A Jesuit Adventure

  18 Oct Isaiah 45:1, 4-6 ; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b ; Matthew 22:15-21   My dear friends today we celebrate the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. Today’s readings remind us that God often works in unexpected ways, calls us to live our faith through love and perseverance, and invites us to give Him not just our offerings, but our very lives. The first reading taken from the prophet Isaiah, introduces to us an unlikely hero in salvation history – Cyrus. The Israelites were living in exile in Babylon, longing for freedom and a return to their homeland. Around 539 BC, Cyrus, the Persian king, conquered Babylon and allowed the exiles to return. Surprisingly, God calls Cyrus his “anointed one,” even though Cyrus did not know Him. God chose an unexpected person to bring freedom to His people. The Israelites probably never imagined that their freedom would come through a foreign king. God’s help does not always come from where we expect it. Sometimes, when we pray for ...

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...