God Welcomes All: September 20, 2026 Virtual Homily
Readings and Virtual Homily for September 20, 2026, Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time;
Readings for Mass this Sunday:
Isaiah 55:6-9
Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18
Philippians 1:20-24, 27
Matthew 20:1-16
Dear Friends and Family,
A deep and abiding sense of the bountiful mercies of God is one theme that we may take away from this week's readings. The readings for Mass the last few weeks have centered on sin and forgiveness; those this week center on the abundant mercy, compassion and steadfast love of God. They urge us to trust in that love.
Isaiah advises the wicked to turn from their sinful ways and throw themselves on the ready mercies of God. "Let them turn to the Lord to find mercy; to our God who is generous in forgiving". (vs. 7)
The psalm assures us that God is merciful toward his works -- almost as if to say, why would God have created you except to love you?
"The Lord is gracious and merciful;
slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
The Lord is good to all,
compassionate toward all your works" (vss. 8-9).
The psalm continues,
"The Lord is....merciful in all his works.
The Lord is near to all who call upon him" (vss. 17-18).
The second reading -- as is often the case -- does not particularly relate to the overall theme of the others. I do like this passage very much, though, for what Paul says about his being ready to go home to the Lord which "is far better" than remaining here (vs. 23). Paul acknowledges that "if I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me" (vs. 22), and clearly, he is down with that. But he makes it clear that his thoughts and his aim increasingly are toward the attainment of the ultimate goal of our life's journey. He is ready to go anytime; has no fear where his earth-bound mortality is concerned.
This strikes me as a blessed state of being, and I would like to get there myself. Not for one minute that I am there right now; nor even close. I sense too much "fruitful work" ahead. But it must be a serene joy to reach a point in life where one might say, as Paul does elsewhere, "I have run the race; what awaits me now is the crown of glory." (That's more less; I am paraphrasing both 2 Timothy 4:7 and 1 Corinthians 9:24).
The Gospel passage reminds us that God welcomes all; that our salvation is not contingent on how much "fruitful work" we have done nor how long we have been at it. The Church is steadfast in its teaching that deathbed conversions are real and result in the salvation of even the most hardened sinners. That, of course, is the easy and straightforward understanding of the parable here (the workers in the vineyard; some of whom worked all day and some for one hour).
There is, in fact, another way to look at this parable. Clearly, those who come to the vineyard at five in the evening receive a reward out of all proportion to their effort. They have been spared the long hours in the sun that those who arrived at six AM endured. But setting aside the timeline, and looking at the parable in terms of reward, in terms of what people are given by a loving and merciful God, it is possible to say that the laborers who arrive at five PM are cradle and lifelong Catholics who have had at their disposal the graces of the sacraments, the graces of the prayer, the teaching and the ministries of the Church. These "workers" have had it easy, compared to those less blessed, compared to those whose experience of life cannot be put into the context of faith. I wrote my master’s thesis with the Dominicans on this subject; the good non-believer who will do the right thing with no thought of reward, but simply because it is the right thing to do.
The great gift of the Catholic (and Orthodox) faith gives our labors meaning, purpose, direction, clarity and support. We receive unmerited graces and in abundance merely because we were baptized as infants. (And yes, the counter argument comes to mind here: it may actually be harder, at times, to be a believer in this world, than to not believe.) In any event, I just want to acknowledge that Catholic and Orthodox Christians have a clearly defined path and a strong set of guardrails making our way toward life's ultimate goal -- the goal Paul says he is ready to reach in today's second reading. I wonder, now and again, how my non-believing friends, good people who, as I say, do the right thing simply because it is the right thing, make sense of a lot of what happens in life.
Just a different perspective on the parable.
I was in Los Angeles at the start of this week for my beloved Aunt Rita's funeral. As I was crossing up into the Tehachapis it occurred to me that for the first time in my life, Aunt Rita was not on the other side of the mountains, waiting for me. There will be a lot of other firsts, over the coming year -- such as next January 11 when I will not text or call or make sure a card has been sent to celebrate her birthday (two weeks before mine; we several times celebrated them together).
It was, in any event, three beautiful days with the family -- my cousins, of course, but also all their spouses and children, all my siblings and in-laws, several of the Sullivan-side nieces, a set of cousins from the other side of the family, and...Rita's friends from all over.
Of course, if one reaches ninety, as Aunt Rita did, many of your family and friends are going to be on the other side, waiting for you. My cousins and I smiled at the thought of Rita's reception, in eternity. But my aunt remained connected to those she loved right through this summer, and she had friends of all ages; our family is large, but her circle of friendship was larger. A lot of people came to honor her that day.
I got back Tuesday evening and was on campus Wednesday; back at it with the teens. We have just completed the sixth week of the semester -- that is, we are one third of the way into the term, and it is only mid-September. It's that time in the semester when you realize you've long since left the runway behind. You are in the air with your classes and your students, and are gaining both speed and altitude. It is still early enough, though, to feel very little pressure, to feel that there is time for everything. A month from now, my experience tells me, that feeling of spaciousness in the semester will be gone; so I am doing what I can to be on track and on pace with my sophomores, as we head into the middle of the term. I do love this autumn's sophomores. They are lively and -- most of the time -- engaged. They are fun to teach.
Speaking of teaching, I will be giving a retreat in Soquel this weekend (at St. Clare) on Franciscan spirituality. The sisters there (who are Franciscan) suggested the topic. I have had to educate myself -- other than the whole "brother sun, sister moon" reverence-for-creation-thing I knew almost nothing about this particular spirituality. My own inclinations with regard to spirituality are, in no particular order, Passionist, Marian and Eucharistic. Diving into the Franciscan way, I thought it commendable to take a brief look at all the major Catholic spiritualities, in order to give an initial talk placing Francis among, for instance, Augustine, Benedict and Dominic. As I say, I've learned some stuff, the past few weeks, prepping for this retreat. Looking forward to it.
I'll sign off here. Hope you are all well and thriving. Take good care and God bless.
Love,
Fr. Brawn