Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
4 October 2026
Today’s parable is a powerful message about God’s patience, our responsibility, and the consequences of rejecting Him.
1. God Entrusts Us with His Blessings: Just as the landowner provided everything for the vineyard to thrive, God has given us all we need – His Word, His Spirit, and His grace. He calls us to be faithful stewards of His blessings. Are we using what God has given us for His glory? Do we honour Him with our time, talents, and resources?
2. God Is Patient, But There Are Consequences for Rejection: God’s patience is great, but it is not limitless. When people continuously turn away from Him, they face the consequences of their choices. Jesus warned that the kingdom would be taken from those who rejected Him and given to those who bear its fruit.
3. Jesus, the Cornerstone We Must Build Our Lives On: We must ask ourselves: Is Jesus the cornerstone of our lives? Do we build our decisions, actions, and purpose on Him? Or are we trying to build on our own understanding? Only when Christ is our foundation can we truly bear fruit for God’s kingdom.
4. A Call to Repentance and Fruitfulness:
The religious leaders understood that Jesus was speaking about them, but instead of repenting, they sought to kill Him. God desires that we bear fruit, that is, to live lives filled with faith, love, and obedience. He calls us to humility and repentance, turning from self-centeredness to Him.
May we embrace Christ as our foundation, live faithfully, and bear the fruit that glorifies God.
Peoplaid.com
* * *
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
11 October 2026 • Prisoners’ Sunday
The landowner had prepared for a large crowd. When he sent his servants out to personally remind the guests to come, some of the servants were mistreated, beaten and even killed by his prospective guests! Quite naturally, the king was enraged.
What does this Sunday’s Gospel say to us? I doubt that we have had the experience this story speaks of. However, we all have been disappointed and upset at various times in our lives.
We may have been deeply hurt by someone or betrayed by another. Our natural human response is to be angry, hurt and disappointed – and rightly so. Hopefully, we haven’t decided to kill anyone because of that!
In these situations we need to take time to calm down and deal with the hurt, anger and disappointment. We need to acknowledge and feel the emotions. If we repress them, most likely the emotions will come back with a vengeance. But we can’t stop there. We also need to honestly acknowledge what we are experiencing but then with time to gradually ‘let those feelings go’ and forgive.
Most often this is the last thing that we want to do! It will take time but it is an important step to take. If we nurse our anger and hurt, we are not hurting the individuals who disappointed us, we are hurting ourselves and those we love! If we are not able to forgive, we simply need to ask God to help us. May we have the grace to ask God to heal the anger and hurt – and to free us!
Sr Kristine Anne Harpenau OSB
ferdinandbenedictines.blogspot.com
* * *
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
18 October 2026 • World Mission Sunday
From the question posed to him by the Pharisees, Jesus draws a more radical and vital question for each of us, a question we can ask ourselves: to whom do I belong? To family, to the city, to friends, to work, to politics, to the State? Yes, of course. But first and foremost – Jesus reminds us – you belong to God.
This is the fundamental belonging. It is He who has given you all that you are and have. And therefore, day by day, we can and must live our life in recognition of this fundamental belonging and in heartfelt gratitude toward our Father, who creates each one of us individually, unrepeatable, but always according to the image of his beloved Son, Jesus. It is a wondrous mystery.
Christians are called to commit themselves concretely in the human and social spheres without comparing ‘God’ and ‘Caesar;’ comparing God and Caesar would be a fundamentalist approach. Christians are called to commit themselves concretely in earthly realities but illuminating them with the light that comes from God.
The primary entrustment to God and hope in him do not imply an escape from reality, but rather the diligent rendering to God that which belongs to him. This is why a believer looks to the future reality, that of God, so as to live earthly life to the fullest, and to meet its challenges with courage.
May the Virgin Mary help us to always live in conformity with the image of God that we bear within us, inside, also offering our contribution to the building of the earthly city.
Pope Francis
Angelus St Peter’s Square, 22 July 2017
* * *
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
25 October 2026
To love the Lord with all our heart – is this even possible? A common assumption is that love must just come, that it grows organically, and that it cannot be forced. That’s infatuation, not true love. Any kind of love – for a parent, spouse, child, or friend – will reach a point during which it is no longer easy. For love to be true, it must be a free choice and commitment.
‘All your heart, soul, and mind’ sounds rather extreme, even rather dangerous. The world says that loving anyone totally is a risky proposition – what if the one we love rejects us or lets us down, leaving us with nothing? And the world is even more terrified to love God totally, who cannot even be seen.
This makes sense; after all, to love totally is to trust that we will find fulfillment precisely by not looking for it ourselves, but by looking to fulfill someone else. That old, almost clichéd phrase, ‘love grows when it is given away,’ is actually spot-on in this regard.
True love takes a leap of faith, which is what frightens nonbelievers. Many people are okay with going to church every now and then or volunteering for a charity from time to time (and posting it on Instagram, of course).
Loving like that does not require us to make any kind of leap, any kind of definitive change, any commitment. But loving God with everything means that all we do is for love of him. We trust that he will take care of us. That is heroic; that is what it means to be a saint.
Epriest.com
* * *