A Changed Mind, A Changed Heart, A Changed Life

 

Deacon Dave · A Changed Mind, A Changed Heart, A Changed Life

Homily for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sept. 27, 2026 Gospel of St. Matthew 21:28-32. Theme: A Changed Mind, A Changed Heart, a Changed Life 

 The Parable of the Two Sons is a story about the importance of “repentance” which in the Bible literally means to “turn around” and take a new direction in life. This was the central theme of the message that Jesus preached as He traveled throughout the Holy Land. The gospels all tell us that from the beginning of His public ministry, He went around the villages and towns saying, “The Kingdom of God has arrived! Repent and turn away from your sins so that you can enter into it!” 

 Our Lord spoke the Parable of the Two Sons to the chief priests and elders of Israel because He wanted them to see the error of their ways. You see, they were confident that they would gain entrance into the Kingdom of God simply because they did everything the law of Moses told them to do. They worshipped on the Lord’s Day and observed all the rituals of Judaism. They gave money for the relief of the poor and fasted on the appointed days. And that all sounds pretty good, right? And it is, that is, if it comes from a humble heart as an expression of one’s love for and devotion to God. And that's where Jesus was telling the leaders that they were missing the mark. Like the second son in the parable who said the right thing for his father to hear, they were more concerned about looking good and sounding good rather than actually being good from the inside out. Even when they witnessed the astounding miracles of Jesus with their own eyes, their religious pride prevented most of them from repenting of their ways. They remained unmoved, untouched, unchanged. 

 And so Christ, who knew their hearts, wasted no time in calling their bluff. And in doing so He shockingly held up before them the example of the tax collectors and prostitutes, two groups that they looked down upon as repugnant and repulsive to God. Jesus even went so far as to tell them that these outcasts whom they wrote off as "spiritual losers", so to speak, would enter the Kingdom of Heaven ahead of them. How so? Because they were honest about their moral status and owned up to their wrongs. They didn't try to excuse and justify themselves as the leaders did. And upon hearing St. John the Baptist preaching and calling people to conversion, they were touched deeply inside. They responded to the grace of God and experienced a change of mind that led to a change of heart that showed itself in a change of behavior. By their repentance they turned their original “no” into a “yes” and became like the first son in the parable who ended up doing his Father’s will. 

 You know, as an aside, I find it very interesting that of all four Gospels only Matthew’s includes this Parable of the Two Sons. Why do you think that is? Well, to answer that we need to recall what Matthew’s profession was before he met Jesus. He wasn’t a fisherman like most of the other Apostles. Do you remember what he was? Yup. He was one of those dirty and despised tax collectors who hung around with the prostitutes. He was one of those outcasts who responded to the call to repentance and so for Matthew this parable was extremely personal. He was a living example of what Jesus was talking about and so I bet that’s why he alone among all the Gospel-writers has passed on to us this story in which tax collectors and prostitutes are the shining stars. 

 Anyhow, through today’s Gospel Jesus is calling each one of us to personally identify where we are and where we stand in our relationship with God and in our practice of religion. Are we like the Jewish leaders who didn’t recognize that they needed conversion of heart and who assumed that they would be granted entrance into the Kingdom simply because they fulfilled their religious duties? Or are we more in line with the repentant tax collectors and prostitutes who owned up to their condition and made the effort to turn away from their sins in order to inherit the Kingdom of God? That’s something that only each one of us can answer honestly for ourselves. 

 In telling this story Jesus is saying that it’s never too late for any of us to change. And He’s assuring us that God always honors and blesses true repentance no matter when it happens in a person’s life. We aren't locked into our past nor defined and held bound by our previous sins because Christ isn’t interested in what we once were. He focuses on what we are now seeking to become. And the first step in taking a new direction in our lives is to see and admit our own spiritual and moral poverty, just like the tax collectors and prostitutes. We need to come before the Lord in humility of heart as they did, asking for the grace of repentance for we all have things that we need to turn away from. And our own experience of repeated failures to successfully change shows us that we cannot do this on our own power. 

 You know, there’s a saying that goes, “the saints are just sinners who never gave up” and so each day we need to keep on asking and we need to keep on trying and never ever give up. We can find the encouragement to do so by remembering that Jesus said that He came to earth precisely to befriend and bestow mercy upon sinners and not to congratulate the self-righteous. And when we fail and fall as we surely will, we have to always remember that what Jesus looks at is the intent of our hearts more than the success of our actions, for He knows very well that we are weak and wounded people. That’s why he gave us the Sacrament of Reconciliation for spiritual healing and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist for spiritual power. It’s important to know that the Church teaches that Holy Communion is not a reward or a gold star for good behavior. Rather, it’s strength for the spiritually weak, medicine for the morally sick, and healing balm for us who are wounded by sin. 

 Every single morning when we open our eyes to a brand new day, the Lord is giving us yet another opportunity to repent and convert, to readjust our minds, to reorient our hearts and to deepen our resolve to live in a life-changing relationship with God. Today’s Parable of the Two Sons assures us that there’s abundant hope for each one of us in this regard, just as there was for Matthew and for the other tax collectors and prostitutes, whom everyone wrote off as being beyond saving. Everyone, that is, except the Lord Jesus Christ. May He be praised forever, Amen!

God’s Seemingly Ridiculous Generosity!

 

Deacon Dave · God's Seemingly Ridiculous Generosity!

Homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept 20, 2026. Gospel of St. Matthew 20:1-16. Theme: God’s Seemingly Ridiculous Generosity! 

 The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard in today's Gospel always gets a lot of comments. Most of these have to do with the apparent injustice of paying people the same wages despite not doing an equal amount of work. However, the point of the story isn’t about business ethics. It’s about how God's ways are so very different from our ways, as our first reading puts it. It's about how God seems to be excessively generous towards us in regards to His love and mercy. It’s about how God's extravagance towards us can seem almost ridiculous because it’s so far beyond how we would do things. 

 The implication Jesus presents to us in this parable is that we who are images of God are to be similarly extravagant and seemingly ridiculous in our generosity towards others and thus pay it forward. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, we should strive to become a bit less self-focused and a bit more responsive to the plight of those who need our own “ridiculous generosity”. And so when we see the suffering of others, we must refuse to be blind to it. And when we hear the cry of the poor we must never close our ears to it. 

 One such group of Christians who embrace this mission of “ridiculous generosity” are the members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. This charitable organization began in 19th century Paris, in the aftermath of the French Revolution. The destitute poor were being decimated by starvation and sickness in their slums. And neither the wealthy nor the Church's higher clergy were doing anything to relieve their suffering. So, in 1833, a 20-year-old Catholic law student named Frederic Ozanam, along with a few classmates, decided that they could no longer simply remain spectators of this deplorable situation. They had reached a breaking point in their faith-lives and realized that sympathy was not enough. They decided to do what Jesus did and bring the Gospel of charity and justice to the poor through concrete acts of compassion. 

 Even though it was extremely dangerous, they began to go out 2-by-2 into the shacks and hovels of the Parisian slums to see with their own eyes what needed to be done. Then they went back to their parishes where they begged for and collected food, clothing, medicine and money to distribute on their next round of visits. As news of what they were doing spread, other people of all ages began to join them and many others began to support them. They formed themselves into an official Church organization and named themselves after St. Vincent de Paul, a famous 17th century French priest who is the patron saint of charitable works. Thanks to mass European immigration, the Society spread throughout the Catholic world and came to the USA in 1845, and to our Archdiocese in 1860. 

 Here at St. Sebastian’s we have been very blessed to have had a parish Conference of the Society for over 50 years. And its members, known as Vincentians, still carry on the tradition of reflecting God’s “ridiculous generosity" just like Frederic and his first companions. They meet in-person with people and learn for themselves what needs to be done. And then they come back to the parish, to us, to collect funds for assistance and relief. In this way our parish Vincentians become your hands, and your feet in serving the needy, and along with the financial and material help that you make possible, they also bring the redeeming love of Jesus Christ that can heal and transform the hearts of those they serve. And this is precisely what makes their service to the poor, infinitely greater, and on a higher plane than non-religious social welfare organizations. 

 Today’s Gospel parable tells us that not all who were sent into the vineyard did the exact same work and yet they all received the exact same reward from God. Well, this is also true about participating in the good works of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. God calls all of us without exception to share the responsibility of serving our neighbor in need, but not all of us will be able to do so in the same way. Some are called to become active Vincentians who personally go out to the poor and we certainly need more of them! Others are called to become Vincentian partners who through their prayers provide vital spiritual support and by their donations make a real difference possible in people’s lives. Both forms of participation in the Society are indispensable; both are desperately needed! 

 Next Sunday is the feast day of St. Vincent de Paul and so I want to give you a “heads up” that we will be having a special collection to support the good works of the Society at all the Masses. So, in the following days listen with the ears of your heart to hear how God might be calling you - as either an active member or a supportive partner - to become a part of the beautiful Vincentian mission of being a reflection of God’s “ridiculous generosity” to those in need.

77x7?!

 

Deacon Dave · 77x7?!

Homily for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 13, 2026. Gospel of St. Matthew 18:21-35. Theme: 77 Times?! 

 In today’s Gospel Jesus tells the story of a servant who owes his master an enormous amount of money. Some traditions tell us that the amount he owed was anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 talents. So, in order to appreciate the shock that must’ve been the response of those who heard of Jesus’ words, I think it helps to know that just one single talent was payment for 20 years of physical labor. So, even at the low end, those 2,000 talents that the servant owed would be equal to about $2 billion dollars in today’s economy... an absurdly large amount far beyond what he could ever hope to repay! And yet, that entire debt was forgiven and the man walked away free! However, the story goes on to tell us that this servant, who received such extraordinary mercy, refused to give even a drop of ordinary mercy to another guy who found himself in the same desperate situation. And that’s the point of the story that Jesus wants us to remember and take to heart. It’s a twist on the Lord’s basic and familiar teaching that we are to treat others the way we ourselves want (and expect) to be treated. 

 In other words, we who have been freed by God from a huge moral debt of sin are to pay it forward by showing this same kind of big-heartedness in forgiving others. And furthermore. Jesus was saying that the amount of mercy that God will show to each one of us will be based on the extent of mercy that we have chosen to show to others. So you see, even though God is wanting and willing to forgive everything we have done, we ourselves will set the bar on how much forgiveness we will receive. And so that we might never forget this, Christ wove it into the daily prayer He gave us where we say: "...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..." These familiar memorized words come so easily to our lips that I think we often overlook what it is that we are actually saying! Every time we pray the “Our Father” we are making a pact with God, so to speak, telling Him to forgive us only and to the extent that we forgive others! 

 And so, with all this in mind, I think that through today's Gospel Jesus is telling us three basic things about forgiveness. We should forgive. We need to forgive. And we will be given the spiritual power to forgive, even in the most difficult of situations. 

 First, we should forgive. Because if we don’t we are in fact rejecting God’s mercy for ourselves. I honestly think that most of us do not keep in mind the reality of this precondition for our own forgiveness. Jesus made this quite clear when talking about the punishment that the unmerciful servant received from his master: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” So, you see, for our own good if nothing else, we should forgive. 

 Secondly, we need to forgive. Otherwise, we’ll end up destroying ourselves. We know that unresolved anger along with the underlying seeds of resentment easily become a spiritual cancer in our lives if we do not treat it with the medicine of mercy. It will entrap us in a toxic attitude that reaches out and poisons all our relationships in one way or another. How cold, callous and cruel it would be to have to live out our days in such a state of mind! There would be no inner serenity. No genuine laughter or contentment. To refuse to forgive is to condemn ourselves to a slow and painful spiritual and emotional death. Holding a grudge means that we are willing to allow past hurts to remain within us like radioactive material, gradually poisoning us from the inside out. We need to forgive if we want to live a happy life to the fullest both in this world and in the next. 

 Thirdly, we truly can forgive because Christ will give us the power to do so as we need it. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross let loose a great river of grace that keeps flowing through all centuries and generations until the end of time. When we need to forgive someone and find it hard to do so, we can jump into this ever running stream. It’s not easy and we might have to put a lot of effort into learning how to swim in these waters of mercy, but we have Christ’s word that it can be done. And so in prayer we simply need to ask Him to make what seems impossible, possible. And he will do so. We have his word on this! 

 So, as we go out from Mass strengthened by the grace of the Eucharist, let’s keep in mind that Jesus didn't say, “Forgive once.” He said: “Forgive seventy-seven times.” This numerical riddle actually means that we need to stop keeping track, we need to stop counting, because forgiveness isn't about keeping score. In trying to live this way, I personally find it helpful to remember something else Jesus said on this topic that is recorded for us in the Gospel of St. Luke, and it’s this: “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven…For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” (Lk. 11:37-38)