27th September 2026

Gospel: Matthew 21, 28 – 32
“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the
first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.” ‘I will
not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the
father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I
will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father
wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell
you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom
of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of
righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and
the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent
and believe him.
___________________________________________________________________________________
  Homily

                 My dear sisters and brothers, I remember as a child,
not yet in my teens, gaining a scholarship to do secondary studies in
a very prestigious school in the capital city of Trinidad, my country
of origin. Of course, my father, himself a teacher, was extremely
proud. One day he sat down to talk to me about his expectations. Of
course, I promised him that I would continue studying and make him
even more proud than he was at the moment. Unfortunately for me, the
school never taught the things that held my interest. I did just
enough work to pass the annual exams, but the promise to my father was
never fulfilled. He always told me about friends of his whose children
were excelling in their studies, while he considered me a failure.

                                                    As I began
preparing for the Mass of this Sunday, that experience came to mind.
The promise made to my father came to mind. I know that if I wanted, I
could have studied much harder but at that moment, what I was
interested in won the day.  After what my father considered failures,
He never thought of me again with his former pride until I joined
religious life.
                            The first reading for this Sunday from the
prophet Ezekiel speaking in Babylon during the exile of the Jews, who
were questioning why they had to suffer for the sins of their fathers,
they are told by the prophet that each individual will be held
responsible for his/her own failures. Conversion is however possible
for each person who repents.
                                                               In the
second reading the Apostle Paul speaking to the Philippians, reminds
them that because of the Spirit which they have all received, they
must be united in the following of Christ and in their imitation of
Him. Paul tells them, “In your minds you must be the same as Christ
Jesus, “who emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave. And
became as men are and being as all men are, He was humbler yet, even
to accepting death, death on a cross.
                                                                  As
we go back to the Gospel, we are met with the story of the two sons,
and with the question; Like which son am I? This question is important
because the answer to it will tell us how we stand before God at this
moment of our lives. There are two movements in this question.  The
first is whether we consider ourselves friends of Jesus. Friends
normally help each other out in difficult moments. Jesus asks us,
those who say that we are his friends for help and the consequence for
those who continually refuse is eternal damnation.

                                      Matthew Chapter 25 tells us 31
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,
then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be
gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place
the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King
will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and
you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was
naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in
prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him,
saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and
give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothed you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison
and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to
you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and
sisters, [a] you did it to me.’ Those who did not do anything for the
poor and suffering receive a very harsh sentence. The above is very
important, my dear sisters and brothers, because so very often, we
have excuses for not helping those in need. They are lazy, they are
just scamps trying to sponge of us hard-working people, etc, etc. We
forget our vocation to be imitators of Christ, who as he walked the
roads and mountains of Judea and Galilee spoke to people about a God
wo loved them and healed the sick and cast out demons, always striving
to make of their world and community a better place for them,
especially those who suffered.

                              My dear sisters and brothers in the
sacraments of baptism and confirmation, we renounce Satan and is wiles
and empty promises. We promised to be friends and imitators of Jesus,
have we forgotten those promises?  Can we say with absolute certainty
that we are trying to be friends and imitators of Jesus? Or are we
like the second son of Jesus’ parable, at one moment saying, “Yes to
the father, but not fulfilling what he had promised.

                                      At the last judgment, saying, I
did not know that it was you! Will not be an excuse, for we have been
told and we must not forget that Jesus identifies himself with those
who are suffering. As friends of Jesus, even when one identifies with
the suffering, we continue being his friends and must act as such. If
we cannot do that, we are not his friends. My dear sisters and
brothers, members of religious communities, when Jesus chose his
apostles, Judas was among them. He accompanied Jesus for three years;
he witnessed Jesus’ apostolate among the poor and suffering and still
he betrayed him. When many years ago, I was a novice, the novice
master told us something that I have never forgotten. He said to us
his novices, “The places where Satan and his minions go at all times
are houses of formation.” Satan does not want any of us to be true
friends of Jesus. He will do anything to prevent that happening. Let
us ask the Lord, our friend, to prevent that if it is will to do so.

        The second movement in this divine drama flows from the
catastrophe of the garden of Eden. It must be remembered that Eden was
a place of total harmony. There was harmony between humans and God.
The book of Genesis tells us that God walked in the garden with Adam
and Eve in the cool of the evening. There was harmony with nature.
Adam named all the animals; there was harmony among humans and there
was harmony within humans. When this harmony was totally lost because
of the sin of Adam and Eve who wanted to be like God, God in is love
for humanity decided to reclaim harmony for humanity whom he loved.
However, since harmony was lost by humanity through their own fault,
it would have to be regained by humans. And so, the history of
salvation began. God revealed himself as a God of love. Through the
Fathers of the faith God formed a people whose task it would be to
prepare the world for the coming of his son Jesus the Christ. Truly
human born of a woman, he would be the sacrifice that would cleanse
the world of the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Along the way
of this journey, several important things took place. The people from
whom the messiah would come was formed. The ten commandments, a
program for harmonious living was promulgated, the Deuteronomic code,
a program winch included ways of being just with strangers and with
the poor was also developed so that people could begin to live and
experience what God in his love wanted for humanity. Finally, Jesus
Christ, son of God and son of a woman, foretold by the prophets, human
as we are, appeared on the scene. He spent three years correcting
humans speaking to them and sowing them the love that God has for
them. Jesus Christ was then and is now the model of Christian living.
A photo of the life of Christ will show us a person who was concerned
about the well-being of the poor and abandoned so that they could form
part of human communities of the Poor. He healed their illnesses, so
that they did not have to beg, thus restoring not only their health
but also a sense of their human dignity. He cured their lepers so that
they could form part of communities. He raised the dead, giving
grieving parents or relatives the help that they needed. How he must
have loved and He is our model. Given the bible story and recognizing
that we are all sons and daughters of God, where do we place
ourselves? After his resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit was
sent to strengthen the apostles and disciples so that they could begin
living the dream of a new world, a world of Peace and harmony, a world
thanking God for the gift of his son, who though he was in the form of
God became a man so that he could rebuild for us what God had promise
from the very beginning.  What remains to be done is very simple but
given Satan’s Hatred, quite difficult. The same temptations which
Jesus underwent in the desert as he began his ministry are the same
temptations which many of our leaders undergo, and which many who call
themselves friends of Jesus experience. The temptations of power,
prestige and pleasure still assail many of our people. When that
happens, the imitation of Christ disappears and harmony is lost. The
wars between Ukraine and Russia, between The USA and Iran, the many
refugee camps with all their indignities, the lack of medical supplies
in so many countries, the exorbitant prices of the necessities of
life, all tell us that humanity has not yet learnt the lesson.  My
brothers and sisters, our homes, our businesses, our schools must be
schools of unselfish living. Unless that happens the Kingdom of
Justice, Peace and Love, a kingdom that is characterized by harmonious
living, will not come into being and we will continue destroying
ourselves. Harmonious living, my sisters and brothers, is the sign
that God is in our midst and that we have said yes to God who has
asked us to go into his garden to produce fruit a hundredfold.

Prayer

                  All powerful and ever-loving God, You are a God of
second chances! After the debacle of Adam and Eve, You still call us
to build your Kingdom of Justice, Peace and Love. Then you sent your
Son to teach us by his life and example, that Love is never selfish,
is never self-centered and constantly thinks of the other, constantly
seeks their good, and is constantly open to help the other. Help us
Father to live so that we create communities of love, so that, in the
Kingdom which carries your name You may be glorified as the Father of
love. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our mother and
Jesus, your Son and our brother, Amen