A Jesuit Adventure

11 oct 2026 Isaiah 25:6-10a; Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20; Matthew 22:1-14  My dear friends today we celebrate the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. Today’s readings remind us that God continually invites us to the banquet of his love and grace. But sometimes, in the busyness of life, we can become so distracted that we miss what God is offering us. The first reading taken from the prophet Isaiah gives us a beautiful picture of hope. The prophet speaks to a people who have experienced suffering, fear and uncertainty. In the midst of this darkness, Isaiah announces that God is preparing a great feast on his holy mountain—a feast rich in food and wine, prepared not for a select few, but for all peoples. It is a picture of God’s generosity, welcome and abundance. The passage reminds us that God sees our pain and does not abandon us in our suffering. His plan is not simply to give us temporary comfort, but to lead us towards fullness of life. We too carry our own fears, losse...

  4 Oct Isaiah 5:1-7 ; Philippians 4:6-9 ; Matthew 21:33-43   My dear friends today we celebrate the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. The readings remind us that everything we have is a gift entrusted to us by God. The question is not only what we have received, but what fruit we are producing with what God has placed in our hands. In the first reading the prophet Isaiah speaks to the people of Judah in the eighth century BC, at a time when God’s people had received much, yet were failing to live faithfully. Through the beautiful image of a vineyard, Isaiah describes God’s relationship with Israel. The owner carefully prepares the vineyard, plants the best vines, protects them, and provides everything they need. Yet, at harvest, it produces only wild grapes. The vineyard represents Israel, and God is the owner. God had given his people everything they needed to flourish, but they failed to produce the fruit he expected. And what fruit was God looking for? ...

  27 Sep Ezekiel 18:25-28 ; Philippians 2:1-11 ; Matthew 21:28-32   We all make promises, make mistakes, and sometimes even change our minds. On t he Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A , the readings remind us that what matters is not where we started, but whether we are willing to change and say “yes” to Him with our lives. The prophet Ezekiel speaks to the people of Israel during a very difficult time. They had been conquered, taken from their homes and were living in exile in Babylon. Many of them felt that they were suffering because of the sins of their ancestors. They used a proverb: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” In other words, “We are suffering because of what others did.” But God challenges this way of thinking. He tells them that each person is responsible for his or her own choices. A person who turns away from sin and begins to live rightly can have a new beginning. The past does not have to determine...

  20 Sep 2026 Isaiah 55:6-9 ; Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a ; Matthew 20:1-16a   My dear friends, today we celebrate the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. Today, Jesus reminds us that God’s grace is not a reward we earn, but a gift of His generous and boundless love. The first reading taken from the prophet Isaiah comes in the context of Israel's experience of exile. The people had known suffering, displacement and the consequences of turning away from God. Yet God does not abandon them. Instead, He invites them to return, seek Him and receive His mercy. There is a sense of urgency in the reading. God’s invitation is being offered now. We can easily postpone prayer, forgiveness, conversion and reconciliation, telling ourselves, “I will do it later.” But grace calls us in the present moment. The prophet then says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous his thoughts.” Conversion is not merely changing what we do; it also means allowing God to change th...

  13 Sept 2026 Sirach 27:30—28:7 ; Romans 14:7-9 , Matthew 18:21-35 My dear friends today we celebrate the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. The readings remind us that because we belong to Christ and have received God’s abundant mercy, we are called to forgive—not by forgetting the hurt, but by refusing to let it control our lives. The Book of Sirach was written by Jesus ben Sirach, a Jewish wisdom teacher in Jerusalem, probably in the early second century BC. He was concerned with helping people live faithfully in ordinary family and community life. This passage comes within his teaching about relationships, friendship, anger and the danger of allowing resentment to destroy our lives. Sirach warns us that anger can easily become something we hold on to. When we are hurt, we may feel that we have every right to remain angry. We replay the incident, remember the words spoken against us and sometimes even imagine how we might get revenge. But the longer we hold on to r...

  6 sep 2026 Ezekiel 33:7-9 ; Romans 13:8-10 ; Matthew 18:15-20   Christian love is more than being kind to people we like; it also means having the courage to correct, the humility to listen, and the grace to forgive. In the readings from the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, Jesus teaches us how to deal with broken relationships—not by gossip or revenge, but through truth, love, forgiveness and prayer. Ezekiel lived during a painful period in Israel’s history. Jerusalem was under threat from Babylon, and many Israelites had already been taken into exile. In this situation, God gives Ezekiel a particular mission: “I have appointed you as watchman for the house of Israel.” A watchman stood on the city walls, watching for danger and sounding the trumpet when danger appeared. His responsibility was to warn the people; whether they listened or not was their responsibility. This image of the watchman speaks powerfully to us today. We are not responsible for changi...