27th Sunday A 4th October 2026 Sermon

27^th Sunday A      4 October 2026 Accepting the Son

The vineyard owner tries to collect his rent and all his messengers are mishandled. Finally he thinks, I will send my son – they will not abuse him. And then the bitter irony is that they are even more outrageous with the son than with any of the preceding messengers.

This parable is applicable firstly to the Jews and Gentiles. The Jews had the privilege of receiving God the Son into their midst and they rejected it, even going as far as to kill Him.

We can shake our heads at the Jews for rejecting Our Lord but are we any better? In spiritual terms all nations of the world have rejected God's  message, and His Messenger.

If Jesus came again in a similarly vulnerable form would they kill Him again? Certainly many would.

And we could be said to kill Him by our sins. If we were present when Jesus made His way to Calvary, we would not have struck Him, or spat on Him, and we would not do that now.

Yet, if He died for our sins, it is our fault that He is being led away to death. And all the insults etc. only add to the wrongness of the event.

Anyone who sins adds to the wounds of Jesus. (Fortunately, anyone who does good in His Name, will be consoling Him.)

We learn how merciful God is, that He can put up with this behavior and still be willing to forgive, and to save those who do this.

God loves us enough to die for us. God the Son takes the sin of the world on His shoulders and turns it into a perfect sacrifice. He makes Himself the Victim, more pleasing to the Father than multiple animal sacrifices.

Thus He atones for the sin of the world, and releases many graces for mercy on the human race.

And this mercy can change us, so that if at first we would have killed the Son, now we will receive Him in due honour. When the landowner says, Surely they will respect my son, it turns out that eventually he was right. It took a lot to happen but they do respect the son now, a few millions at least!

This parable, so much like human history with its violence and self-seeking, can be happily resolved after all.  The malice in human hearts can be turned into love and goodwill instead.

We can look on our past sins and weep for them. Regret is not a pleasant feeling but it can lead to peace of soul, and that is pleasant.

If we regret our past sins we can confess them and receive the mercy that is always available.

Better still, we can acquire a more genuine sorrow as we come to understand what God has done for us.

We deserved to die, but He died in our place. We were sorry before, but now we are really sorry. True and complete contrition will result if we follow this through.

It might be proposed that it is better to forget past sins, but if we can learn from them, and if we can develop a deeper contrition then that is a good thing to happen.

We remember all the sins of the human race, particularly those who were among the chosen group - first the Jews, then the Christians. The ones who are closer have extra responsibility to get it right. As His disciples, we show to the world that we have received the Son of God, not turned him away, nor ever will do that again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26th Sunday A 27 September 2026 Sermon

 26^th Sunday A  27 September 2026 Choosing good 

It is understood that the angels had a choice as to whether they would remain angels under God’s authority, or break from God and become devils instead. They valued their freedom from authority that much. I will not serve, said Lucifer.

Humans also get to choose whether or not they will serve God. Either go with Him and be led to eternal life, or defy Him and live an eternity of loss.

We are different from the angels in that they had only one choice while we can have a lot more than one. We can change whether we are in the light or the darkness, back and forth.

When we sin in a major way we have broken contact with God. When we confess that sin and make amends, we are back to life.

It is how we finish that counts. The first reading (Ez 18)  makes this clear. We can be good and turn evil, or evil and turn good.

We are different from the angels because our wills are weaker. They made once choice and that choice was binding for all eternity. We make a choice, say to give up some bad habit, and we can collapse the next day. As the man said: It is easy to give up smoking; I’ve e done it lots of times!

So we make progress by stages rather than all at once. Gradually we can become stronger.

Our Lady was one exception to human weakness. She was totally given to the will of God and in her case once was enough. She was locked into loyalty to God. Be it done unto me according to thy word. We ask her to help us in our weakness.

We hope to improve and consolidate and never look back at Egypt. I have got this far I am not going to abandon this.

We have seen enough of the goodness of God to stay on track.

It is possible to go wrong for a range of reasons.

Also the choice for evil can be gradual and not all at once. Bad habits not corrected, carelessness about obligations, chasing after false gods, such as pleasure.

We can cease to believe that change is possible.

We can  talk of choice where there is still technically a chance to choose otherwise, but we will not waver if we lock in the right choice.

For those presently lost, God encourages them to take refuge in Him, come to the Sacred Heart, fount of mercy, and all Heaven is pleased.

So much of our prayer and sacramental life is geared towards this invitation to repentance.

God shows His willingness to forgive in His word, in sacraments, in the living out of the good life by saints.

God knows that we are weak and can fall away again. So He gives us ways of not falling too far, and a way of coming back into balance.

He warns us not to delay repentance as the time is uncertain; but also because we can become hardened against the good, as per the fallen angels.

So even with heaven in view we can still stay on the wrong side, as did the fallen angels.

We repent and then we stay on that right side with smaller and more frequent repetitions of that wrong choice.

We encourage each other meanwhile as all being in the same boat, and we depend on each other for example, for mutual prayer, practical help, and forgiveness, and whatever else we can do.  We choose life and good whenever there is a choice.

 

 

 

 

25th Sunday A 20 September 2026 Sermon

25^th Sunday A 20 September 2026  Labourers in the vineyard

In the beginning there was God and nothing else.

God chose to create the world and all that is in it, including us. He had plans for us.

What God calls us to can be seen in the image of the vineyard. He wants us to work for Him.

The ‘work’ will take in many different types of activity, but all for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom. If we are doing God’s will that is working for Him.

It was easy in theory for this to succeed. God was undisputed master of all. If everyone and everything obeyed God then whatever He wanted would come about.

Something went wrong in the plan. It was nothing lacking in God but in that part of His creation which had the freedom to decide whether or not to obey – angels and humans.

A great many of both groups have decided to disobey God, to rebel against His authority, and that has left us with a lot of repair work to do.

The world is beautiful still, but it would be a great deal more beautiful if God had been respected by all.

God is  merciful, as we recall with relief. He can write straight with crooked lines, and He does a great deal of that, as He adapts His plans to take account of our contribution.

eg using the Crucifixion as a means of salvation when it was intended to be a means of obliteration of God.

The parable of the Labourers in the vineyard can be taken to represent the various ways that people can make peace  with God, even if they have been in the wrong place  before.

Some arrive early, some late.

The important thing is to be in the right place at the end, when the final reckoning takes place. How we finish is everything.

God’s intention is to bring as many people as possible to salvation and sanctification.

Salvation means being free from the guilt of our sin.

Sanctification means being free from all trace of sin.

Our hope is to arrive at  heavenly glory, body and soul. This is the ‘one denarius’ promised to the workers in the vineyard.

If we have that outcome how can we grumble if someone else has it also; even if they came in later?  If God is glad to see them, so we should be too.

Must you be envious because I am generous?  God’s generosity comes from His nature, as He was, is and will be forever.

We are drawn into His nature and transformed as we do that. If we accept the offer of ‘work’ this will happen.

It is not easy in practice because there is so  much rebellion against God, the malice of the devil is still active; and there are many people, even millions who are not in a state of union with God. They are not in the vineyard with God.

Many of them can be rescued, and set on the right path. And this the Church is always trying to do.

What about those of us who have been in the vineyard for years but not progressing as we should have done?

We come to the fountain of grace and mercy, whereby we can be forgiven of our sins and grow in sanctity. Saved and Sanctified.

We pray for each other to experience  the fulness of God's mercy. Far from grumbling that others get a better deal we rejoice when anyone comes to union with Christ. The angels in Heaven rejoice when even one lost soul is found (Lk 15,10)

 

 

24th Sunday A 13 September 2026 Sermon

24^th  Sunday A  13 September 2026  Forgiveness

Giving is one thing; forgiving is another. We could think of forgiving as ordinary giving multiplied. If you ask me to walk a mile with you, and I walk two miles instead, that is a kind of forgiving, a giving which springs from a generous heart.

Jesus referred to this in the Gospel teaching about charity. If you give only to those who will give back, how is that any different to the pagans?

God made us in the image of Himself and He is generous, forgiving, merciful and all related words.

He blesses abundantly, as we see from the Creation and all the beauty around us; and from how readily He forgives sin.

It was generous of God to create us in the first place. Then even more generous to forgive us for rebelling against Him.

He could have punished us severely; instead He holds out blessings to those who ask for them.

Even such punishments as there have been are generous in their leniency, and aimed at bringing us back to a state of blessing.

If God deals in this way and we are created in His likeness it is not surprising that He would expect the same from us, at least in the same spirit.

We see that generosity of spirit leads to a much happier society, instead of everyone grasping for themselves.

We might think initially that generosity will mean we come out worse off, that we are going to lose all our assets, but we see that it opens doors which we would not have thought possible.

Take Zacchaeus the tax collector. He promised to restore fourfold any he had cheated.

He wanted to give more than he had to, so exhilarating was the new way he saw life.

The woman who washed Our Lord’s feet was in a similar mood of joy at being forgiven and wanting to give generously in reparation.

For what not to do we have the first debtor in today’s parable he was still operating in the old mentality, no mercy but cruel denial of freedom

As with parables in general we think at first, I would never be like that. Then on a closer look we find we are quite likely to have at least some of the fault the parable exposes.

If we have ever resented that bad people can be forgiven without being punished, that is a lack of generosity on our part. This attitude can be seen in courtrooms where someone will call out to the guilty party, I hope you rot in hell, or words to that effect.

What we should be calling out would be more like, I hope you come to repentance.

We should not desire the death of the evil man so much as his repentance.

If we find this hard it is a sign we do not fully have the right spirit.

Each time we approach Our Lord asking for mercy we can ask for a little more of that divine charity which is capable of giving so much; and a little more willingness to forgive those who offend us.

This  is how the universe is meant to run, each giving more than receiving. Peace on earth and all such blessings would follow.

Wars, persecutions, injustice and the like would disappear as all creation rediscovers the true God and His forgiving nature.

Of course, this does not mean we can behave as we please and presume that God will forgive us. We cannot manipulate God's mercy. Contemplating that mercy should lead us to better behaviour and less sin, as we come to see the right way up, and goodness comes to be seen as more desirable than any form of evil.

Lord, have mercy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

23rd Sunday A 6 September 2026 Sermon

23^rd Sunday A 6 September 2026 Correction

Sometimes we think of ourselves as individuals, having our own name, and other details like date of birth etc.

Sometimes we identify ourselves as part of a larger body, such as Australian, or stamp collectors or supporters of a particular football club etc.

In spiritual terms we make our own way as individuals asking for forgiveness of sins and entry into eternal life.

But we also identify as one Body, the Body of Christ, all united in one faith, one baptism, one Lord.

We want to go to Heaven in this way too – together we are the Bride and Christ is the Bridegroom, and all the other images, like branches to a tree, or sheep with the Shepherd, or small stones on a large Rock.

As one we make up the Church, and we are saved and sanctified as that body of people.

Jesus Himself wants us as one body. Just as He will not let the lost sheep stay lost, but will seek to bring it back to the fold, so He wants all people to find their identity in Him.

If not all, then, as many as possible, and that is one thing we are always praying for, the growth of the Church.

We should s strive to live in union with each other, because Jesus wants it, and because to live in that unity is to achieve our full identity. We are meant to live as one, not as isolated individual units. This applies especially if we speak of salvation. We are saved as one and not just as individual souls.

As one, we encourage each other  ‘Therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing.’ (1 Th 5,11)

As one we correct each other, always in charity. In today’s Gospel, Our Lord sets out a process where a misbehaving member of the Church can be corrected until he either comes to conformity with the Church, or is expelled. (Mt 18, 15-20)

Humility and charity should be at all times paramount.

Today, correction is often taken as a personal attack. It should not be personal, on either side, but aimed at finding the best possible understanding of whatever is the issue.

The point of the correction is to help the offender find the right path, at the same time defending and increasing the unity of the Church.

Whether it is the thrashing out of the dogmas of the Church, or domestic matters, like Clean up your room.

Correction can itself need correcting insofar as it is not always charitable, and not always right. But with humility on all sides we should  get it right.

We remember that to build up the Body of Christ is our main concern.

We see that Jesus Himself corrected people. He had to do a lot of it to clarify misunderstandings (especially apostles), or to chastise someone (especially Pharisees).

He adapted his tone to the needs of the situation. He was more severe with the pharisees than to the repentant sinners, for instance. He knew what each one needed.

One very useful fruit of all this is that it will increase the power of our petitionary prayer.

Where two or three are gathered in My Name …there will be great things happening (cf Mt 18,20). 

 

 

22nd Sunday A 30 August 2026 Sermon

22nd Sunday A  30 August 2026 Taking up the Cross

Why is it necessary for us to suffer in the cause of Christ? Why does Jesus say we must take up our cross daily?

The Cross became necessary when evil first came to the world.

If there had been no evil there would have been no suffering, no need for a Cross. Evil has put things off course. It has to be overcome, and it makes very strong opposition.

It is like the difference between catching one criminal and stamping out crime altogether. One is much harder than the other, and the harder thing must be done.

God created a perfect world, and He means to have it back to that perfection.

He can forgive sin when it happens; but He wants to get to the root cause of the whole thing and pull out that root.

It is a major operation, even for God, because it involves the free will of millions of people.

God could force us to be good by overriding our wills, but He chooses the more difficult part of persuading us to adopt His will.

He finds it necessary to come to the world Himself and take on our human nature.

He needed to operate from the inside, doing what needed to be done in His own human nature, thus eventually taking us up to His level.

So humanity is carried beyond the power of the devil and recaptures its original freedom, and better yet, because now closer to God through Christ’s incarnation.

This defeats the devil at every level - spiritual, physical, individual, universal. And it replaces the veil of death hanging over the world with a new glory. Cf the people that lived in darkness have seen a great light (Is 9,2).

It is a saving of individual people and of the whole creation itself    Creation is longing to be set free (Rom 8,21).

Peter operating at the accustomed worldly level sought naturally to spare Jesus any suffering.

We also would be inclined to talk our loved ones out of having themselves killed!

But Jesus was operating on a higher plane, and could see the need for His most decisive action – offering Himself as a sacrifice for sins.

He could have stayed on earth and done much good, but the sacrifice of Himself was the most perfect action possible.

The degree of love shown  in His sacrifice was sufficient to overcome all the combined hatred of the world, including that of the devil.

The Cross reconciles man with God. It also works subtly on all who see it, inviting them to give allegiance to all that the Cross stands for.

We win some and we lose some, just like other kinds of battle. The fight must go on.

We lose a lot of people over the ‘Cross’ issue. It is a longer route than we would have chosen

We might doubt our own ability to love with such force; we can improve with practice.

We will find reserves we did not know we have as we interact with the Saviour.

What should Peter have said? Yes, Lord, we will go with You, and die with You if necessary.

That was another demerit for Peter, because he did say that and then denied Our Lord the same night!

His capacity to love was increased, however, going through all these traumas. His orbit had been enlarged. Soon he could love the whole world. As Our Lord already did.

21st Sunday A 23 August 2026 Sermon

21^st Sunday of Ordinary Time A  23 August 2026   Mysterious God

God is not easy for us to understand, as the second reading puts it: who can know the mind of the Lord, who can tell Him what to do?  (Rm 11,34-35)

And we have one such mystery right here in the Gospel reading - that Jesus would entrust the running of His Church to human means!

Why would God appoint someone to lead the Church when He could do it much better  Himself?

It is because He wants to involve us in our own salvation, so that we can be part of it, and experience  more of it than we would by just being onlookers.

We would probably be glad to be admitted to Heaven with no questions asked, but we will find that God’s way, though more indirect, will bring greater happiness.

As humans we have the privilege to reflect on our situation – why we are here, how we got here, what happens next? etc

It is a rare privilege when we consider that so many of God’s creations do not have the power of reason. They have to make the best of it, but they will never know why they are caught up in all this – the running of the world. It is really only humans and angels that qualify for this.

God apparently wants at least someone to understand what He is doing, at least the main idea.

As we were made to know, love and serve God it follows that we need to be able to reflect on Him, His nature, His plans etc.

Because we do not understand certain things about God we might take a wrong turning and impute blame to Him. This is what many do when they accuse God of killing their loved ones or allowing so much suffering in the world (death, disease etc)

If we are ever to fulfil the role that God asks of us, that is to work with Him on saving the world, then we have to accept that a lot of what happens will not be known to us in this life.

However, just because we do not understand something does not mean that the thing is wrong or senseless.

We are the inferior and God is very much the Superior. We have to expect a few foggy moments as we wrestle with so many questions.

Did Peter feel a bit foggy when he was appointed head of the Church? Peter had one quality very useful for the task.  He was not slow to spring into action, or speech. His general enthusiasm is something for us all to imitate.

His first pronouncement was a mistake – to which he received the rebuke, Get behind Me,  Satan. (Mt 16,23) He went on, as we know, to great heights of holiness eventually.

[So we take a moment to pray for the present Pope amid all the crises in Church and state.]

We pray for each other that we learn what God requires of us in participating in our own salvation.  It might be a wild ride!. We are not told much of what will happen tomorrow or any future time. We could have an easier time, or a harder one. We might die in peace or be put to death by persecutors.

Sufficient that we know we are not alone. The Lord assures us,  Behold I am with you always (Mt 28,20)

God is  mysterious but very clear sometimes, and the clarity in this case is that putting in our lot with Him is the best investment we ever will make.

Lord, keep us under the shadow of Thy wings.