Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We continue our journey with Jesus and his disciples on the last stretch of their journey to Jerusalem. Jesus has been telling his disciples that the cross, suffering, and death await all disciples who follow him just as it awaits him in Jerusalem. He advised them to be patient and tolerant with imperfections, failures, mistakes and shortfalls and be open to mutual, brotherly, sisterly and friendly corrections, forgive others as God has forgiven and be generous just as God is generous in all matters, including forgiveness. 

Today, we celebrate the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in ordinary time of the year. Our Scripture readings of today call us to transform our negative responses to God into positive ones – to change our “no” to God into a decided “yes” to God, to change our desire for “self-fulfillment” into “self-emptying” service to our brothers and sisters and remain faithful to the choices we make.      Our Scripture readings of today remind us that a lifetime of sin can be changed and transformed into a life of virtue just as a lifetime of virtue can be changed into a life of sin.

The Prophet Ezekiel tells us that a lifetime of saying “no” to God, can be changed into a life of saying “yes” to God (first reading). The Psalmist prays and seeks to know God’s way and truth (Responsorial Psalm).  Paul invited the Philippians and he invites us today to change our selfish attitudes and nurture the mentality of Christ, to make the mind and heart of Christ our own. In the Gospel reading of today, we read about a son who said “no” to his father and changed it into an “yes” and another son who said “yes” to his father and changed it into a “no”.  The final answer made the difference.

Fine words are never substitutes for fine deeds. It is not difficult to say “yes” to God or recite a creed or make a profession of faith, but to live the Christian life is demanding and challenging and often difficult. We know how narrow and difficult the path forward can be when we face life-altering decisions, when we change our negative responses to positive ones, when we say “yes” to God’s way and “no” to our own.

To read more of this Sunday’s reflection, please click on the link below…