26th Sunday in Ordinary time -Year A
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This Sunday, Jesus tells a short, uncomfortable story. A father asks two sons to go work in the vineyard. One says no, but later goes. The other says yes, but never shows up. It is a parable so simple, we almost miss how sharp it is. Jesus is clear about who it is for. This is not aimed at pagans or outsiders. It is aimed squarely at religious people, people who know the right words and sound obedient. Jesus is not condemning unbelief so much as disobedience. The polite hypocrisy that says the right things while quietly resisting the Father’s will. St. John Chrysostom put it bluntly, “Not words, but deeds, are what God requires. Nothing so exasperates Him as insincere obedience, while nothing so delights Him as repentance.” Every disciple must face that mirror. Do I publicly profess faith in Christ while privately resisting what He asks of me? It is easy to say, I believe in God in my heart. But if faith never becomes action, it slowly becomes an illusion. Jesus does not expose hypocrisy to shame us. He reveals it to heal us. He wants our hearts and our deeds to speak the same word, to let our yes truly mean yes. Like the second son who initially refused but afterwards changed his mind and went, Jesus invites us to step into the Father’s will, however late, however imperfectly.
Challenge: Where are your public faith and private obedience divided? Where do you say, I will go, but never enter the vineyard? Go, get to work, even if it is late. The Father’s vineyard is still open. — Father John Muir
am writing this article on my first day back from my vacation with my mom. It was an amazing trip and extra special for mom (more on that next week) and it helped the worries of the world fade away. I, like most people I am sure, find that the vacation is never long enough and I wish I could have spent more time. But as the old saying goes “all good things must come to an end”, which is what I was thinking as I left to head back to New Jersey. This had me thinking, who first stated that phrase and why must all good things come to an end? Well simply put, we have other responsibilities and duties in life to perform. I needed to return to the parish for which I am assigned to serve, plus there are family obligations etc., thus the vacation needed to come to an end. This tends to be true about most things in life. Using New Hampshire as another example from my life – my days in college up there were some of the best years of my life but then I graduated and thus the good times came to an end! But then I thought some more and said it is not true of all things for after this life when we enter eternal life it will last forever! It will never come to an end. The only question that remains is will it be a good thing or a bad thing that never comes to an end? This is up to us for of course Heaven is a good thing and Hell is a bad thing and they are both for eternity – so let us remember to live a good life, a life that follows the teaching of Jesus Christ and His Church thus assuring we will end up in heaven where the good life that we will be living will never come to an end – it will be the vacation that lasts forever!!
God Bless you and have a wonderful week, Fr. Michael
SCRIPTURAL REFLECTIONS ON STEWARDSHIP
“Do nothing out of selfishness; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves…”
Pride and ego are hard things to control. We see how others act or dress and think we are superior to them. We idolize our own self-image. But, if we truly believe everything is a gift from God, we recognize all the people that God has put in our lives as gifts! We are grateful for how they enrich our lives. Pray every day for the people in your life: your family, your friends and those who make you angry.
Prayer for Autumn
Dear God, As the weather changes, the birds migrate, and autumn’s flowers, colors, and clouds make their entrance. We thank You for the gift of this beautiful season! Help us use this season to draw closer to each other and to You. Amen.
Prayer for Vocations
Dear God, Give us the courage and strength to answer when You call! Give us clarity and trust to hear Your soft invitations. Give us the love to respond, and the bravery to take the steps that will bring us ever closer to You. Amen.
PRACTICING CATHOLIC
RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS By Colleen Jurkiewicz Dorman
The Why
Sometimes, the Gospel takes everything you think you know about Jesus, throws it in a box, shakes it violently, dumps it on the floor, looks you in the eye and says: “Clean it up.” And there you are, picking up the pieces, wondering how, after 2,000 years, someone can still keep you guessing. Today is one of those Gospels. We know Jesus as a champion of the poor. We envision him as a social justice warrior. And now He’s advocating for time theft in the workplace? Make it make sense. Well, at its heart, today’s Gospel is a story about who gets what. A story about comparison, which we are told is the thief of joy — but without comparison, nothing would ever get done. In this world, wages are set, court cases are settled, international borders are drawn, all by comparing one entity to another and evaluating that comparison to make a judgment. What this Gospel doesn’t tell us is the “why.” The workers who labored longest in the vineyard feel cheated because those who showed up later earn the same wage. This would be egregious — unless we consider that the only criteria used in the comparison is the length of the work day’s duration. Quality and efficiency of work is never even mentioned. For all we know, those all-day workers could have been standing around fanning themselves, and should feel lucky to get what they did. “Why” is a question we ask a lot in this life. Why did my dad die? Why did I get cancer? Why did my husband lose his job? As we pick up the pieces of today’s Gospel, we should ask ourselves this: when we know what we know about Who decides who gets what, do we have to know the “why?”
PRAYER REQUESTS
That God will relieve their suffering and restore them to health. Please pray for: Kellie Salata, Kelly Chinchar, Jessica, Daniel Breslin, Stanley, Joseph Marrone, Anthony, Michael, Joseph, Jessica Esopo, Steve, Audra, Bernadette, James Weiss, Baby Ford, Rosemary Malangone, Elizabeth Malangone, Sue West, Colleen Emery, Richard, Joan Russo, Christina Martin, Mornia Evans, Valerie Valverde, Diana McGuckin, Cheryl Prinjinski, Stephen West, Bryan Westfall, Cathy Bruno, Anne Trainor and Lheny Sunga.
Holy Name Medical Center is looking for Eucharistic Ministers, volunteers, who are willing to help out in giving out Holy Communion to their patients. If you are interested, you can email them at pokafor@holyname.org or call their office at 201-833-3243 or stop by their Pastoral Care Office, behind the chapel, lobby/ground floor at Holy Name Medical Center.
THANK YOU
The gift of Bread & Wine for the first two weeks of September has been given in memory of Louise & John Hansen by Mr. & Mrs. Raymond DeRiso.
The gift of the Sanctuary Lamp for the month of September has been given in memory of Cecelia Jashembowski by Linda J.Sylvestri
Please consider sponsoring our Bread & Wine, Altar Flowers, and the oil for the Sanctuary Lamp.
Opportunities for Parish Support
There are several ways you can help support our parish and honor loved ones at the same time. As you may have noticed on the first Sunday of every month in our bulletin, we thank the donors of our Altar Gifts. You can donate the Bread & Wine, Altar Flowers, or the Sanctuary Lamp in a two-week block for $50 in someone’s memory. We have blocks open for this year. We also need to purchase a new Easter candle each year (the tall candle on the altar) for $300-$400 which can also be donated in someone’s memory. You do not have to fund the entire amount, anything you wish to donate towards the purchase of our Easter candle is appreciated. We also have masses available for your intentions. If you wish to honor someone in any of these ways, please call the rectory.
Prayer for our Nation
God our Father, giver of life, we entrust the United States of America to your loving care. You are the rock on which this nation was founded. You alone are the true source of our cherished rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Reclaim this land for your glory and dwell among your people. Send your Spirit to touch the hearts of our nation’s leaders. Open their minds to the great worth of human life and the responsibilities that accompany human freedom. Remind your people that true happiness is rooted in seeking and doing your will. Through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, patroness of our land, grant us the courage to reject the “culture of death.” Lead us into a new millennium of life. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Praying the ROSARY
The Rosary is a meditation, a time to recall and think about the life of Jesus as seen and experienced by Mary. As the model of faith, Mary’s life sets a pattern that we strive to follow: saying ‘yes’ to God’s will in our lives and sharing His love and message with others. The Mysteries of the Rosary form a mini lesson of faith, using the highlights and significant moments of the life of Jesus. Like paging through a family scrapbook, we see in brief the events of salvation history that are the core of our belief and the hope of our eternal life.
WE NEED BULLETIN ADVERTISERS!!
We would like to thank all the advertisers who have supported us throughout the past year. Our parish benefits greatly from the ads you see in the bulletin. The revenue pays for the printing which is an important means of communication for the parish. If we do not have enough advertisers, the cost of our bulletin goes up. We thank the local businesses that advertise with us especially in these tough economic times. We have some spaces on the back of our bulletin that need filling so if you would like to advertise your business as well as benefit your church, please contact John Patrick Publishing at 1-800-333-3166.
Please support our advertisers at the back cover of bulletin.
