2017October 1,SUN26ORDA

2017October 1,SUN26ORDA

EZ 18:25-28

PS 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 R. (6a) Remember your mercies, O Lord.

PHIL 2:1-11

MT 21:28-32

Good…

Today we celebrate the 26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A and the theme of the Readings is about the Grace of Doing the Will of God.

As Christians today one of the basic questions that we usually ask is : Who will be saved ? Who will enter the Kingdom of God?

Time and Again this question about salvation has been asked through the generations even in time of Jesus. And the answer is given in many parable of Jesus and also in the Parable of the Two Sons that is proclaimed in our Gospel today.

Jesus asked the opinion of the Chief Priests and the leaders of the people about the responses of the Two Sons on the command of the Father to go into his vineyard. The First one answered “ I will not” but later changed his mind and went. The Second answered Yes, I will go but did not go; Which of the two did his father's will?" and They answered, "The first."

In this parable Jesus explains to us that those “WHO DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER” are the ones who are saved and enters the Kingdom of God.

But as Christians we have to really know the Will of the Father for us, for it is only in understanding the Will of the Father that we can be able to follow them.

We ask: What is the Will of the Father for us? St. Paul in the Second Reading for the Letters to the Philippians explains this Will of the Father by having the life of Christ. St. Paul says: “Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus” . This proclamation of St. Paul brings us the centrality of Jesus in our lives; “ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.

And to proclaim Jesus as our “Lord and Savior”  is to live the life of Jesus or as St. Paul puts it to have the attitude of Jesus.

What is the attitude of Jesus that we must also have ?

1.       Christian life is service to others:  “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves”.

2.      Humility : “he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, he humbled himself.”

3.      Obedience : “becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”

These are the attitudes of Christ that St. Paul proclaimed to us so that we can Do the Will of the Father and be saved. But if we look at our lives today : Do we have and live these attitudes of Christ ?

1.       In Christian Service : Do we accept others into our community in love and regard them as more important to us or do we force them to accept our ways and culture thinking that we are much better than them. Sometimes the political issues that we have we also bring them into our Church that is why we like other cultures like the Hispanics to speak English as we do and have Liturgies and prayers like we do.

2.      In Humility: Are we humble enough to go down into the level of those in need and understand and address their concerns or do we condemn them of taking advantage of our generosity?

3.      In Obedience: Jesus commanded us to love one another as He loves us. Do we really love as Jesus loves or we only love those who are submissive to us and those who like us?

We know that we do not usually do what Jesus had done. We know that we sins and fails. But that God has given us also the chance to redeem ourselves and repent our evil ways: Prophet Ezekiel in the Frist Readings proclaims to us that : “But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life.”

And so as Christians we have to be like Christ and do what Christ does, to love as Christ has loved us. This is our Way to Salvation, to the Kingdom of God. AMEN.