Thirtieth Sunday of the Year - 2026

This month our Gospel readings are taken from chapter 22 of Matthew’s gospel account. In it, Jesus is being challenged by his three main opponents. They are the Herodians, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. We began reading this chapter two weeks ago. It begins with Jesus crafting the parable about a King’s grand wedding feast for his son, but the King is stiffed by all the invited guest. The King in turn rejects them and invites whoever will accept. The three antagonists arguing with Jesus come to realize that Jesus meant this parable to be about them; that they are the rejected by God; they will be excluded from God’s Kingdom. Normally these parties are fighting among themselves, but now they are collaborating in a united effort to discredit Jesus. First the Herodians challenge Jesus. These are the political sellouts among the Jews. They are aligned with King Herod, who is helping the Romans occupy and control the population, and collect a census tax from the people. They try trapping Jesus with a political question about whether the people should pay the tax or not. Next the Sadducees have a go at Jesus. They are the Temple people, the priestly class, scholars of Law of Moses. They accept only the first five books of the Old Testament, demanding that they be followed scrupulously and to the letter. They reject the belief in the resurrection i.e. as prophesied by the prophet Ezekiel. They construct an argument around a law of Moses that declared that if a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. They create an argument around seven brothers, all marrying the same wife after each brother had died. “In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For all of them were married to her.” Finally, the Pharisees take their turn, raising a disputed question of the day about which of the 613 commandments of the law is the most important or are all of equal importance. The Problem in all of this is not that questions do arise and look for answers, the problem is that ridged factions form around the questions, and instead of being open to discovering the best answers to the questions they are used to divide and separate people. These factions are more intent on dominating the others rather than getting to the truth. We are all familiar with the saying, “divide and conquer”. Jesus knows well that this is Satan’s strategy against the gospel message which he is announcing and it will continue on as the life of the Church begins to unfold. St. Paul describes it in 1 Cor. 12; “What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? Paul goes on in chapter 12 to use the analogy of the human body with its many parts all working in harmony to describe how the Church and its many members are to unify. Then in chapter 13, he gives that beautiful teaching on the unifying principal of love – which flows from Jesus’ teaching in today’s gospel, the primacy of Love, the greatest Commandment. Just look around our society today. Have we ever seen such division, contentedness, animosity and argument among people? We must not let ourselves to be drawn into it. As Christians formed in the gospel, our calling is to bring the healing and unifying message of the Gospel of Love to a divide world.

Twenty-nineth Sunday of the Year

"For this Sunday we are looking at not a parable of Jesus, but a riddle of Jesus.  You could call this the riddle of Caesar and the coin.  It's the famous story of the coin that Jesus is presented with, and he is asked whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not, and then gives his response.  So for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time for Year A, we are going to be looking at Mt. 22:15-22: LINK .

Twenty-eighth Sunday of the Year - 2026

At the time Jesus formed this parable, people would be familiar with the custom for a great king, hosting the wedding of his son, to provide all the wedding guests with elaborate wedding garments so the whole affair would look spectacular. Not to accept and wearing these garments would be a great insult, provoking the king’s anger. Jesus forms this, parable, using the symbolism of a king’s wedding for his son, to convey a real and serious lessons to people at that time, and to all of us today. This parable encapsulates a short history of salvation. Looking at its components we are to understand that: +  The great King is the Lord God, his Son is Jesus. +  The wedding feast is that of the Lamb of God, with the saints assembling with him in heaven. +   Those first invited to the wedding are the people of the O.T. +   The servants sent out with the invitation are the prophets of the O.T. who were ignored, abused, and murdered. +   The army sent to punish those who did this is the Roman army, who destroyed Israel. +   The new servants with a new invitation are the evangelist of the gospel. +   The newly invited, “both good or bad”, are the peoples of all the world – including us. +   The wedding garment provided is the garment of mercy and salvation, covering all unworthiness. +   Wearing it is a life of holiness – not wearing it a life of un-repentant sinfulness. Through this parable Jesus teaches that there is only one true King, the Lord God, >   only one divine Son, Jesus, >   only one wedding feast, eternal life of heaven, >   only one invitation, the gospel, >  only one body of servants sent out to invite, the Church, united in the Holy Spirit. This parable of Jesus is as fresh and relevant for us today as it was to those who first heard it. As it was then, so it is now, the invitation continues to go out and the invitation today is receiving the same mixed results. Two questions remain: ?   Have I accepted the invitation, embracing it unconditionally? ?   Am I putting on the garment of a truly holy life?

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Twenty-seventh Sunday of the Year - 2026

These days, as we look out on the world around us, we see many troubling and disturbing realities looming before us.  The words of St. Paul in today's Second Reading will be a guiding light for us showing how we should approach these troubling times. Remember, Paul is writing these words from prison – his very life hangs in the balance. Yet out of this ominous darkness, he sends this remedy, this recipe for dealing with darkness. Listen again to his words: Brothers and sisters: Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,  will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Worry leading to panic, leading to loss of peace cannot lead to solutions to the darkness. So how then should we deal with the threats that surround us and trouble us? Paul goes on to offer this guiding light of wisdom:  Whatever is true: “. . . only Truth can make you free” – Jesus’ words. We must find truth and listen for those voices who speak real truth, not fake truth.    Whatever is honourable: look to those who rise above the chaos, those who’s words and deeds have bourn the test of time, who by their legacy of goodness have given us an example to follow.  Whatever is just: which works that people undertake bring suffering, which bring peace? Blessed are the peacemakers.  Whatever is pure: can a bad tree produce good fruit - by their fruits you know them.  Whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness - Blessed are the merciful - Blessed are the pure of heart -  Finally Paul concludes:  If there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise: Think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Twenty-sixth Sunday of the Year - 2026

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?" . . . LINK . . .

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Twenty-fifth Sunday of the Year - 2026

Children may often be heard complaining, "But it's not fair!" No doubt when they perceive a brother or sister received a larger portion than they. But this complaint is not exclusive to only child. In the competition of life and in the interest of social rest, we have establish fairness as the key to maintaining harmonious relations.  But our perception of fairness can easily be carried over to the way we expect our relationship with God to transpire. Since we consider that the good should be rewarded and the bad punished, relating to a God of mercy and forgiveness can be problematic. And when we are told that we must imitate this very same compassionate and merciful behavior in our dealings with others, we hit a stumbling block in our relationship with God. Jesus characterizes this very problem in the parable for today. Justice vs mercy is a long standing issue in the scriptures. In the Old Testament people learn what is right through the Law, and so it is perceived that obeying the law should have its reward. But a problem arises when they see the good suffering. The book of Job tackles the question and struggles to answer why the perfectly God-fearing and Law-biding Job is suffering such disaster. In the gospels, Jesus meets the problem head on, most profoundly and definitively in his passion, death and resurrection. In Matthew 9: Jesus comes upon a paralyzed man begging - (no doubt considered by all as punishment from God for his sins). Jesus announces his sins forgiven, accompanied by his immediate healing. Later he tells his detractors, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (referring to Ez. 9:23) Jesus has come to redeem, to rescue souls from death. "Death", is existence apart from God, to exist but to have no participation in the glory of God - not to "live" in the presence of God in the heavenly realm, this is death. Living in God presence is not something we merit, it is pure gift, God's purpose and design intended for every one. We did not choose to exist, and we can never not exist, but we can choose to accept or reject living in God's presence. What is fair is that God wants all people to have the opportunity to live in his presence.  There is a person who lives in Toledo Ohio, who's first name is Walter - he is real, his name is in the phone book. He does not care if you are sick or in need in any way, like he would for others he knows. We would not say that it is not fair that he does not care about you, he does not even know you exist. But God does know that you exist and does care that you have life eternal - if he did not, that would be unfair.  "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.… Jo. 3:16 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.… 1 Jo. 4:9 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.… 1 Jo. 3:1 Death is God's enemy and so is our enemy also. So this is fair; 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Lk. 15:6 Now a further question might be asked, is it fair that we were given a choice to accept or reject life eternal? Are there rocks in heaven. Do they know where they are?

Twenty-first Sunday of the Year - 2026

Of all the questions, you may ever be asked – this question is the most important – “Who do you say I am?” It is THE question that runs throughout the gospels. It begins with the boy Jesus sitting among the teachers in the temple. Luke tells us that they were amazed at Jesus, at how much he knew and understood – Lk. 2:46 In John, when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him he said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Jo.1:29 In Mark, when Jesus calms the storm at sea, his disciples question – “Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” Mk. 4:41 When Jesus comes to Nazareth, his home, again the questioning - “Where did this man get these ideas?” they asked. “What is this wisdom He has been given? And how can He perform such miracles? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us as well?” Mk. 6:2 So when Jesus asks his disciples in today's gospel passage – “But you, who do you say I am?”, their answer will determine the whole of the rest of their lives. When Peter responds with the only true answer, Jesus points out that coming to this understanding is a work of grace, a deep personal gift of faith. Christianity has had a long history now, of dealing with this question, and yet we find that there are as many conflicting answers given today as there was when Jesus first asked the question. We in the church have the distinct advantage of our Church’s long history of dealing with the question; its doctrines and traditions. But for each generation, doctrine and tradition only serve to intensify the question. The answer to the question still comes down to me, one-on-one; what do I say – say in my heart? The integrity of what I say will shape my life, revealing who I really believe Jesus truly is? The great St. Paul, who’s epistles do so much to shape our faith, began at "ground zero" with the question, “… who are you Lord?” Later he shows the integrity of his answer, "I have been crucified with Christ, and the life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me. I still live my human life, but it is a life of faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:19b-20 I think one of the best examples of the encounter with this question, is that of the apostle Thomas. He starts with the mentality similar to so many in this “scientific” age. “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.” "Eight days later, His disciples were once again inside with the doors locked, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.” Jo. 20:26 Don’t ask science to answer the question for you – ask the Holy Spirit.  "Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven. Mtt. 16:17 Praying For the GRACE of RENEWAL - Link

Twenty-sixth Sunday of the Year

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?" . . . LINK . . .

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Sixteenth Sunday of the Year

Links to two posts on this passage: 1. Trouble With Weeds One 2. Trouble With Weeds Two

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Fifteenth Sunday of the Year - 2026

Once again the gospel text presents us with the Parable of Sower. Today we have Matthew's Account – Mark and Luke also include this teaching. Jesus presents the Word of God as the "Good Seed" the sower sows, and describes the different soil conditions the seed lands upon. Is there a way we could re-imagine this scene Jesus uses so as to see it in the context of our religious experience today? For instance, how might we interpret, in practical terms, the different soils, different religious conditions, into which the seed falls? And what identity might we give to the good seed that is sown? We could interpret the seed as the grace-to-believe placed in one’s soul at baptism, and the different soil conditions as the different religious environments that a newly baptized encounters today. So the soil is us, us Catholics, our Christian families, our parishes, our diocese, all of us Catholics that make up the Church today, we are that soil. Here it is necessary to recall Pope John Paul II’s teaching in his papal document on Catechesis - #19, where he points out that a newly baptized is given this grace, this seed of faith, potentially. [the capacity to believe placed within them by Baptism and the presence of the Holy Spirit] Now the recipient must grow and develop and become an informed, committed follower of Jesus – the question then is how will the faith of this newly baptized do. So let’s look at the four soil conditions as four different religious environments a newly baptized child faces. First condition is the Harden Path; o   For all practical purposes, religious practice by those who surround the newly baptized is dead – no one goes to church. In this case, baptism itself may not even happen. If does it, there is no hope of it ever to growing. The seed of faith lies dormant. Second condition is the Shallow Soil; o   There is some religious practice to which the newly baptized is exposed – Christmas and Easter Mass – maybe first communion, maybe even confirmation but little more. Whatever little faith that one may have begun with, withers and fades away from lack of support Third condition is the Choking Weeds; o   The newly baptized may have the early start of family support but as that one moves on to begin their own life, they find themselves surrounded by a world of strong and conflicting values; where religious practice is viewed as worthless. They are surrounded by constant negative experiences toward religion – no friends with whom to share faith – immersed in a secular culture that has no room for believers. Fourth condition is the Good Soil; o   A newly baptized, born into a family of strong, active faith, exposed to a healthy parish experience, guided by mature religious instruction and advice – this seed of faith comes alive and takes on a strong faith life of its own. It survives to become a strong, practicing Catholic.

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Fourteenth Sunday of the Year - 2026

There are many in the world today who believe in God – Jews and Muslims for instance. So how are we to understand Jesus teaching in today’s gospel which seems to suggest only Christians can know God? The answer is found in two key words that Jesus uses – “knows” and “Father”.  To know someone implies person-to-person encounter. The word here is “gnosis”. I know for a fact that Justin Trudeau is the prime minister of Canada. I have been given a lot of information about him through other’s reports, but I cannot claim to really “know” him until I meet him, interact with him, spend time with him, experience him personally. The second key word Jesus uses is “Father”. To know God as your Father is profoundly more significant than knowing there is a God. Imagine someone who grew up never knowing their father – separated for some reason – then one day it happens, a man comes and stands in front of him as another says, “James, here is your father that you do not know.” James may know a lot about what fathers are to other people, but now he knows his father, and begins a whole new life with his father. When Jesus says these words: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him." This is what he means by "knows" – real, encounter, person-to-person, filial, tender, intimate, loving. The Hebrew word for Father is “Abba”. One of my scripture teachers told a story of how this word Abba, hit home for him. He was visiting the Holy Land, and was in a busy marketplace. A little child was there with his father, shopping. Then the little boy lost sight of his father, and began to call out, “Abba, Abba, Abba, Abba, Abba”, (father, father, father,) – “here my son, here I am”, the father replied. It was then that the teacher appreciated in an intimate, personal way what Jesus meant by “… knowing the Father.” We are like lost children who don’t know our true Father, our tender, loving and protecting Father, until that graced encounter, when Jesus says to us, “come now, look and see, here is Abba, your Father”.  Do you know your Father, your heavenly Father? Is He your Abba, your loving, protecting, life-giving Father? If not, then ask Jesus to help you to know the Father as he knows him.

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Thirteenth Sunday of the Year

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward." Matt. 10:37-42

If ever there was someone who wanted to put you to the test about your Christian faith, today's gospel text would make a perfect weapon. “Whoever comes to me and does not hate their father and mother, spouse and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even their life itself, cannot be my disciple.” So your Jesus wants you to hate your family – it says so right here. Now if you reply by saying that Jesus didn’t really say that or mean that, you create a whole lot of trouble for yourself. Would that not be true of anything the gospels quote Jesus as saying? Perhaps a little parable might help us here. Suppose you belonged to a family of a non-Christian religion. Your father is a strong, devote believer and he strictly demands that you follow this same religion and all its beliefs and practices. One day you come and announce that you are going to become a Catholic; you believe that Jesus is the son of God and that the Catholic Church is the true way to follow Christ. Your father tells you that if you do this, he will disown you, strip you of your inheritance and nothing more to do with you. And so you leave. In other words it is all or nothing. In today's society, the worst thing you can do is promote hate. Hate crimes are of the worst kind of evil. Here Jesus is using hyperbole; which is an exaggerated statement or claim not meant to be taken literally. Like when Jesus said “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.” Mk. 9:43 Jesus is not teaching hate, but he is teaching unconditional love. To be his disciple Jesus wants our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind with all our strength. The problem we face in the Church today is mediocrity – "I like some of the things the Church teaches but certainly not everything". In Matthew’s account of this issue Jesus is warning that to follow Him unconditionally will have its challenges.  “A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Mtt. 10:36 Jesus wants our whole heart - first and above all. Half-hearted faith will never last in today's world. It slowly drains away until it is all gone. The choice is now in our hands. Dr. Brant Pitre has an excellent commentary on today's gospel passage. Go To: . . . LINK . . .

The Eleventh Sunday - 2026

In this Sunday's 2nd. Reading from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans we read: “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us . . .  while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son . . .”  But why did Jesus have to die to save us? Could God not say from heaven: “Your sins are for given; come now and enter heaven and eternal life”? The problem with that is it fails to understand the nature of our intellect and free will, and the nature of sin; the power it holds over our souls. People in the bondage of sin are so by choice, and can no longer hear God’s voice from heaven. "Son of Man, you live in a rebellious house that has eyes to see, but they can't see, and ears to hear, but they can't hear, since they're a rebellious house. Jerimiah 12:2.  . . . so that, "'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'" Mk 4:12 Let me offer an analogy. A person goes partying one night … becomes intoxicated … gets into a car and drives away at high speed … fails to negotiate a turn in the road … roles the car and ends up in the ditch, injured and hopelessly pinned in the over-turned car. Then the car becomes engulfed in flames. That person cannot save themselves, they are going to die a horrible death – and it is totally their fault. Now a stranger comes on the scene, climbs into the burning vehicle and calls to the trapped man, "here, take my hand, I can save you!" The rescuer frees the trapped person and pushes him out of the car to safety; but this can only be done in a way that makes the rescuer unable to get out himself … therefore, he must die in place of the trapped person. It’s the only way to save the one hopelessly trapped do to the choices they made. Sin entraps our souls and binds us to its deadly way, traps us in the state of eternal separation from God, from God’s truth, from eternal life. (Trapped like the person in the flaming car.) God must come to where the sinner is; first to break Satan’s hold over us by incarnating, making himself visible and recognizable on our terms. Then, one-on-one, offering us mercy, convincing us to reject sin and to accept forgiveness. Then God must lead us out of our hell of ignorance into the light of truth. Jesus, the Son of God is the only one who can do this. He must become one of us, to be with us where we are. That is the only way we can hear God’s voice. Satan tries to drive Jesus away from rescuing us by the threat of the Cross. He fails. Jesus’ love for us is greater than any fear Satan can employ, even death itself. Satan’s hold is broken, it remains for us to listen to the Voice of forgiveness and follow him out. We say Jesus died for my sins on Good Friday. Perhaps we more accurately should say, Jesus died BECAUSE of my sins. Because by my free choice I willing followed Satan into the hell of separation from God’s truth, it is only by Jesus entering into my death situation, to meet me there and convincing me of his love, can Jesus save me. Only from the Cross can we hear; “This day you will be with me in Paradise."