformed by the Gospel, none of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and social justice. Evangelical author Shane Claiborne states, “The great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor, but that rich Christians do not know the poor.” Are you a Christian that does not know a poor person? Join one of the social justice ministries at HNOJ Cathedral and be a friend to someone outside your box. It will change the trajectory of your life.

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Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading: A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, “Son go out and work in the vineyard today.” He said in reply, “I will not,” but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, “Yes, sir,” but did not go. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They answered, “The first.”

Reflection: Did you notice in today’s parable there is no mention of how things turned out when the first son changed his mind and went into the vineyard? How hard of a worker was he when he finally got to the vineyard to work? Did he do what was expected of him? There are no standards or measurements of success laid out for us in this story.  The emphasis is just on someone who changed his mind; who in the end, responded to an invitation. Maybe that is what is pleasing to God: our desire to serve and our attempts, if at times feeble, to respond–while we leave plenty of room for God to step in and fill in the gaps. The big ones and the small ones.  

So, we ask ourselves:  

• Shall we pray today for healing from past hurts caused by those who lied to us or disappointed us? 

• And shall we ask for the ability to forgive them?  

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Benedictine Reflection

Monks in the Benedictine Tradition say that a good monk is “obedient”. What does that mean, “obedience?” To some, it means that we are to do as we are told. To others, it means that we are supposed to wait until we have asked what should be done. I can humorously picture a monk running through an Abbey to the Abbot about every little detail. “The root of obedience is the Latin word which means “to hear.” In fact, the first word in the Rule of St. Benedict is “Listen,” as in “listen to the ear of your heart.” To live a Christian life, it is important to be obedient to God. Yet, what does this “obedience” look like? Obedience is important to the understanding of this passage from the Gospel of Matthew. The parable that is painted of the two sons, one who says he will, but doesn’t and the one who says he won’t, but does. Just for popularity, Jesus points to the people who are supposed to be the leaders of the “chosen people”, and says, “you are the ones who say yes, but don’t follow through.” It is the equivalent of, “here! Let me stick my finger in your eye. ”Clearly, the second son was listening but not obedient. The first son, it seemed like he was not listening, but then an amazing thing happened. His heart became involved. The words of the Father, after a time of disobedience, began to sink into his heart. The first son was cut to the heart and realized that he was actively disobedient to his father. He was disrespectful to his father by saying no to his face. He was rude, arrogant and unappreciative of the help that his father needed. This is not to mention the disrespect of all that the father provided him. How would his dad feel about this? What kind of frustration must it have left the father in to think his son would just leave him hanging high and dry in the father’s day of need? What was the motive? Love, guilt, duty? What? The second son gives lip service to get the honor and the status, but then rejects his father and lives out the disrespect that the first son just could not upon thinking about it. The second son is the one who is selfish, self-serving, self-centered and the greater disappointment. There are several observations that need to be made here. Both of the sons are, well, sons. They are beloved of a father, a Father in Heaven, who created them and gives them life. God loves us all. I have said to you over and over again to remember that passage from the Sermon on the Mount in Chapter 5, which says, “[the Father] makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” We are not dealing with favorites. There are no favorites for God: he loves us all.  They are children who have been called upon by their Father to give help in the vineyard of life, to go and spread the word of the love of God. The job of spreading the word of God to all was given to the Chosen People and Jesus is saying that their leadership is not getting it done at that time. It is a lesson for our time. The Father in Heaven needs the word, his Word, spread more than ever. We need people to answer the calling to get out and go. The work in the vineyard is needed and you just might be asked by the Father to go and work it. The point should be made that the second son was disobedient, but so was the first. There are none who complete the word of God. None of us are perfect. None of us have been good all our lives. We all sin. Just like we should take note that God does not play favorites, we should do well to remind ourselves that all of us have failed God. Yet, what this also means is that, just like the first son, who blew it with his mouth, there is always a chance to repent. We CAN turn it around. We CAN read our Bibles for once. We CAN pray a little prayer everyday. We CAN invite our friend to church we have neglected for so long. There is never a time when we CANNOT start working in the vineyard for Jesus. The question is, how do we get to the vineyard, and the answer is in the Benedictine concept of “obedience.” Hear what the Benedictine Rule says,  “Listen, carefully, my son, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.”  It means that if the Father tells you that the intent is to bring more people into the Church, then you are to do the loving thing, the kind thing that exhibits hospitality and welcoming others like that person is Christ. It does NOT mean that you would make people feel like they are outsiders and ostracized, lacking the love of God. Let me be clear, I am not advocating everything goes, by no means! I am advocating that we treat everyone with the same love with which God loves them. Does God send sunshine or rain on some, but not others? No, of course, not. Our approach is not to make everyone keep every jot and tittle of the law like we cannot do. It is to invite them to think of what the Father is asking of us, let it sink into our hearts and then invite them to turn from the way they were living and moving to a life that is in love with the Father. It is an invitation to a life that respects the Father and his requests. It is an invitation to a life of love of the other. It is a life that desires to love perfectly. All of these things are at the heart of what love is about. When Jesus was asked which of the commandments was the greatest, he answered that upon one commandment hung all the law AND the prophets: to love God, and the second was like it, to love your neighbor.  To be obedient to God is to ask in every situation, what is the loving thing? What is the thing that shows the greatest concern and care for the person standing right in front of me? Sometimes that means giving a little more mercy than is called for. Sometimes it means standing sadly and lovingly firm. Whatever it is, it is to love. The point of this parable is that we are to serve God out of love, not out of a sense of weaseling out of what we don’t want to do for the Father who loves us so. The point of the parable is that we don’t want to be like THAT GUY. Are you? Are you “THAT GUY?”In the coming week I challenge all of us to think of two things. First, wake up every day and realize that God loves us like he loves everyone. There is no one who is more valuable than us. We are no more valuable than anyone else. Second, what is it that God is asking you to do this day that you have been neglecting to do? Do it. He loves you, start to do it now. Amen? Amen.

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Commentary on Matthew 21:28-32

It helps to be aware that today’s Gospel reading follows immediately on yesterday’s when the authority of Jesus was called into question. Today Jesus offers the religious leaders a parable. It is about two sons who were asked by their father to go and work in his vineyard. One refused to go, but later repented and went. The other son said he would go, but did not. The question is then: “Which of the two did the will of his father?” The parable can be read on two levels. On a more general level, it is the common theme of the Gospel that doing is more important than mere words. “It is not those who just say, ‘Lord, Lord’ who will enter the Kingdom…” The important thing is actually to carry out the will of God in our daily lives. On a more particular level, the parable points to the situation which Jesus was facing.The religious leaders and many of the apparently religious people, who believed they were following God’s ways, refused to believe in John the Baptist and, after him, Jesus himself. On the other hand, people who were rated as deeply sinful and violators of the Law – tax collectors and prostitutes, responded to the call of John to repentance. They were deeply moved by John’s preaching, changed their ways and were baptised by him in the Jordan. Even after that, the religious leaders still made no move. When Jesus came, again the religious leaders refused to see God’s hand in all he was doing, while huge crowds gathered round him.The religious leaders are like the son who said ‘Yes’ to the Lord’s word but did not follow it out in their lives. They were experts in the wording and interpretation of the Law. The sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes, who had constantly violated the Law of God, repented and changed their ways. It is clear which group is finding its way into the Kingdom. Of course, we are not reflecting on these readings just to know how proud and arrogant the chief priests and elders were. They are for us to reflect on for our own lives. Do we think that because we are practising Christians we are in a privileged and untouchable position? Do we spend a lot of time praying in church but not doing much loving outside of it? Do we find ourselves speaking in a critical or condescending way of less devout Christians or of people who do not seem to be very moral by our standards? We have said Yes to God by our baptism and membership of the Church but can we say that we always carry out what God is asking us to do? Probably, after some honest reflection, we would have to admit that we are not really in a position to sit in judgment on others. Given the gifts and graces we have received as Christians, we may not be doing very well compared with those who have never enjoyed the support of a Christian faith and a Christian environment. As Christmas approaches, let us be followers of the Lord in deeds as well as words.

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From Matthew 20:17 to Matthew 21: 28

There is, as you can see, a gap between the gospel of the 25th Sunday and the Gospel of the 26th Sunday. In Chapter 20,on the 25th Sunday, we left Jesus speaking to his disciples about the laborers in the vineyard, trying to teach them that God’s economy is different from the world’s. At that point Jesus started what we now know was his final journey to Jerusalem. A lot of these events show up elsewhere in the liturgical cycle or are found in other liturgical cycles. He made his third and final prophecy of the passion; the mother of the sons of Zebedee made a request on their behalf that her sons get preference in the coming kingdom (we know how THAT turned out) and this led him to make remarks to the other 10 disciples about the importance of leaderships with service. Leaving Jericho, they met two blind men sitting by the side of the road who shouted a plea to Jesus to cure them. Out of pity , he did so. Chapter 21 opens with the approach of Jesus and disciples to Jerusalem. These stories show up in the Holy Week narratives, and include Jesus sending disciples to obtain a donkey, which He rode into Jerusalem (miming the entrance of the Roman soldiers from another gate, on large horses, with all the trappings of power). We see the enthusiastic greeting of the crowds, a story recalled in the Palm Sunday liturgy. Once in Jerusalem, Jesus proceeds to the temple and drives out the money changers, excoriating them for their greed and disrespect. After staying overnight in Bethany, Jesus returns to Jerusalem. On the way, he curses a barren fig tree for being useless, and it withers and is thrown into the sea. This event I s followed by Jesus teaching the temple, where his authority to do so is challenged by the chief priests and elders.  He refuses to tell them by what authority he has been preaching, and this is the place here we pick up today’s story. The parable of the two sons seems to have been addressed to those in authority at the temple and the Jewish leadership writ large. It is all about lip service versus actual engagement, and strikes at the hypocrisy of those who pretend to be more obedient to God than they really are.

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ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence.  Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God? With others in my life? What am I grateful for? Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret? I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt. God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

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Opening Prayer

Lord, help me to remember that the kingdom of heaven is not promised to the charmers, but to those whose life would make no sense if God did not exist. Help me to examine my behaviors and  focus on the times I have failed to live up to promises I have made. Keep me focused on my behavior and my lapses, rather than the failures and lapses of others. You see into my heart, and know what is there. Help me to fill my heart with love for you and others so that I may have the courage and the energy to follow through on promises I have made. 

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Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions“ 2008, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

Remember index cards? I still use them and I notice some public speakers and preachers do too. Here is an index-card exercise. Think of the times people said they would do something for you—and didn't. Include the people who said they would do something, were sincere about it, but then changed their minds or, their hearts turned away from you.   Remember your disappointment? Write each time on a different index card. Warning: this can be a painful exercise. Then stack the cards in front of you. Are there a lot of cards in that stack? This will bring to mind incidents going all the way back to childhood when a friend made a promise with words and gesture, "cross my heart and hope to die." When a group of friends said they would get you through a difficult period or trial in your life and then, after initial responses, drifted away and got distracted by their own activities. A loved one dies and at the funeral home a cousin or sibling promises, "I will be there for you," and they weren't. A first date promised, but never called back and dropped off the face of the earth. I think we would have preferred outright rejections, a "No, I can't do that for you," is much more honest than a "Yes," that turns out to be a "No." When someone we trust or seems honest, gives us a "Yes" and doesn't follow through, we get blind-sided. We are caught off guard and are vulnerable, since we invested ourselves in their initial "Yes."  We thought we could fall back on their word; that we could rely on them when we needed them, but they never showed up; never even followed through to tell us why they weren't there for us when we needed them. "But you said...," we want to protest. They aren't there to hear our disappointment. There are some very serious moments in life when a person has given a "Yes" with solemnity and profundity. That kind of "Yes" is so serious it is placed in the context of a ceremony. Someone promises to love and be there in "good times in bad, in sickness and in death, till death do us part." But we come to discover that, even with all those words and ritual, the "Yes" was an empty one. Or, it was half-hearted. Or, after a while, a heart chilled, turned away and the "Yes" became a "No." How could we not be affected till this present moment by those disappointments? As we look at the index cards of empty promises, who would blame us for locking our heart in a box—locking it up and never again giving it away or entrusting it to another's promise? We look on those index cards with heavy hearts, scarred by the disappointments they represent. But we need to also acknowledge the times we too have said our "Yes"—and not followed through. Our "Yes" has become a ‘No." Do we remember? Should we write those occasions on another stack of cards to examine them and reflect on the effects those unfulfilled promises have had on others? We tried to please someone and said "Yes," but meant "No." We said "Yes," to avoid a confrontation—we were less than honest. We too gave our share of half-hearted "yeses."  People thought they heard commitment behind our "Yes," but our heart wasn't in it and it never left home; it stayed back in fear or indifference. Those who trusted our "Yes" were disappointed. Those of us who took vows, may have become less than committed, while not unfaithful, still not given a whole-hearted and responsive "Yes." We may have taken another for granted; let things slide; become unwilling to invest ourselves again when the going got tough. Through our baptism and the subsequent renewals of our baptismal promises, we have said our "Yes" to Jesus many times. But has that "Yes" now become a "No?" Have our religious practices become merely ritualistic?  Do we give the impression of being committed to our faith—but we know better. We may just be following the routine made firm by years of repetition. Our hearts aren't really in it; our "Yes," truth be told, is really a "No." We suspect that if we wanted to make an authentic "Yes" to Christ and his service, we would have to make some serious changes in our lives and we have decided not to do that. We might be well aware of our deep-down resistance to God. We may be like people who go to a twelve-step program, listen to the witness of people who have been helped; hear what will be required of us to make a similar change, and decide to just go along pretending to what is not true—our words don't measure up to the reality of our actions.  We say a public "Yes," but we know our hearts aren't in it. To this Sunday’s Eucharist we bring both stacks of index cards. We bring our hearts that have been wounded by the disappointments and betrayals we have experienced in our lives. We bring the hurts caused by promises made to us, that went unfulfilled. We ask for healing, so that our hearts, once hardened by betrayals great and small, might be softened by the Christ who is present to us in this sacrament and who knows himself the wounds of betrayal caused by those closest to him. We ask for healing. We also ask for forgiveness for those we have disappointed with our empty or half-hearted "Yeses." They put trust in us, perhaps at their most vulnerable times, and we did not follow through and were not there when we promised we would be. What I find interesting in today's parable is that there is no mention in it of how things turned out. How hard of a worker was the first son when he finally got to the vineyard to work?  Did he meet his quota; do what was expected of him? There are no standards of measurements laid out for us in this story.  The emphasis is just on someone who changed his mind; who in the end, responded to an invitation. Maybe that is what is pleasing to God: our desire to serve; our attempts to respond—while we leave plenty of room for God to step in and fill in the gaps. The big ones and the small ones.  

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Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Reflection Questions:

What are the subtle ways in which a “yes” becomes a “no”?

Have I ever said “yes” to someone or to a group but really meant “no”?  

Have I ever said “yes” but somehow never got around to living out that “yes”?
What were the reasons—to keep the peace in the moment; to avoid public embarrassment; to avoid conflict, laziness or forgetfulness for example?
Did it change my relationship to the person or to the group?

Did I ever acknowledge my failure to follow through or did I just ignore it, hoping no one would notice?
How did it work out?

It is easy to give words of assent, and harder to follow through with time, effort and attention. With which of these two sons do I identify myself? 
Which am I—the smooth but unreliable daddy-pleaser, or the guy who, even with a bad grace, does the job?

How many times did someone in my life say he or she would do something, and then did not?
How did I feel?  
Did it alter our relationship?

Has my response to such a disappointment been an unwillingness to trust anyone again, or an unwillingness to take a risk?

What is the difference between a casual promise to do something and a solemn promise to do something (a dinner date or a vacation plan vs marriage vows, religious vows, a confidentiality promise, a legal agreement)?

Who, in today’s world, would be the ones society considers “righteous ones”?
Today, who are the “prostitutes” and the “publicans” who say: “I do not want to”, but who end by doing the will of the Father?

Jesus, on his last journey to Jerusalem, makes it clear to the important religious leaders within his hearing that He considers them people who practice lip service, but whose hearts are far from God. Again, He states a preference for those the world deems unworthy or sinful, but who change their hearts and minds to do God’s will. How comfortable am I with that idea?

Have I ever been complacent about my relationship with God?
Have I ever fallen away, even a little, from my commitment to Jesus and the gospel?   

In other words, Have I ever said “yes” to God, but failed to keep my promise? 
What were the reasons?
Can I recommit?  
Why or why not?

Do I see in this gospel a message that it is never too late to turn back to doing what God wants?

Conversion is a lifetime process, so where am I in the process of conversion?

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Closing Prayer

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for: 

Lord, help me to say yes when I am supposed to and no when I have to—discerning what my answer should be through prayer and reflection. May your will be done, and may I be a manifestation of that will. Help me to be honest and true, faithful and giving without strings attached…Please show your kindness and understanding to those who were not able to follow through, who failed you for one reason or another.  Help me to be an instrument of your kindness and understanding to those ion my life who have failed me or failed themselves.

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For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today's session: Which of the two did the Father’s will?

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Meditations

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:
I think of those people in my life who have disappointed me in one way or another.  Have I forgiven them?  Was that forgiveness extended in such a way that I was able to use it as way of reminding them how they failed me in the past? Was it a revisiting  of the sense of betrayal I felt so they could feel guilty all over again?   How could I forgive people for failing me without dredging up those failures?  Can I forgive myself  for the times I have failed another, or failed God?   What does that process look like?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Often, when people are attracted to a certain religion or when people who are repelled by the same, there has been an experience with a person who mirrored for them a certain notion of religion.  People who encounter scandalous, indifferent, ignorant, judgmental or intolerant Catholics are going to be repelled. People who encounter joyful Catholics who believe and can be honest with their joys and struggles might be attracted and even converted. So the challenge is this: Can you give an account of your faith?  Can you avoid defensiveness and “church-speak” when discussing your religious views? Are you a welcoming and understanding person?  Are you re-making the Church and God in your own image and presenting that image as truth? Are you slapping quick and uncompromising theological answers on some really painful dilemmas people have?  Are you listening for what is not being said?  Are you mirroring Jesus as he talked to tax collectors and sinners? Is your version of Church always right, or can you enter into dialogue? In your interactions this week try to reflect on the version of Catholicism you are presenting to those you meet. It really matters!

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:
(From “Sacred Space,” A service of the Irish Jesuits)
Jesus says to me: ”What do you think”? Do I take time out to think about where I stand in relation to God? Do I give my soul an opportunity to catch up? I ask the Lord to help me to give time to thinking about things that really matter…I review the statements and declarations I have made; I ask God to help me abide by them and accept God’s forgiveness for where I have fallen short…Jesus speaks this parable to me. I avoid applying it to others right now and simply accept Jesus’ warmth as he sees how I have served. I listen for his invitation as he shows me where I hold back…To live in the kingdom is to be ready to rub shoulders with all kinds. God’s love is given freely and is accepted by many. I pray  for a heart that is open to those who are not like me…

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Poetic Reflection

This poem by e.e.cummings demonstrates the complacency of those who are sure they do no wrong, are sure that they have always said “yes”, but who have often said “no” to what matters, like humility, caring for others, not bad-mouthing or gossiping about others, listening to the voice of God in their lives, etc.

the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds
(also, with the church's protestant blessings
daughters, unscented shapeless spirited)
they believe in Christ and Longfellow, both dead,
are invariably interested in so many things-
at the present writing one still finds
delighted fingers knitting for the is it Poles?
perhaps. While permanent faces coyly bandy
scandal of Mrs. N and Professor D
....the Cambridge ladies do not care, above
Cambridge if sometimes in its box of
sky lavender and cornerless, the
moon rattles like a fragment of angry candy

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 20, 2026

God’s notion of fairness is different from ours.

GOSPEL

Matthew 20:1-16a

Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.' When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. 
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you.  Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

What businessperson would not find today’s parable intolerable? What about people who work for nonprofits, or church folk – hard-working, responsible people like us? Who wouldn’t find this parable unfair? Do we side with the workers who were hired first, those who worked all day? They were hard workers, and they grumbled. Can you blame them? “These last ones have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the day’s burden and the heat!” Or, to put it more simply: “It’s not fair!” How would you rewrite this story? After all, we were taught to be hard workers and to expect fair pay for the work we do. Isn’t that the way we live? Isn’t that what we teach our children? Don’t hard-working students stand out in school and receive top grades? Don’t good workers receive better evaluations and promotions? Maybe we should put our hands over our children’s ears when they hear this Gospel! Otherwise, all our lessons about fairness might go right out the window. So, how would we rewrite the story? The foreman is charged by the landowner to, “Summon the workers and give them their pay.” These days, we might give the foreman a calculator. “Let’s see: a full day’s work – 100 percent pay. Nine hours – 75 percent. Three hours – 25 percent. And those who worked only one hour? Well, let’s give them 15 percent of a day’s wage. Just to be generous. After all, we are Christians, aren’t we?” But think about those people out there waiting to be hired. Think of the day laborers who stand outside places like Home Depot, hoping that a pickup truck will arrive looking for workers. Those hired first could be proud. They were the strongest and most able-bodied. Being chosen was a lucky break. They worked hard and earned their day’s wage. They had families at home who depended on them. So why did they grumble at the end when they saw that the last workers received the same pay? Didn’t they have any sympathy for those others who also had families depending on them? Didn’t those latecomers have the same desperate needs? And who were those hired last? The landowner asks them, “Why do you stand here idle all day?” “All day”—waiting to be chosen. Who doesn’t get hired right away? Who is left standing at the end of the day? Perhaps the elderly, the widows, the infirm, people with disabilities, injured workers, foreigners, or others who cannot compete with the strongest and healthiest. They may not be able to work as hard or as long as others, but they still need the money. They still have mouths to feed and families depending on them. Do we recognize ourselves in those disgruntled workers? We Americans have hard work and competition in our bones. We have learned to measure ourselves in relation to others: Who has more? Who does more? Whose clothes are the latest fashion? Whose computer is the newest model? Mark Twain once said, “It is not what I don’t understand about the Bible that bothers me; it’s what I do understand.” This is an easy parable to understand – and one of the most uncomfortable to hear. How often have we thanked God for our good fortune – for being born at this time, in this country, into our particular families; for our jobs, our homes, and the schools our children attend?We express gratitude, but lurking behind that gratitude can be the conviction that we deserve what we have. After all, we are the all-day laborers. We have worked for it. Mark Twain was right. Sometimes it is what we understand in the Bible that bothers us. What kind of God emerges from this parable? A persevering God—a God who goes out again and again, five times, and never gives up inviting people into the vineyard. A generous God—a God whose generosity goes beyond our sense of fairness and justice. A universal God – a God who calls everyone to work, including those whom others might consider the least capable or least deserving. What rule of measurement does God use with us? According to this parable, God is guided by grace. Grace is a free, undeserved, unearned gift. It can seem unfair, unsettling, illogical, and completely unexpected. But for those of us who come here week after week to hear the Scriptures, God’s ways should not come as a complete surprise. We have heard other stories in which God acts in the same way. A shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep in the wilderness to search for the one who is lost. A woman who has ten coins loses one, searches all day until she finds it, and then calls her friends and neighbors to celebrate. A father welcomes home a son who has squandered his inheritance in dissolute living. He embraces him, barely gives him time to apologize, and throws a party for him. What kind of behavior is that? It doesn’t make sense – not according to ordinary human calculations. When I lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, I visited death row. I became friends with a man named Henry. When he was younger, Henry had lived a very dissolute life. But during his later years, he began reading the Bible and praying. Cynics sometimes suspect such “prison conversions.” A couple of years before he died, Henry became Catholic. I heard his confession on the day he was executed. So many years of his life had been wasted, unlike the lives of those who had worked faithfully and responsibly. Yet at the end of his life, Henry was offered mercy – and he seized it. In a manner of speaking, he was one of those hired at the last hour. But he got in. Who knows what the next life is like? Use your imagination. Jesus is there. Peter is there. Mary is there. Catherine and all the well-known saints are there. And perhaps, among them, is Henry. How do we know? We don’t. But this parable invites us to trust in the incalculable mercy of God. It reminds us that we cannot measure God’s grace in terms of wages, merit, or our human notions of justice. God’s generosity colors every divine thought, word, and deed. Lest we get the impression that we can simply sit back, do the minimum, and expect a generous reward at the end, the parable calls us to something more. We were created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, our lives should reflect that image to the world: persevering in goodness, welcoming the least, and being generous beyond measure and in unexpected ways. That is the God who created us. That is the God who shines through these parables. And that is the God who invites us into the kingdom and says: “Have a good look around. See how I treat the least. Observe how I act with generosity in unexpected ways. Now go and do likewise – whether you think they deserve it or not.”

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Quotable

At the center of any work dynamic there should be neither capital, nor market laws nor profit, but the person, the family and their well-being.” — Pope Leo XIV, December 18, 2025

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Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director. Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, NC

Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ. —Philippians 1:27

In four different letters, Paul advises Christian followers on proper conduct. In Colossians 1 and Thessalonians 4, he names a list of ways the Christian should be, including “in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1: 10) and “aspire to live a tranquil life” (1Thess.4: 11). This flies in the face of modern society that urges us on for more stuff, more extreme actions, more emphasis on the superficial, more, more, more… Are you caught up in this kind of world?There is another way. It is called contemplative living, and anyone can choose to live this peaceful way, just as you choose to live in a frenetic way of more and more. We have a group called Just Pray-ers that uses Bridges to Contemplative Living with Thomas Merton. Thomas Merton converted to Roman Catholicism while a student at Columbia University. He entered the Abbey of Gethsemani, a community of Trappist monks , and that led him to profound changes in his self-understanding. This ongoing conversion impelled him into the political arena and he became a strong supporter of the nonviolent civil rights movement of the 1950’s-1960’s, which he called "certainly the greatest example of Christian faith in action in the social history of the United States." The Bridges series leads participants on a journey toward spiritual transformation. Inspired by the monastic tradition, Bridges is specifically formatted for the lay person through prayers, readings and questions. Come away to a world God envisions. We have just started the series again, once a month on the third Wednesday, 7-8:30PM. You do not need to study ahead or even have the booklet. The tranquil life is possible amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life. To join in these stand-alone sessions, contact: socialconcern@hnojnc.org .To whet your appetite for a contemplative way, think about these words from Thomas Merton: Either you look at the universe as a very poor creation out of which no one can make anything, or you look at your own life and your own part in the universe as infinitely rich, full of inexhaustible interest, opening out into the infinite further possibilities for study and contemplation and praise. Beyond all and in all is God. (July 17, 1956).

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Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading: What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous? “ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Reflection: God’s generosity is not measured by our calculations. God does not give love, mercy, or grace according to what we think someone deserves. The parable reminds us that God’s goodness is not a limited supply that we have to compete for. Another person’s blessing does not diminish ours.

So, we ask ourselves:

• When have I found myself comparing what I receive with what someone else receives? What does this reveal about my attitude toward God?

• Is there someone whose good fortune or blessing I find difficult to celebrate? Can I ask God to free me from envy?

• Who are the “last” people in my community or in my life? How might Jesus be inviting me to see and treat them differently?

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The Narrative Section of the Fifth Book of the Gospel

(from the USCCB)

The first part (Mt 19:1–20:34) has for its setting the journey of Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem; the second (Mt 21:1–23:39) deals with Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem up to the final great discourse of the gospel (Mt 24–25). Matthew follows the Marcan sequence of events, though adding material both special to this gospel and drawn from Q. The second part ends with the denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 23:1–36) followed by Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem (Mt 23:37–39). This long and important speech raises a problem for the view that Matthew is structured around five other discourses of Jesus (see Introduction) and that this one has no such function in the gospel. However, it is to be noted that this speech lacks the customary concluding formula that follows the five discourses (see note on Mt 7:28), and that those discourses are all addressed either exclusively (Mt 10; 18; 24; 25) or primarily (Mt 5–7; 13) to the disciples, whereas this is addressed primarily to the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 23:13–36). Consequently, it seems plausible to maintain that the evangelist did not intend to give it the structural importance of the five other discourses, and that, in spite of its being composed of sayings-material, it belongs to the narrative section of this book. In that regard, it is similar to the sayings-material of Mt 11:7–30. Some have proposed that Matthew wished to regard it as part of the final discourse of Mt 24–25, but the intervening material (Mt 24:1–4) and the change in matter and style of those chapters do not support that view.

This, in its entirety, is Chapter 19, which is skipped the current liturgical cycle A  (probably because it is covered by year B or C)

Marriage and Divorce.

1* When Jesus* finished these words,* he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
2Great crowds followed him, and he cured them there.
3a Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him,* saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”
4* b He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’
5c and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”
7* d They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss [her]?”
8He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
9e I say to you,* whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.”
10[His] disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”
11He answered, “Not all can accept [this] word,* but only those to whom that is granted.
12Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage* for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”

Blessing of the Children.*

13f Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them,
14g but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
15After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

The Rich Young Man.*

16h Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”*
17He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good.* If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18* i He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness;
19honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20* The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
21j Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect,* go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
23* Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.
24k Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
25* When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?”
26l Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
27m Then Peter said to him in reply, “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?”
28* n Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.
30* o But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

Commentary:
* [19:1] In giving Jesus’ teaching on divorce (Mt 19:3–9), Matthew here follows his Marcan source (Mk 10:2–12) as he does Q in Mt 5:31–32 (cf. Lk 16:18). Mt 19:10–12 are peculiar to Matthew.

* [19:1] When Jesus finished these words: see note on Mt 7:28–29. The district of Judea across the Jordan: an inexact designation of the territory. Judea did not extend across the Jordan; the territory east of the river was Perea. The route to Jerusalem by way of Perea avoided passage through Samaria.

* [19:3] Tested him: the verb is used of attempts of Jesus’ opponents to embarrass him by challenging him to do something they think impossible (Mt 16:1; Mk 8:11; Lk 11:16) or by having him say something that they can use against him (Mt 22:18, 35; Mk 10:2; 12:15). For any cause whatever: this is peculiar to Matthew and has been interpreted by some as meaning that Jesus was being asked to take sides in the dispute between the schools of Hillel and Shammai on the reasons for divorce, the latter holding a stricter position than the former. It is unlikely, however, that to ask Jesus’ opinion about the differing views of two Jewish schools, both highly respected, could be described as “testing” him, for the reason indicated above.

* [19:4–6] Matthew recasts his Marcan source, omitting Jesus’ question about Moses’ command (Mk 10:3) and having him recall at once two Genesis texts that show the will and purpose of the Creator in making human beings male and female (Gn 1:27), namely, that a man may be joined to his wife in marriage in the intimacy of one flesh (Gn 2:24). What God has thus joined must not be separated by any human being. (The NAB translation of the Hebrew bāśār of Gn 2:24 as “body” rather than “flesh” obscures the reference of Matthew to that text.)

* [19:7] See Dt 24:1–4.

* [19:9] Moses’ concession to human sinfulness (the hardness of your hearts, Mt 19:8) is repudiated by Jesus, and the original will of the Creator is reaffirmed against that concession. (Unless the marriage is unlawful): see note on Mt 5:31–32. There is some evidence suggesting that Jesus’ absolute prohibition of divorce was paralleled in the Qumran community (see 11QTemple 57:17–19; CD 4:12b–5:14). Matthew removes Mark’s setting of this verse as spoken to the disciples alone “in the house” (Mk 10:10) and also his extension of the divorce prohibition to the case of a woman’s divorcing her husband (Mk 10:12), probably because in Palestine, unlike the places where Roman and Greek law prevailed, the woman was not allowed to initiate the divorce.

* [19:11] [This] word: probably the disciples’ “it is better not to marry” (Mt 19:10). Jesus agrees but says that celibacy is not for all but only for those to whom that is granted by God.

* [19:12] Incapable of marriage: literally, “eunuchs.” Three classes are mentioned, eunuchs from birth, eunuchs by castration, and those who have voluntarily renounced marriage (literally, “have made themselves eunuchs”) for the sake of the kingdom, i.e., to devote themselves entirely to its service. Some scholars take the last class to be those who have been divorced by their spouses and have refused to enter another marriage. But it is more likely that it is rather those who have chosen never to marry, since that suits better the optional nature of the decision: whoever can…ought to accept it.

* [19:13–15] This account is understood by some as intended to justify the practice of infant baptism. That interpretation is based principally on the command not to prevent the children from coming, since that word sometimes has a baptismal connotation in the New Testament; see Acts 8:36.

* [19:16–30] Cf. Mk 10:17–31. This story does not set up a “two-tier” morality, that of those who seek (only) eternal life (Mt 19:16) and that of those who wish to be perfect (Mt 19:21). It speaks rather of the obstacle that riches constitute for the following of Jesus and of the impossibility, humanly speaking, for one who has many possessions (Mt 19:22) to enter the kingdom (Mt 19:24). Actual renunciation of riches is not demanded of all; Matthew counts the rich Joseph of Arimathea as a disciple of Jesus (Mt 27:57). But only the poor in spirit (Mt 5:3) can enter the kingdom and, as here, such poverty may entail the sacrifice of one’s possessions. The Twelve, who have given up everything (Mt 19:27) to follow Jesus, will have as their reward a share in Jesus’ (the Son of Man’s) judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt 19:28), and all who have similarly sacrificed family or property for his sake will inherit eternal life (Mt 19:29).

* [19:16] Gain eternal life: this is equivalent to “entering into life” (Mt 19:17) and “being saved” (Mt 19:25); the life is that of the new age after the final judgment (see Mt 25:46). It probably is also equivalent here to “entering the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:23) or “the kingdom of God” (Mt 19:24), but see notes on Mt 3:2; 4:17; 18:1 for the wider reference of the kingdom in Matthew.

* [19:17] By Matthew’s reformulation of the Marcan question and reply (Mk 10:17–18) Jesus’ repudiation of the term “good” for himself has been softened. Yet the Marcan assertion that “no one is good but God alone” stands, with only unimportant verbal modification.

* [19:18–19] The first five commandments cited are from the Decalogue (see Ex 20:12–16; Dt 5:16–20). Matthew omits Mark’s “you shall not defraud” (Mk 10:19; see Dt 24:14) and adds Lv 19:18. This combination of commandments of the Decalogue with Lv 19:18 is partially the same as Paul’s enumeration of the demands of Christian morality in Rom 13:9.

* [19:20] Young man: in Matthew alone of the synoptics the questioner is said to be a young man; thus the Marcan “from my youth” (Mk 10:20) is omitted.

* [19:21] If you wish to be perfect: to be perfect is demanded of all Christians; see Mt 5:48. In the case of this man, it involves selling his possessions and giving to the poor; only so can he follow Jesus.

* [19:23–24] Riches are an obstacle to entering the kingdom that cannot be overcome by human power. The comparison with the impossibility of a camel’s passing through the eye of a needle should not be mitigated by such suppositions as that the eye of a needle means a low or narrow gate. The kingdom of God: as in Mt 12:28; 21:31, 43 instead of Matthew’s usual kingdom of heaven.

* [19:25–26] See note on Mk 10:23–27.

* [19:28] This saying, directed to the Twelve, is from Q; see Lk 22:29–30. The new age: the Greek word here translated “new age” occurs in the New Testament only here and in Ti 3:5. Literally, it means “rebirth” or “regeneration,” and is used in Titus of spiritual rebirth through baptism. Here it means the “rebirth” effected by the coming of the kingdom. Since that coming has various stages (see notes on Mt 3:2; 4:17), the new age could be taken as referring to the time after the resurrection when the Twelve will govern the true Israel, i.e., the church of Jesus. (For “judge” in the sense of “govern,” cf. Jgs 12:8, 9, 11; 15:20; 16:31; Ps 2:10). But since it is connected here with the time when the Son of Man will be seated on his throne of glory, language that Matthew uses in Mt 25:31 for the time of final judgment, it is more likely that what the Twelve are promised is that they will be joined with Jesus then in judging the people of Israel.

* [19:30] Different interpretations have been given to this saying, which comes from Mk 10:31. In view of Matthew’s associating it with the following parable (Mt 20:1–15) and substantially repeating it (in reverse order) at the end of that parable (Mt 20:16), it may be that his meaning is that all who respond to the call of Jesus, at whatever time (first or last), will be the same in respect to inheriting the benefits of the kingdom, which is the gift of God.

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Four Things the Poor Are Not

From a homily delivered at Memorial Church Sunday Mass.

In the wake of the parable everybody loves to hate, (The Laborers in the Vineyard, remember?) there were a lot of discussions this week about the vineyard owner. Was he just? It depends, I guess, on how you define justice. Distributive justice asserts that the community has an obligation to provide the basic necessities of life to all who need them, unless there is an absolute scarcity of resources. If there is an artificial scarcity because too few have too much at the expense of those who have too little to survive and thrive, then this is a violation of justice. In a country built on meritocracy, this theory of distributive justice is not only annoying, it hits at the heart of what we have been conditioned to believe. For most of us, the questions are real and difficult: Does someone have a right to a share in the wealth of this country simply because he or she lives in it? Who, exactly, owns the earth or its water or oil? Well, the parables of Jesus constantly walk around the issue of justice, often in ways that startle, confuse or anger us. Jesus had quite a bit to say about individual selfishness, and about political and social structures in which the rich prey on the poor. For Jesus, justice was not necessarily about giving people what they deserve, but what they need. One way to distance ourselves from the changes we ought to make is to distance ourselves from those who deserve better, just because they are humans like us. What follows are reflections that force us to look at the poor more honestly: The poor are not always needing only charity, but are needing justice. Charity is a great first step. It bridges the gap between what is and might be. It rescues people from hunger, homelessness and despair. Justice, however, insists on fidelity to relationships, and those relationships are with all of our fellow human beings, not just those closest to us.  Justice, unlike charity, is not something we do out of the kindness of our hearts; it is something we do because we are obliged to respect the dignity of all human persons and to work to change unjust political, social or economic structures which keep the poor in poverty.

 The poor are not always very visible

We must go out of our way to find those who need assistance. Often, those who lack the basic necessities of life are so ashamed of their condition that they try to look like everyone else. For every person who begs outside of a grocery store, there are perhaps ten times that number who sleep in their cars, or send their children off to school without breakfast, or who go without medical attention or prescription drugs, or a warm coat or shoes that actually fit. The vast majority of the poor suffer and worry alone. Helping the poor is not always rewarding: When you read Charles Dickens, you sometime might get the impression that the poor are universally noble, so it comes a a shock to the system to discover that reality is not like novels. Sometimes people who live in poverty are angry. Sometimes they have just given up. Sometimes they are dishonest and take advantage of the system. But most are not like that. Often we use the few bad examples as an excuse to do nothing. Bishop Kenneth Untener put it this way "When you help the poor you always receive more than you give--but it may not seem that way at the time." The poor are not different from us: They laugh and cry, get angry and rejoice, worry and love, just we do. They care for their families just as much as we do. The following is a poem written by a woman living in poverty with her children:

My Name is not “ Those People”
I am a loving woman, a mother in pain, giving birth to the future
where my babies have the same chance to thrive as anyone.

My name is not “Inadequate.”
I did not make my husband leave us—he chose to,
And chooses not to pay child support.
Truth is though, there isn’t a job base for all
Fathers to support their families.
While society turns its head, my children pay the price.

My name is not “Lazy, Dependent Welfare Mother.”
If the unwaged work of parenting, homemaking and community
building was factored into the gross national product, my work
would have untold value. And I wonder why my middle-class sisters
whose husbands support them to raise their children are
glorified—and they don’t get called lazy and dependent.

My name is not “Ignorant, Dumb, or Uneducated.”
I live with an income of $621 with $169 in food stamps. 
Rent is $585. That leaves $36 a month to live on. I am such a genius
At surviving that I could balance the state budget in an hour.

My name is not “Lay Down and Die Quietly.”
My love is powerful and my urge to keep my children alive 
will never stop. All children need homes and people who love them.
They need safety and the chance to be the people
they were born to be.
The wind will stop before I let my children become a statistic.
Before you give in to the urge to blame me,
the blame that lets us go blind and unknowing
into the isolation that disconnects us, take another look.
Don’t go away.
For I am not the problem, but the solution.
And my name is not “Those People.”
—Julia Dinsmore

“Unless you love, the poor will not forgive you for the bread they take from you.” —St Vincent de Paul

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ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS & MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence.  Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God?  With others in my life? What am I grateful for?  Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret?  I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt.  God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

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Opening Prayer

From the First Reading for the 25th Sunday A 

Isaiah On Authentic Fasting That Leads to Blessing

Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking off every yoke?
Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own flesh?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
If you lavish your food on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then your light shall rise in the darkness,
and your gloom shall become like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and satisfy your thirst in parched places,
will give strength to your bones
And you shall be like a watered garden.

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Companions for the Journey

Adapted from “First Impressions” 2011

“I will give you what is just.” Each of the laborers would need a day's pay to feed their families. Each day, as day laborers, they would have gone out looking for work—day by day—standing around, hoping to get hired, needing to get hired—all along, thinking of the hungry mouths back home. So what pay would be “just”? These are tough economic times. We have many unemployed and those who do have jobs are working very hard every day. But even if the times weren't as difficult, still we admire hard workers. We don't admire shirkers, for we seem to have an innate sense of what's fair. If a person has a job to do, they should, we believe, do it properly and then receive fair compensation. So today, when we hear the parable of the vineyard workers we tend to identify with and take the side of the "all-day workers." These are they who say, "We bore the day's burden and the heat." Who hasn't worked like that or, right now, has a job that feels like that? When those, in Jesus' parable, who worked the whole day, see what the latecomers have received, the same pay but for only an hour's work, they go to the owner of the vineyard and make their complaint. "These last ones worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us." It's as if the owner broke a contract he made with them and they are indignant. I think there was a contract—it was in the owner's mind all along. Because, as the day wore on and he kept going out to hire still more laborers, he stopped naming the salary he would give them. He tells the first group, hired at dawn, that he would pay the "usual daily wage." When he told the next group to go and work in his vineyard, he doesn't mention the pay, but merely says, "I will give you what is just." After that, for the next groups, again the pay isn't mentioned, just the instruction, "Go into my vineyard." So, there are hints early in the parable that something different is afoot. I think the owner planned all along to pay all the workers a full day's pay because they were day laborers. All were needy and vulnerable were some standing around, still waiting for work towards the end of the day? We are not told that they were the lazy ones who casually came out late in the day looking for a little work. Probably they were still without work because the strongest and youngest would have been hired first. Those not hired earlier would have been the  elderly, disabled, children and women too -- except perhaps, for the very strongest. In our world there is the dictum, "A fair day's pay for a fair day's work." At most of our workplaces there are work evaluations done periodically and the productivity of an employee is reviewed regularly. Raises are based on merit. Often there is a union scale and minimum wage to protect workers. When it works, you get just pay for an honest day's work. But Jesus isn't talking about our labor and pay policies. It's not a parable about how we are to treat employees. He isn't telling us to pay people for doing only a little work. Rather, he is describing how God acts towards us; how things are in the "kingdom of heaven" where God's influence is felt and God's power is at work. In the kingdom of heaven, judging from today's parable, the guiding principle is generosity and it is given with no little element of surprise. How could those minimal workers have even hoped for a full-day's pay? You arrive at a friend's house for dinner, ring the doorbell and when the door is opened a crowd of your closest family and friends are there to shout, "Surprise!" It's your birthday. That's not something you planned for; maybe you don't think you deserve all the fuss. But there it is a party for your benefit, "Surprise!" I don't know about you, but I'm not a superstar performer for the Lord. The bottom line is that while I try to do my best, I don't want to be judged just by my accomplishments. There are days of hard work with their successes.  But there are other less-satisfying days, when I would not like a measure taken of the day's achievements for the Lord. Some days I invest less effort in what I must do and there are times, I know, I could have done a lot better. What about those other times in our lives we would like to forget, when we should have made different and better choices? But we didn't. How is all that going to be evaluated at the end of our lives? We are the recipients of such generosity from God. Jesus first of all paints a concrete picture of what grace is like. If we, who hear this parable today, are awake to what is being offered us again at this Eucharist, then we would have to conclude, "How can I be as generous to others, as God has been to me?" A woman was interviewed on television. She was chosen as a "heroic mother," who single-handedly raised a large family. All her children did very well in life and turned out to be good adults with good jobs and families of their own. Hers was a story worth acknowledging and celebrating. The person interviewing her, as if to get some formula that others could imitate to achieve successful families, commented, "I suppose you loved all your children equally, making sure they all got the same treatment." "No," she said, "I love them. I love them all, each one of them. But not equally. I loved the one that was down till he got up. I loved the one that was weak until she got strong. I loved the one that was hurt until he was healed. I loved the one that was lost until she was found."  What's it like in God's world? What is the kingdom of heaven like? It's like a mother who loves all her children according to their need, and loves them until they become who they were created to be—and then continues to love them. We have asked God for forgiveness and believe we have received it today—whether we think we deserve it or not. The parable has taken flesh in our lives. We who have experienced love may think we are not worthy of it, but we are blessed by it nevertheless. The parable has taken flesh in our lives. We have done a small deed for someone, or some group, and the good effects in their lives are out of proportion to our efforts for them. We have known the parable in our lives. Late in our lives we awake to God's presence and goodness. We wish we hadn't let so many years go by unconscious to the God we have now come to know. We have known the parable in our lives. If we have a notion that God thinks and acts like us, today's parable should dispel that thought. But the God Jesus reveals didn't begin to exist with the opening verses of the New Testament. Our Isaiah reading should convince us of that. The prophet makes it quite clear that God does not act or judge the way we do.We tend to cling to past wrongs done us and keep a mental list of those who have offended us.  We conclude that God will treat them similarly—it's only fair, we proclaim. But God's graciousness, Isaiah tells us, is unbounded and beyond human reckoning.  While we might conclude that God measures out grace and forgiveness according to our standards of justice, by what we determine a person deserves, the prophet reveals a God who shatters human standards beyond all our reasoning and expectation. We ourselves might not feel deserving of such a bountiful God, still, today's scriptures invite us to put aside any false humility we might have and become truly humble by saying "Yes" to our generous God's offer of forgiveness and love. With empty hands we come receptive to the generous gift God is offering us at this Eucharist; a meal that unites us in love with our God, the source of all life and holiness, unearned but nevertheless present at this moment to us.

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Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow

Reflection Questions:

Do I see this parable as a story of human need or as a story of rank unfairness?

I think of a time when I was bothered or annoyed by a situation in which someone was unfairly the recipient of generosity.
Have I ever been criticized for giving someone else a break?

Have there been times when I have considered myself more deserving than others?
Have I ever felt unappreciated by those around me?

We live in a meritocracy. How does our culture conflict with this parable?

What does this parable say about the day laborers in Jesus’ time, about what would be a payment “that is right”
What does this parable say about God?
I describe God’s sense of fairness as Iunderstand it.

What is the economic situation for day laborers in our current society?
Have I ever been one or hired one?

What is the state of economic security, food security, health security and education security in our country right now?

Do I measure a person’s worthiness by how educated she is, how hard she works, how long he has been in this country, whether he has earned my respect or forgiveness?

Do I know of anyone who takes no joy in work, finds no dignity in work, works only for the money it produces to supply what she or her family needs to live?   
What in our society contributes to this joylessness?

What does it do to a person’s dignity when he cannot work, especially in this country?

What effect does social injustice have upon the world?  
How do I see social justice principles affecting our national policies toward the poor in our country and in other parts of the world?
What is the difference between charity and justice?  
Is one more important than the other?

How is the kingdom of God different from the systems/values we encounter on earth? 
Do I want always to be judged according to strict justice? 
Or do I want to leave room for mercy? 

Do I ever feel like the workers who were hired at dawn and had worked all day? 

What do I do with my resentments? 

Does it bother us more when bad things happen to good people or when good things happen to bad or undeserving people?

From Fr Daniel Harrington, S.J.:
Have you ever been the recipient of someone’s unexpected generosity? 
How did you respond?

Do most of us make God over in our own image, and do we have problems when God’s actions or words as translated through Jesus do not match the image we have created? Examples (The Prodigal Son, Mary and Martha, lost sheep, etc.) ?

Do I think of the “kingdom of God” as something we earn after death through sacrifice and good deeds?
Do I think of the “kingdom of God” as God himself who is pure love and nothing else?
Do I think of the “kingdom of God” as the world’s values transformed by love and compassion for others?
How has my religious tradition influenced my understanding of the term “kingdom of God”?

Are there “bad” people in heaven?

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Closing Prayer

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for.  

From New Seeds of Contemplation, by Thomas Merton:
Kyrie
Keep me, above all things, from sin.
Keep me from loving money, in which is hatred
From avarice and ambition that suffocate my life.
Keep me from the deadly works of vanity
And the thankless labor for pride, money and reputation

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For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today's session: Are you envious because I am generous?

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Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
I consider the problem of envy. The older brothers of Joseph, Cain, the elder son in the parable popularly known as the Prodigal Son, countless wicked stepmothers--all suffered from envy. Envy begrudges another what we think we lack or feel we deserve. It has a terrible and sometimes paralyzing effect on us. We cannot think rationally, we cannot act rationally.  Sometimes we cannot act at all, but seethe with resentment. Other times the corrosive emotions of anger and despair drive us to harm the object of our envy in some way. As a child, we may have struck another or taken something from him that he loved and destroyed it.  As older and more subtle adults we use the weapons of gossip, criticism, cynicism and indifference to wound those we envy. I think about someone in my life of whom I was envious. Why? Was it deserved? Were frustration and despair a part of the picture? Did I have trouble admitting that my feelings toward this person were caused by envy?  Did I feel inferior to this person? Unfairly treated by life? Defeated by my own limitations? Did I devalue in my own mind what this person had in order to make myself feel better? How did I resolve the problem? Was I ever the object of anyone else's envy?  Did I feed into it in any way? I pray to God for the clarity of vision to recognize and root out envy in myself, and to recognize and change behaviors which may cause people to envy me.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:
)Adapted from “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province, by Fr. Jude Siciliano) Listen…I want to tell you a story…My name is Benjamin. I was there—I was in the vineyard that day…hired at the last hour, I could not believe the blessing! How could he have known how desperate I was, walking the marketplace since dawn in the heat, praying that I would not have to go home to my children empty-handed. But no one would hire me…Please forgive me for what I am about to tell you, but you see, I used to be a tax collector. It was despicable work, cheating my own people, and over the years I came to despise myself, although the money fed my children and family. But I can no longer hurt my people, and two weeks ago resolved to seek honest work. How I regretted my past then! No one would hire me…they spit in my face and laughed at my need.  My children are hungry, and today I promised my wife that if I did not find work I would relent and return to my shameful employment. And so you cannot imagine my joy when the owner of the vineyard gave me a chance.  And to be paid a full day’s wage! This is beyond my dreams. It has been salvation for me and for my family.  And now I must go to them…What might have happened if the other, resentful laborers had known this story? What if they had bothered to come close enough to ask Benjamin and the other latecomers why they had been in the marketplace all day—and learned it was “because no one hired us”? Can you picture them wanting to help this brother who is trying to start a new life—and spontaneously reaching into their pockets to share their hard-earned wages? Perhaps they would even realize that their “usual daily wage” is neither “usual” nor “theirs” at all—but is a gift from the ever-generous vineyard-owner…a gift to be shared. Their resentment could turn to rejoicing that they and their fellow workers really have been given all they truly need. How easy it is for us, initially, to identify with those disgruntled, angry laborers. After all, we live in a culture that teaches us: “Survival of the fittest!  It’s mine, I earned it! I worked hard for this, I have a right to it!” We live in a world torn by the violence of competition and misunderstanding, as we battle over money and power, land, culture, images of God. We worry about our national security, our economy, and we too easily turn to violence to protect what we grasp. My possessions. My land. My God. It is easy to feel threatened by the “other”— the foreigner, the different, the marginalized.  Matthew’s community was apparently no different in this regard.  A Jewish community only recently joined by Gentiles, they had to learn that their generous God welcomed the outsider, the latecomer, and called the stranger to be brother and sister to the community laboring in the vineyard of the kingdom. The Gospel invites them, and all of us, to allow our God who knows all hearts to open our heart to the other—and to transform our perception. From entitlement to gratitude…from resentment to rejoicing…from anger to understanding. Thich Nhat Hahn, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, tells us: “When you understand, you cannot help but love. You cannot get angry. To develop understanding, you have to practice looking at all living beings with the eyes of compassion. When you understand, you love. And when you love, you naturally act in a way that can relieve the suffering of people.” What would our world be like if we responded to God’s invitation to know and welcome the stranger? If we each could reach out and come close enough to know the stories of the marginalized people in our church, our workplace, our society? What stranger, what latecomer are you invited to open your heart to, today?  And what mystery of transformation might our generous God work in that sharing?

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:
For a lot of time in the Church, this parable about the laborers in the vineyard was NOT about laborers at all, but about who was reallly a true Christian in the early Church, or about God’s mercy towards those who repented of their sins later in their lives, or about converts who came into the Catholic Church as older adults, or even about “deathbed coversions”.  We were told very forcefully that these people would get into heaven eventually, after having paid the price for their sins in purgatory. The message was that we were not to be resentful that these latecomers would be in heaven, because God’s justice made sure that everything was “fair”. Apart from the theological problems inherent in that theory, there is the big problem that we were ignoring the real social justice issues that Jesus was referring to, mostly because it was uncomfortably political. Even though Pope Leo XIII wrote an encylical in defense of laborers, that was a minority melody compared to the emphasis on getting into heaven. I remember a pastor who was sent to minister to Stanford before we were allowed to function on campus, and his assignment was a sort of punishment for the fact that he was a political activist, openly supporting the farm workers.  The priests in El Salvador during their civil war were severly disciplined if they got involved in politics on the side of the rebels. In more recent years, there has been a renewed understanding of our obligations in justice to those who lack the resources they need to thrive. The question for each of us is whether we retreat into the comfortable threoretical question of who is worthy of God’s love (which actually requires little of us but tolerance) as opposed the uncomfortable questions about economic fairness and economic justice also inherent in this story: Who is worthy of enough to live on? Who is worthy of  migrating here in search of work and becoming an American? What does a wealthy society like the USA actually owe to underdeveloped nations? What, in a capitalistic society, do the owners (shareholders) owe the workers? What do we have to give up in time, talent or treasure to ensure social justice for those less fortunate? Each of us has to figure this out for ourselves. After praying with this gospel, where do you stand?

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Poetic Reflection

Some of us may need an attitude adjustment about how we value money and others’ needs for basic necessities. This poem by Wendell berry, a former Stanford Stegner Fellow who just died a few weks ago, is a wake-up call.

We Who Prayed and Wept
We who prayed and wept
for liberty from kings
and the yoke of liberty
accept the tyranny of things
we do not need.
In plenitude too free,
we have become adept
beneath the yoke of greed.

Those who will not learn
in plenty to keep their place
must learn it by their need
when they have had their way
and the fields spurn their seed.
We have failed Thy grace.
Lord, I flinch and pray,
send Thy necessity,

—from Selected Poems

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 13, 2026

Forgiveness is not optional.

GOSPEL

Matthew 18:21-35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.  At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

Forgiveness isn’t easy, especially when offenses against us have caused pain not only to ourselves, but to someone we love. A conversation recently with a woman who had a bitter divorce gave evidence of the hurts that accompany almost every divorce.  The woman is an unskilled worker with a fourteen-year-old daughter to raise. She wonders how she’ll pay her daughter’s fees and expenses for this new school year. Her former husband has withheld child support, though he can afford it. The mother is a devout Christian and feels guilty for her anger and resentment toward her former spouse. I wonder how she will hear this parable today in church? Sometimes when I read scriptures the sense is rather clear and I can take something with me, a message for reflection. Even if I don’t understand an entire passage, I listen for a word, phrase, image or verse I can chew on and pray about till the next time I go to the bible or hear the scriptures  proclaimed in church. For example, last week I was challenged not to let an offense against me fester. Instead, I heard Jesus say I should go to the offending brother or sister and talk over the offense with him/her. I don’t have to be a bible scholar to get something from passages like that. But then there’s today’s story! The passage starts simply enough with a question by Peter.  His inquiry picks up where we left off last week with Jesus’ description of the reconciliation process members of the community should pursue when an offense against them has been committed. By now, who among us doesn’t know the centrality and importance of forgiveness in the Christian community? Lest we forget, we are soon reminded of it whenever we say the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Even if we weren’t religious people, psychologists have told us of the importance of forgiveness, not only in our relationships with others, but for our own mental well-being. In today’s gospel passage Peter puts a question about forgiveness to Jesus.  Peter seems to think he has the right answer. But Jesus answers the question in a way that must have surprised Peter and, as if to back up his response, Jesus tells a parable. But this parable isn’t like one of those passages I mentioned above, easily accessible for reflection. It is a rough-sounding parable. On first hearing I feel edgy because God doesn’t come off sounding like anyone I’d like to get close to or get to know. After ending the parable about the unforgiving debtor’s being handed over to the torturers, “until he should pay back the whole debt,” Jesus adds, “So shall my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother/sister from your heart.” See what I mean? Sounds like quite a change from the loving compassionate God Jesus has been manifesting in his speech and actions. As a preacher I also suspect that closing line is going to reinforce the image of the punishing and demanding God some of us still carry around within us, even if it is deep down at an unconscious level. What’s a preacher to do with all the baggage this parable is carrying? As we approach this parable let’s remember it is a Parable – not an Allegory. The parable is setting out for us something about what it is like to live under God’s dominion.  The king is not a figure for God; nor do the debtors represent us. Jesus presents a story in response to Peter’s question. It is for us to consider. What is there in the world of this parable that reveals something to us of the workings of the kingdom of heaven? If we make God’s behavior the same as the king’s in the story, we will run into some tough issues: Is God really as vengeful as the powerful king?  Will God stop being merciful if we are not forgiving? Is God’s forgiveness conditional? Whatever happened to the all-embracing mercy of God that Jesus has been revealing in the gospel? Let’s look more closely at the parable.  First its setting or the occasion of Jesus’ telling the parable. Peter asks his question about the number of times we “must” forgive.  Poor Peter! He probably thought he was finally getting the point of Jesus’ teaching, since Jesus had just explained the process believers had to go through to be reconciled with offenders (Matt. 18: 15-20—last week’s gospel immediately precedes today’s). Peter probably thought he was being generous by suggesting forgiving a brother/sister seven times.  That seems like a lot of forgiveness for a repeat offender. And in their belief, seven was a perfect number, it had a fullness. But even a “perfect number” has its limits; at a point one could say, “There, I have done what is required.” Jesus’ response, “seventy-seven times,” as if to say, “you must forgive on and on and on.” He is telling the community that forgiveness is not counted or measured out like items on a shopping list – a dozen eggs, a six-pack of beer, two pounds of potatoes. Forgiveness, Jesus is saying, has no limits.You can see why he would have to follow up this statement with a parable. Jesus needs to underline the prominence, and quality forgiveness must have in his church. I wonder if there is a part of the parable that has been cut out?  After the initial debtor is forgiven the huge debt, why don’t we hear about his relief, joy and celebration?  Why isn’t he jumping up and down like a person who has been let out of prison or won a 10-million-dollar lottery (one commentator says that in the original language the “huge amount” the servant owed the king would be the wages of a day laborer for 150,000 years!)  The unforgiving servant couldn’t possibly pay back what he owed to the powerful king. He says he needs time, but no matter how much time he would be given, or what he might have tried to do, he would never have been able to pay back even a fraction of what he owed. He was completely under the power of the king. But instead of “justice,” he received mercy. Parables always seem to have an element of surprise, something no one using worldly logic would have predicted.  The servant has entered an entirely new way of living; using the world’s sense of justice, his debts should have ended his life and the life of his family. They were about to be sold.  Instead, he and his family are set free from a debt they could never have paid. In the light of the great gift, the servant should have seen the rest of his life as living under the freedom he was given. He should have been aware that “all is gift.” But none of this sinks in; he somehow has blocked the gift from affecting his life. We have proof-positive that he is unchanged when he refuses to forgive his fellow servant, “who owed him a much smaller amount.” Sometimes as I work on a parable – rather, as a parable works on m –  I try to paraphrase the major issues I am hearing.  So far, this is what comes to me.  The parable’s main features:  a person owes a debt he could never repay, even though he claims he will.  The debt is forgiven, not because of anything the debtor said or did, but due to an entirely gratuitous gesture by the one who owed the debt.  The released debtor is unchanged by the gift he has received and immediately refuses to offer another debtor forgiveness for, in comparison to what the former owed, an insignificant amount.  Since he was unaffected by the master’s enormous generosity, he is back to where he started, in debt with no way to pay it back. Now he must pay the consequences of his debt. I hear the core gospel message restated in this parable. There is nothing we have done, or can do, to earn forgiveness. God gives it to us over and over again, “seventy-seven times.” First of all, we need to reflect on this truth. Our life with God is a gift, from beginning to end.  We pause at today’s Eucharist to let that truth sink into our bones. When we asked for forgiveness today, we received it. The eucharist is our act of thanksgiving for what we realize again we have received from the hands of a gracious  God. A sign that we really believe we have been forgiven free of charge is to give similar forgiveness to others, again and again.  I am thinking of that single mother whose husband refuses to pay child support.  I would go after him with the force of the civil law until he paid up. But in the light of today’s’ s gospel, I would pray for the power to forgive him so that I could get on with my life and set him free to do the same. After he has paid up!

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. —Sirach 27:30

Several things are overlapping at this moment. The national movement, Campaign Nonviolence, begins its annual “week” this coming September 21 on the International Day of Peace and concludes October 2 on the International Day of Nonviolence. Campaign Nonviolence seeks to mainstream nonviolence as a way of life and opposes war, poverty, racism, and environmental destruction. Speaking of the latter, this is also the annual Season of Creation whose theme this year is “Let Justice and Peace Flow.” “God wants justice to reign,” states Pope Francis in his Day of Creation message 9/1/2023, which “is essential for our proper life as children created in the image of God, no less than water is essential for our physical survival.” Pope Francis proclaims that it is precisely “our unbridled burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of forests that are raising temperatures and provoking great droughts”, while “the terrible shortage of water increasingly besets our homes, from small rural communities to large metropolises.” As I am writing this column, I am watching the catastrophic results of the firestorm in Lahaina, Maui. The loss of life in an out-of-control fire is devastating. One person interviewed said that the fire hydrants literally had no water. Pope Francis states in his encyclical, Laudato Si’, that “everything is connected.” If, in fact, everything is connected then, in order to have peace with each other and the earth, several nonviolent actions must be taken so that we can set in motion a “transformation of our hearts, our lifestyles and the public policies that govern our societies” (Pope Francis 9/1/2023). Pope Francis explains: “Peace means Forgiveness. . .[and] makes it possible to heal old wounds. Peace means Welcome, openness to dialogue, the overcoming of closedmindedness. . . Peace means Cooperation, a concrete and active exchange with another. . .Peace denotes Education, a call to learn every day. . .to acquire a culture of encounter, purifying the conscience of every temptation to violence. . .” (9/20/16). Forgiveness. Welcome. Cooperation. Education. If we truly want peace on earth and with creation, we must involve ourselves in all four. Yet, as Sirach states “the sinner hugs them tight.” We hold on to our grudges, we close the door on encounters with others and the earth, we seek to dominate not cooperate, and we fail to educate ourselves. Will you let yourself be transformed?

Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From todays Gospel reading: I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?

Reflection: In Jesus teaching it is quite clear, we must be known by our forgiveness, not because we have to earn it from God.  But because God has already forgiven us without reservation or limits. If we hold back forgiveness from others, then this is a sign we have not accepted it ourselves from God and allowed it to enter our hearts to change us.  Christians are those who live and act in the light of God’s forgiveness.

So we ask ourselves:

• After receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation am I convinced in faith that all I have confessed has been forgiven?

• When else do I experience an assurance of God’s forgiveness?

Reflection

Last Sunday’s Gospel, from the same chapter as today’s, was about fraternal correction and about the possible necessity to expel a member from the Christian community. We are talking about someone who persists in behaving in a way which is totally at variance with the values of a community whose life vision is based on the Gospel. Such expulsion may be necessary, if the community is to be a credible witness to the Gospel and to be seen as the visible Body of Christ. But such an expulsion need not be permanent, in fact, it is hoped that it will not be. At the first sign of repentance, the offender is to be welcomed back and helped to re-integrate into the community. So, today’s Gospel is about forgiveness. Peter, who is beginning to learn his Master’s ways, asks how many times he should forgive. Seven times? It sounds pretty generous. But it is not generous enough for Jesus: “Not seven times, Simon, but 77 times,” he says, that is, indefinitely.

A story of two servants
And, to make his point, he goes on to speak of a king and his two servants who owe very differing sums of money. One owes a huge amount to the king and, by rights, should be thrown into a debtor’s prison, until he has paid off his debt – something he was unlikely to be able to do. After passionate entreaties, his debt is wiped out by the king. Then the same servant goes after a fellow-servant who owes him what is relatively a paltry sum. Because this second servant cannot pay up at once, he is thrown into the debtor’s prison. When the king hears about it he throws the first servant to the torturers until he has paid off the debt. The message is perfectly clear: “And that is how my Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” God forgives us without limit. If we are to be like him – and that is our calling in life – we must do the same. And it is not just a piece of advice. Our very salvation depends on it.

Vengeance is mine
What Jesus is condemning is made clear in today’s First Reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus: “Resentment and anger are foul things, and both are found with the sinner…” “He who exacts vengeance will experience the vengeance of the Lord…“Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven…And note that the writer says that when we forgive a brother or sister, it is MY sin, not THEIR which is forgiven by God. “If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord?  Showing no pity for a man like himself, can he then plead for his own sins?…“Mere creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment; who will forgive him his sins?…“Remember the last things, and stop hating…”

How forgive?
If hate and resentment get us nowhere, what are we to say about forgiveness? Is it just a matter of turning a blind eye to what people do to us or to others? Are we to say, “Oh, never mind! Forget about it!” Can we turn a blind eye to murder, violence, physical abuse, gross dishonesty and corruption, sexual abuse and infidelity…? Not according to last Sunday’s Gospel: If a person remains unrepentant of the harm he/she has done, then “treat him like a pagan or a tax collector”. In other words, boot him/her out of the community. In the Gospel, forgiveness always includes reconciliation and personal healing. It also includes unconditional love (agape, ‘agaph), the love of the God who makes his sun and rain to fall on good and bad alike. Forgiveness – in the Gospel, as with God — must include not just overlooking the wrong done but in bringing back the wrongdoer. The parables of the good shepherd and his lost sheep, the woman and her lost coin, the loving father and his lost son tell us how God acts – and how we, too, should act. It is important to note at this point that our faith is not simply a question of good and bad actions but of relationships. Forgiveness is not about undoing evil actions (what is done is done and cannot be undone) but of restoring broken relationships, about healing and reconciliation.

A sacrament for reconciliation
So we speak now, not of the ‘Sacrament of Confession’ or the ‘Sacrament of Penance’ but of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This sacrament is not, as many seem to believe, a sacrament of wiping out our past acts as if they no longer existed. Rather, it is a matter of turning back to, of restoring our relationship with God and also with all those who have been touched (and may still be hurting) from our sins, our failures to love. And, just as we expect God to accept us back into his loving arms again and again without limit, so he expects us to be ready to do the same for others. Of course, it can be a long process. Like God, like the father in the parable, we often have to wait patiently, lovingly, hopefully for the turning point of someone who has hurt us. As the Gospel earlier this week reminded us, those who have hurt us, our “enemies”, most need our prayers, they need God’s blessings to soften their hearts. And, when it happens, we need to be ready to receive back our brother or sister just we expect God to receive us back when we say ‘Sorry’ to him.

ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

Presence of the Lord: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence. Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others.  Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God? With others in my life? What am I grateful for? Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret? I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt.  God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

Opening Prayer

Lord, teach me openness of heart to those who need my understanding and forgiveness. Help me to extend forgiveness that is genuine and complete, not conditional or grudging. I know this is so very hard, Lord, and I will need your guidance and understanding. Help me to  realize when I need forgiveness of you or others I my life, and grant me the humility to admit when I have been wrong.

Companions for the Journey

Adapted from John Boll, O.P. in “First Impressions”,2005 and William Bausch in 60 More Seasonal Homilies:
I think today’s readings stir up some questions in all of us:  Jesus’ answer seems naïve and maybe even dangerous.  He seemed to lack any common sense or even to have forgotten the apparent likelihood that giving lots and lots of pardons would not even in the tiniest way get anyone to stop doing bad things.  And Yet, I suspect Jesus was not all that naïve—I think we need to look at some assumptions we make about forgiveness, so here are five things forgiveness is NOT:

1.  Forgiveness is not ignoring evil and forgetting wrongs that have been committed by individuals, governments, churches—even ours. In some places—the Balkans, Northern Ireland, the Middle East- to forgive my enemy is to betray my ancestors; to forgive is to make a mockery of their sacrifices; to forgive is to condone wrongs against justice and decency. Elie Weisel, in speaking of the Holocaust said: “We must forgive, but we must never forget.” 

2.  Forgiveness is not the enabling of bad or destructive behavior. We hear all the time of people who stay in abusive relationships out of a mistaken sense of their obligation to “turn the other cheek”.  Let me be very clear:  I don’t think we are called to be passive victims of abusive and destructive behavior.  Rather, I think what we are actually empowered to do is to invoke civil law to extricate ourselves and those for whom we are responsible from a dangerous situation, and then we invoke divine law or the grace of God to help us heal and get rid of our anger so we can move on with a productive and happy life.  We hear also of co-dependents in addictive situations—alcohol or drugs—who forgive and forgive, and their loved one does not get better, he or she gets worse.  So the reality is that a simplistic” forgive and forget” is not what is called for here.  Where we can, we need to avoid being someone else’s victim.

3.  Forgiveness is not a demonstration of my wonderfulness.  This is forgiveness with a hook, one-up forgiveness, and it says, in effect: “ I have weighed, judged you and your behavior and found you sorely lacking in qualities that are worthy of my respect.  I have these qualities at this point in time, but you do not.  I humbly recognize my superior moral strength and your weakness, my consistent moral behavior and your lack of morality.  I forgive you your trespasses.  You, of course, will find some suitable way to be grateful from this day forward.” This is not forgiveness. This is manipulation.

4.  Forgiveness is not easy—sometimes it might even be impossible.  I don’t know how a rape victim forgives her rapist. I don’t know how the victim of sexual abuse as a child ever learns to get over it.   I don’t know how someone whose parents were gassed and Auschwitz learns to forgive the Nazis who were the instrument of their deaths; I don’t know how the widow in Northern Ireland or New York gets past the anger and resentment. I don’t know how a parent learns to forgive someone who has damaged or murdered his or her child.  In fact, if I am sure of anything at all, it is that God understands our sorrows and our difficulties with resentment, anger--- understands, maybe even, our inability to let go and forgive someone.  At least, I sincerely hope so.  Yes, forgiveness is not easy—in fact, it is impossible, without God’s help. 

5.  Forgiveness is not optional—This passage from Matthew tells us that we should be merciful primarily because each of us has received mercy.  We are to forgive, not because someone deserves our forgiveness, but because we have been forgiven. When, at the end of the Our Father, we pray, "forgive us our trespasses as we Forgive those who trespass against us," we are asking God to let the experience of being forgiven so transform our hearts that we may likewise forgive others.  It would be a foolish person who would pray the other way around, asking God to forgive us only in the puny measure we are able to forgive others.  Our life with God is a gift, from beginning to end.  Whenever we asked for forgiveness from God, we received it. The Eucharist is our act of thanksgiving for what we realize again we have received from the hands of a gracious God.   A sign that we really believe we have been forgiven free of charge, is to give similar forgiveness to others, again and again.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Reflection Questions:

Have you ever had a falling out with a friend who hurt you?  
How did you deal with it?

“Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”
How does this phrase refer to my personal obligation to forgive?
Does it mean I will take my grudges and my Lack of forgiveness with me into the next life?
Does it mean that I will, in one way or another, take my grudges and my lack of forgiveness into the kingdom of God here on earth, which clearly has no place for them?   

Do I sometimes identify myself by a wound I have suffered or by an abuse I have endured? (I am a ________survivor). 
Why do I do this?
How does it keep my notion of victimhood alive?   

How hard is it for me to forgive someone who has really hurt someone I love?

How have past hurts affected my attitude about trusting others?

How grudgingly do I extend forgiveness to others?

Do I demand forgiveness of another, while withholding my forgiveness of someone? 

How is forgiveness related to mercy?

From theologian Romano Guardino: Justice is the enemy of love. Do I agree or disagree?

How does forgiveness exist while I am still seeking punishment? 
Can it?

Do I have trouble asking for or receiving forgiveness?   
Why is that?

How do I reconcile the reality that true forgiveness has no end--that we are called to forgive over and over-- with the need for self-preservation?

How do I forgive a wrong that has been done to me while preserving my own safety and sanity?  
At what point must I say “no more”?

How is forgiveness of another a type of healing for me?  
Do I see my own lack of forgiveness as shackles that bind me to the past or to another that I wish to be free from?  

From Jude Siciliano. O.P.: What effect has forgiveness had on my own life?
What person or institution am I called to forgive?  

Closing Prayer

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for. 

Adapted from “A Psalm for Pardon” from Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim by Father Edward Hays:
Grant me, O gracious One, 
Your great gift of pardon.
I have searched for it
In every pocket and hiding place
……..
I know it is here, 
Buried beneath my pain
in a back corner of my heart;
But for now it is lost.
I know that to forgive is divine, but I am not a deity,
And I fear that I will become a demon
Who, by failing to forgive
Will spread the kingdom of darkness.
Remind me ten times and more 
Of all that you have forgiven me—
Without even waiting for my sorrow,
The very instant that I slipped
Make me your messenger of your good news I cannot now speak
Give to me the healing words of forgiveness.  
Amen.

For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization: (Taken from the gospel for today's session) Lord, how often must I forgive?

Meditations:

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions: (Adapted from “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province) In today’s gospel passage Peter puts a question about forgiveness to Jesus.  Peter seems to think he has the right answer.  But Jesus answers the question in a way that must have surprised Peter and, as if to back up his response, Jesus tells a parable. But this parable isn’t like one of those passages we frequently mention, easily accessible for reflection.  It is a rough-sounding parable.  On first hearing we feel edgy because God doesn’t come off sounding like anyone we’d like to get close to or get to know. After ending the parable about the unforgiving debtor’s being handed over to the torturers, “until he should pay back the whole debt,” Jesus adds, “So shall my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother/sister from your heart.” See what I mean?  Sounds like quite a change from the loving compassionate God Jesus has been manifesting in his speech and actions.   As a preacher I also suspect that closing line is going to reinforce the image of the punishing and demanding God some of us still carry around within us, even if it is deep down at an unconscious level.  What’s a preacher to do with all the baggage this parable is carrying?  How did you respond emotionally as well as intellectually to this parable?   What does it say about what God demands of us, even when it seems hard?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship: Is true forgiveness hard?  Yes, but it is also necessary for our emotional and spiritual health.  Think of someone who has hurt you in some way, and try to begin the process of forgiveness. Father Patrick Brennan in his book, The Way of Forgiveness, says that we stay forever frozen in the past if we do not begin somewhere. He suggests that we start by naming the pain. Perhaps you could use a journal to articulate those feelings of anger, hurt, revenge, depression. Stay with this exercise until you can accurately state what happened and how you felt. Hard as it is, this is the first step in moving forward. After doing this, read Luke 22:39-46.  What pain do you think Jesus was going through at this time? How did his disciples hurt him?  Name some other times when Jesus was hurt by those around him. How do you think he felt? Do you think he forgave them? The next thing to do is to DECIDE to forgive. You may revisit this decision many times, praying for the strength, the courage and the generosity of spirit forgiveness requires. Note: the decision to forgive must not necessarily be conveyed to the person who hurt you, and in any event my not be communicated in a way that merely reinforces your sense of  being wronged, or demonstrates any sort of moral superiority. Your next step might be to pray for the one(s) who have offended you. These steps may not always follow the pattern outlined. Like any emotional process, we may revisit certain stages until we have mastered them. The key to making this work rests in prayer and loving kindness--the sort Jesus modeled for us. And finally, reflect on what you have learned from your painful experience, thanking God for the wisdom you have gained. 

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action: We cannot talk of forgiveness without discussing prison and our prison system, including capital punishment.  First, we need to think about why we have prisons in the first place.  They seem to have several purposes: retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation: 

Retribution:  A majority of people consider retribution the primary purpose of prisons. Depriving criminals of their freedom is a way of making them pay their debt to society by punishing them for their crimes. And these prisons should not be country clubs; they should be uncomfortable and maybe even harsh.  These criminals are being  PUNISHED! They hurt others; we need to hurt them.  The whole issue of the death penalty is usually part of the discussion about retribution. 

Incapacitation removes these people from society so they will not hurt others.  The type of prison accommodations  for these offenders might be less harsh if those in charge favored removal of society over punishment.  

Deterrence means the prevention of future crimes by those see what happens to those who have done the same thing.   Fear of incarceration and punishment is thought to be a motive in keeping others from criminal acts.  There have been studies which demonstrate the effectiveness or the ineffectiveness of this theory.

Rehabilitation, for some, is the major object of incarceration. Changing criminals in law-abiding citizens requires a change of heart and mind, and it is  a long and arduous process, especially if childhood abuse or addiction are part of the picture It is obvious that providing counseling education. vocational training, spiritual accompaniment, connections to loved ones being strengthened, an ongoing  support system after release from prison.

These four major purposes have not been stressed equally, and in some cases are in direct opposition to one another.  As a result prions differ in their facilities, staff and operations. Local public opinion can be widely divergent and often acrimonious in determining prison policies in various areas of our country. In reading this passage from Matthew, we have to ask ourselves what gospel principles should inform our attitudes on prisons and punishment. What do I think is the purpose of incarceration? How do we deal with the victims and their loved ones? How do I feel about the morality of capital punishment? Do I have a responsibility to address these issues as a Christian? In the spirit of Jesus, am I called to do anything for prisoners, such as writing to death row inmates, or volunteering to visit or work with prisoners in any way? The very least I can do is write someone in prison, especially someone on death row. ( WriteAprisoner.com) ….

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Examen: (From “Sacred Space” a service of the Irish Jesuits) I Think of those who have caused me hurt and how I have reacted. I pray for them and, even if I can’t wish them well now, I pray that one day I might…

Poetic Reflection: 

Is this like God’s forgiveness? How can we mirror it?

To My Mother
I was your rebellious son,
do you remember? Sometimes
I wonder if you do remember,
so complete has your forgiveness been.

So complete has your forgiveness been
I wonder sometimes if it did not 
precede my wrong, and I erred,
safe found, within your love, 

prepared ahead of me, the way home,
or my bed at night, so that almost
I should forgive you, who perhaps
saw the worst that I might do,

and forgave me before I could act,
causing me to smile now, looking back,
to see how paltry was my worst,
compared to your forgiveness of it

already given. And this, then,
is the vision of that Heaven of which
we have heard, where those who love
each other have forgiven each other,

where, for that, the leaves are green
the light a music in the air,
and all is unentangled,
and all is undismayed.

—By Wendell Berry (a former Stanford Stegner Fellow who died last week) from Entries

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 6, 2026

Living together in Christ.

GOSPEL

Matthew 18:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that 'every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

We are in a section of Matthew’s gospel in which Jesus is doing community building.  So, today’s passage must be seen in the light of its larger context. (Nothing new here for preachers since we are always checking out the context of a scriptural passage.) Ever since chapter 14, Jesus has been instructing his disciples. In chapter 18, his teaching emphasizes and focuses on the community of believers, the church. At the time Matthew wrote, the church was on its own, no longer a part of the Jewish community and so no longer observing the daily norms and customs of that religious tradition. The community needed guidelines for its life together and in chapter 18 Matthew emphasizes what the important ones are.  Faith in Jesus and his teachings are the basis for this new community;  believers will have to live in a way that reflects their founder.  Since Jesus revealed a forgiving and compassionate God, the life of the community must do the same, if they are to witness to Jesus resurrected and living in their midst.  Forgiveness must be the hallmark of the church. (Next week Peter will ask, “...how often must I forgive?”  Jesus’ response—in effect, a limitless number of times.) When someone offends us we can say, “It’s a big world, I’ll just go my own way and ignore him or her.”  The early church was a very small community surrounded by non-believers.  Members of the assemblies were easily recognizable and so was how they behaved towards one another. It’s something like a family in a small town; the neighbors quickly learn when there is conflict among family members. So too in the tiny early church; people within and outside the community would know of divisions among the believers.   Conflicting members could not go their own way; the whole community would know and suffer the consequences of their behavior.  The injuries had to be dealt with through forgiveness and, if it that were done, all would benefit. Outsiders would also notice the community’s behavior and be drawn to it.  Today our larger communities might make it possible for conflict to continue, or be ignored, without too much fuss.  But an unseen wound is a wound nevertheless and the unity and life of the believers are affected by offenses done by members against one another. The teaching in today’s gospel sets out a rather elaborate and specific process for how forgiveness and reconciliation are to happen. At first just two people are involved, “If your brother [or sisters] sins against you go and tell....” Notice that the one sinned against must attempt a personal exchange with the offending party.  At this stage of the process the privacy of the two is being respected. The directions don’t include explicit formulas or directions how the conversation is to go. It is hoped the parties can converse reasonably, and members can be trusted to know how to behave and what to say. But life doesn’t always work out according to ideals.If the first step fails, the conversation is to include just one or two more persons. We might jump ahead at this point to the closing verse of today’s passage. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” We most commonly apply this passage to two or more believers praying together—Jesus will be in their midst. True enough. But back to the context.  The verse is in the setting of reconciliation in the community; when “two or three” come together to settle an offense against a member. When a believing community works to settle disputes, Christ is in our midst working to achieve the same goal. That is what makes this teaching more than an “ideal” and keeps it from being dismissed as not practical in “the real world.” Or, put it another way. Where shall we find the true presence of Christ? In today’s example, he is in our midst when we work together to right wrongs.  Forgiveness and justice should characterize the community; if it does, others will recognize something unique about the church and might even recognize Christ alive and active in our midst doing what isn’t  “do-able” without him. We believe he is truly with us at this eucharistic celebration. We reflect on divisions in our local and universal church, as well as the between churches, resulting from offenses and misunderstandings done over the centuries. We invite Christ to be with us as we consciously and deliberately set about righting both large and small wrongs. Jesus’ instructions continue. If the offender is hardened and refuses to acknowledge the wrong the process moves to another level. “If he/she refuses to listen to them, tell the church.” Here Jesus gives the whole community the power to “bind and loosen”; the power to welcome back a repentant member, but also to discipline an unrepentant offender. The latter is an unfortunate but, it seems, necessary move. Actually, it isn’t so much that the church excludes someone from the community, but that the person guilty of sin against a member has turned his/her back on the community. Since they are obstinate in their sin, they have sentenced themselves to exclusion. If they won’t mend the breech they have caused, the community is forced to state the obvious. The offender must be treated as “a Gentile or a tax collector”—a catch-all phrase used at that time by the Jewish community to mean anyone considered unclean and outside the faith. But remember that Jesus welcomed Gentiles and tax collectors into his company and offered them God’s forgiveness and acceptance. I think that leaves his comment ambiguous. We sense from this passage and all of chapter 18, that the unity and faithful adherence to Jesus’ teachings are important values for Matthew. Christians are not to live as individuals, but as members of a witnessing and supportive community. When a member has been “sinned” against, others are there for support and to see that rights are wronged. But what’s the spirit of today’s gospel? Is Jesus just talking about individual offenses and sins?  Suppose a race is sinned against, what are we to do? Suppose the poor on the other side of town are being ignored or deprived of their needs and rights? Suppose a group in our parish is treated as second class members just because they are new arrivals?  Suppose women’s voices are ignored? Or the elderly patronized? Suppose young people never hear their lives or issues mentioned in the preaching and public worship? Well...you get the idea. There was a recent editorial in the New York Times that I think preachers can use. The title suggests the editorial writer might have seen more than the surface of things. I will quote it in full below and leave it to you to use it as you wish.  

A Moment of Grace

In an age whose crabbed sense of justice finds expression in dismal phrases like “zero tolerance” and “three strikes and you’re out,” the events in a Long Island courtroom on Monday came as an undeserved gift, something startling and luminous. It happened when Ryan Cushing, a 19-year-old charged with assault for tossing a turkey through a car windshield last fall, approached the drive he nearly killed, Victoria Ruvolo. Ms. Ruvolo, 44, suffered severe injuries and needed many hours of surgery to rebuild her shattered facial bones. When Mr. Cushing left the courtroom after pleading guilty, he came face to face with his victim for the first time. He said he was sorry and begged her to forgive him. She did.  She cradled his head as he sobbed. She stroked his face and patted his back, “It’s O.K.; it’s O.K.,” she said. “I just want you to make your life the best it can be.” Mr. Cushing was one of six teenagers out for a night of joy riding and crime, which often happens when childish aggression and stupidity merge with the ability to drive and steal credit cards. The five others have pleaded guilty to various acts like forgery and larceny, but Mr. Cushing, who threw the turkey, could have faced 25 years in prison. At Ms. Ruvolo’s insistence, prosecutors granted him a plea bargain instead: six months in jail and five years’ probation. The prosecutor, Thomas Spota, had been ready to seek harsh punishment for a crime he rightly denounced as heedless and brutal. “This is not an act of mere stupidity,” Mr. Spota said. “They’re not 9-or-7-year-old children. That is true. But Ms. Ruvolo’s resolute compassion, coming seemingly out of nowhere, disarmed Mr. Spota and led to a far more satisfying result. Many have assumed that Ms. Ruvolo’s motivation is religious. But while we can estimate the size of her heart, we can’t peer into it.  Her impulse may have been entirely secular. Court testimony by crime victims is often pitched as a sort of retributive therapy, a way for angry, injured people to force criminals to confront their shame. But while some convicts grovel, others smirk. Many are impassive. It’s hard to imagine that those hurt by crime reliably find healing in the courtroom. Given the opportunity for retribution, Ms. Ruvolo gave and got something better: the dissipation of anger and the restoration of hope, in a gesture as cleansing as the tears washing down her damage face, and the face of the foolish, miserable boy whose life she single-handedly restored.
—NY Times, Wednesday, August 17, 2005, page A18.

America Commentary 23 Sunday A 2020

If you typically focus on your own behavior and happiness, without regard for the actions of others, today’s readings are especially for you. The second reading is a reminder to love others, and the first reading and the Gospel are calls to reject complicity with corruption. These principles are important ideals that are timely given our current political leaders and the nearness of the election season. ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Rom 13:9)

Liturgical Day: Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Readings: Ez 33:7-9; Ps 145; Rom 13:8-10; Mt 18:15-20
Prayer: Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) What can you do to condemn corruption in society? What actions can you take to be more selfless? How can you exercise your right to vote to help create a just society?

In the Letter to the Romans, Paul quotes portions of the Ten Commandments that call for ethical behavior (Ex 20:13-17, Dt 5:17-21). He says that the laws can be fulfilled when you “love your neighbor as yourself,” a command from the book of Leviticus that Jesus also quotes in the Gospels. Often, the word used here for love (Gk. agape) is emphasized as a selfless action that is modeled on God’s love for creation. The call to love “as yourself” is also important. This adds reciprocity to the equation, requiring us to condition our treatment of others on how we want to be treated. This reminds us to give thought to how our actions affect others. As the events of the last months reveal, many people have been treated with contempt and disregard rather than love. If we would not want such treatment, we should not treat people in that manner; moreover, we should not elect people who openly promote hate over love. In the first reading from Ezekiel, the prophet is told to warn people about living in the midst of corruption. God instructs Ezekiel to tell wicked people to correct their behavior. If he does this, and the wicked refuse to change, the wicked are solely guilty for their actions. But if Ezekiel refuses to speak out against the wicked, God casts blame on both Ezekiel and the wicked people. This reading holds an important gem: Failure to act against corruption makes you a passive participant in corruption. If you find political leaders to be morally corrupt and you still vote for them because of your own selfish interests, shortsightedness or intentional naïveté, you contribute to corruption in society. Jesus affirms a similar message in the Gospel. Jesus speaks to his followers about how they should react to the sinful behavior of people in their community. Rather than ignore it, they must address corruption and attempt to correct it. If they encounter a person who sins against them, Jesus’ followers are to confront the offender. If the person refuses to change, Jesus advises a group of two or three people to confront the person, a legal maneuver that calls for witnesses to participate and help apply pressure for moral behavior. If the person is still not motivated to change, then the larger community is instructed to call out corruption. Jesus then empowers the community, saying, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

More About The Living Word

In the Gospel reading for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, this power was given to Peter when he received the keys to the kingdom, and it is interpreted as giving Peter authority to lead. In today’s reading, the entire community is given authority to hold its members to account and rectify wrongful acts. The Gospel tells us that we have a duty with respect to the moral failings of others: to call them to conversion and avoid complicity in their sin. It should inspire us to speak out to promote love and justice in society and to require the same of our leaders. This article also appeared in print, under the headline “Reciprocity and Complicity,” in the September 2020 issue.

ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence.  Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others.  Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God?  With others in my life? What am I grateful for?  Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret?  I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt.  God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

Opening Prayer

Lord, help me to deal with those with whom I do not agree about some things I really feel are wrong.  Help me to see that excluding others, unless they are a threat to my physical or emotional safety,  is counter to your spirit.   Teach me the way of forgiveness and reconciliation, and give me courage to speak up when I must.

Companions for the Journey

From First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

We are in a section of Matthew’s gospel in which Jesus is doing community building. So, today’s passage must be seen in the light of its larger context. (Nothing new here, since we are always checking out the context of a scriptural passage.) Ever since chapter 14, Jesus has been instructing his disciples. In chapter 18, his teaching emphasizes and focuses on the community of believers, the church. At the time Matthew wrote, the church was on its own, no longer a part of the Jewish community and so no longer observing the daily norms and customs of that religious tradition. The community needed guidelines for its life together and in chapter 18 Matthew emphasizes what the important ones are. Faith in Jesus and his teachings are the basis for this new community; believers will have to live in a way that reflects their founder. Since Jesus revealed a forgiving and compassionate God, the life of the community must do the same, if they are to witness to Jesus resurrected and living in their midst. Forgiveness must be the hallmark of the church. (Next week Peter will ask, "...how often must I forgive?" Jesus’ response—in effect, a limitless number of times.) When someone offends us, we can say, "It’s a big world, I’ll just go my own way and ignore him or her." The early church was a very small community surrounded by non-believers. Members of the assemblies were easily recognizable and so was how they behaved towards one another. It’s something like a family in a small town; the neighbors quickly learn when there is conflict among family members. So too in the tiny early church; people within and outside the community would know of divisions among the believers. Conflicting members could not go their own way, the whole community would know and suffer the consequences of their behavior. The injuries had to be dealt with through forgiveness and, if it that were done, all would benefit. Outsiders would also notice the community’s behavior and be drawn to it. Today our larger communities might make it possible for conflict to continue, or be ignored, without too much fuss. But an unseen wound is a wound nevertheless and the unity and life of the believers are affected by offenses done by members against one another. The teaching in today’s gospel sets out a rather elaborate and specific process for how forgiveness and reconciliation are to happen. At first just two people are involved, "If your brother [or sisters] sins against you go and tell...." Notice that the one sinned against must attempt a personal exchange with the offending party. At this stage of the process the privacy of the two is being respected. The directions don’t include explicit formulas or directions on how the conversation is to go. It is hoped the parties can converse reasonably and members can be trusted to know how to behave and what to say. But life doesn’t always work out according to ideals. If the first step fails, the conversation is to include just one or two more people. We might jump ahead at this point to the closing verse of today’s passage. "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them." We most commonly apply this passage to two or more believers praying together—Jesus will be in their midst. True enough. But back to the context. The verse is in  the setting of reconciliation in the community, when "two or three" come together to settle an offense against a member. When a believing community works to settle disputes, Christ is in our midst working to achieve the same goal. That is what makes this teaching more than an "ideal" and keeps it from being dismissed as not practical in "the real world." Or, put it another way. Where shall we find the true presence of Christ? In today’s example, he is in our midst when we work together to right wrongs. Forgiveness and justice should characterize the community; if it does, others will recognize something unique about the church and might even recognize Christ alive and active in our midst doing what isn’t "do-able" without him. We believe he is truly with us at this Eucharistic celebration. We reflect on divisions in our local and universal church, as well as the between churches, resulting from offenses and misunderstandings done over the centuries. We invite Christ to be with us as we consciously and deliberately set about righting both large and small wrongs. Jesus’ instructions continue. If the offender is hardened and refuses to acknowledge the wrong the process moves to another level. "If he/she refuses to listen to them, tell the church." Here Jesus gives the whole community the power to "bind and loosen"; the power to welcome back a repentant member, but also to discipline an unrepentant offender. The latter is an unfortunate but, it seems, necessary move. Actually, it isn’t so much that the church excludes someone from the community, but that the person guilty of sin against a member has turned his/ her back on the community. Since they are obstinate in their sin, they have sentenced themselves to exclusion. If they won’t mend the breech they have caused, the community is forced to state the obvious. The offender must be treated as "a Gentile or a tax collector"—a catch-all phrase used at that time by the Jewish community to mean anyone considered unclean and outside the faith. But remember that Jesus welcomed Gentiles and tax collectors into his company and offered them God’s forgiveness and acceptance. I think that leaves his comment ambiguous. We sense from this passage and all of chapter 18, that the unity and faithful adherence to Jesus’ teachings are important values for Matthew. Christians are not to live as individuals, but as members of a witnessing and supportive community. When a member has been "sinned" against, others are there for support and to see that rights are wronged. But what’s the spirit of today’s gospel? Is Jesus just talking about individual offenses and sins? Suppose a race is sinned against, what are we to do? Suppose the poor on the other side of town are being ignored, or deprived of their needs and rights? Suppose a group in our parish is treated as second class members just because they are new arrivals? Suppose women’s voices are ignored? Or the elderly patronized? Suppose young people never hear their lives or issues mentioned in the preaching and public worship? Well...you get the idea.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Reflection Questions

When you experience family conflict, how do you resolve it? 
When you and your friends are in conflict, how do you resolve it?  
When you and some members of your church community are in conflict, how do you resolve it?  
In your mind, are any of these "conflicts" truly only solved when people come around to your point of view?  

Do we sometimes forget that to belong to the Church is to belong to a community of brothers and sisters in Christ?  
Why is this so?

No one says reconciliation is easy, especially when groups and individuals in the community have been at loggerheads for a long time. If we try to be less confrontational and more guided in prayer, Jesus promises to be with us to bring about reconciliation. What divisions exist in my parish community? 
How can I be an instrument to help a healing process?
Do we believe that our relationship to Christ depends intimately on how we relate to each other?
To what extent do we believe that our behavior as individuals reflects on the overall witness that we as a community are called to give?

Do I feel that as a community we are responsible for each other’s well-being? 
What are some of the difficulties in achieving this?

Is there a difference between pointing out and working to correct serious moral failures and being the “correctness police” monitoring lapses in manners, irritating habits, or even liturgical practices?

Have I ever set myself up as the “correctness police” constantly pointing out the mistakes and failures of others?
Are there people in my family or church community who do so?

Do I  ever shirk my responsibility to speak up when I know something is morally wrong?

When I confront a wrong or injustice do I approach the other in anger or in charity?

What are the effects of living in a culture that promotes gossip, scandal, and contemptuous dismissal of those with whom we do not agree?
What are the effects of living in a culture that relies on legal arguments or intellectual evaluations—that focusses on winning rather than on relationship?

How difficult is to become involved in another’s life when we see them engage in cruel or self-destructive behaviors?
Why, however, are some people all too ready to tell people what is the right way to do things or how to behave?
How do we find the middle ground?

What is the role of personal prayer in dealing with problematic people?

Have I ever been part of a church community or another group that developed divisions over some issue or another?
How did it get resolved?
To what extent have I sought consensus, or did I work to make sure that my opinion carried the day?

What is the role of punishment in this passage?
What is the role of reconciliation?

How do you feel about Excommunication?
What is the possible danger of putting someone out of the community who does not agree with you? (think self-righteousness, vindictiveness, the cruelty of isolation, for example) 

Which of the 4-part instruction on dealing with another’s behavior toward you did you have a problem with?
What are some of the inherent dangers involved in taking others along to reprimand someone?

What is the value of having others to pray with?

In the letter of St Paul to the Romans in today’s reading he writes: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another, for the one who loves one another has fulfilled the law.  How does this apply to today ‘s gospel?

Closing Prayer

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for.

Your Spirit changes our hearts: enemies begin to speak to one another, those who were estranged join hands in friendship, and nations seek the way of peace together. Your Spirit is at work when understanding puts an end to strife, when hatred is quenched by mercy, and vengeance gives way to forgiveness. 

—Quoted on A Poster for Peace in Memory of September 11, 2001, Liturgy Training Publications

For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization: (Taken from the gospel for today's session) Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions: (Adapted from “Sacred Space”, a service of the Irish Jesuits)
Let us do an examination of conscience on love today.  
Love is patient. Am I?
Love is kind. Am I?
Love is not boastful. Am I?
Love is not resentful. Am I?
Love does not harbor grudges. Do I?
Love does not judge. Do I?
Love does not rejoice in what is wrong. How do I understand this? Live it?
Love rejoices in the truth. Do I?
Love rejoices in the good fortune of others? Do I?

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action: (From First Impressions, a Service of the Southern Dominican Province) We sense from this passage and all of chapter 18, that the unity and faithful adherence to Jesus’ teachings are important values for Matthew. Christians are not to live as individuals, but as members of a witnessing and supportive community.  When a member has been “sinned” against, others are there for support and to see that rights are wronged. But what’s the spirit of today’s gospel? Is Jesus just talking about individual offenses and sins? Suppose a race is sinned against, what are we to do? Suppose the poor on the other side of town are being ignored or deprived of their needs and rights?  Suppose a group in our parish is treated as second class members just because they are new arrivals?  Suppose women’s voices are ignored? Or, the elderly patronized? Suppose young people never hear their lives or issues mentioned in the preaching and public worship? What can you do about it? And when will you start? 

Poetic Reflection: Have you ever met a person in your church who could be described the way Mary Oliver describes someone she knows in the following excerpt from a poem in her collection Thirst?

On thy Wondrous Works I Will Meditate
I know a man of such
mildness and kindness, it is trying to
change my life.  He does not
preach, teach, but simply is. It is
astonishing, for he is Christ’s ambassador
truly, by rule and act. But, more,
he is kind with the sort of kindness that shines
out, but is resolute, not fooled.   He has
eaten the dark hours and could also, I think,
soldier for God, riding out
under the storm clouds, against the world’s pride and unkindness
with both unassailable sweetness and consoling word.