Homily - Sunday 1 October 2023 - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily

Sunday 1 October 2023

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Over the last week or so, there have been plenty of times when the ability to choose has cropped up in our lives. All of us are constantly having to make choices. So much so, that we probably don’t really think about it too deeply. Some can be trivial: Do I get up when the alarm rings or take a few more minutes to lie in bed? Do I have coffee or tea this morning? Brown shoes or black? Most of these probably won’t have a major impact but they are still choices. Perhaps you disagree?

Declan was a big football fan, and his team was playing in a big final. He had the tickets to go to the match with a couple of mates. Bronagh, his wife, was on holiday in Malta with some of her friends and would not be back until two days after the game. All looked good.

The day of the match came, and Declan prepared to go with his friends. However, just as he was going out the door, he got a phone call to say Bronagh had taken ill and was being flown home that night, at the same time as the kick-off.

What does Declan do?

Thankfully, Declan is still married as he chose to pick Bronagh up from the airport as he knew where his priorities were.

However, in an alternate universe, far, far away, another Declan chose to go to the football match. Bronagh kicked him out of the house for abandoning her and for the first time in his life, Declan found himself homeless. This affected his work, so he ended up getting fired and he wished he had made a better decision. He forgot the golden rule, “Happy wife happy life”.

Often, we find ways to complain about the things that go wrong in our lives. We tend to forget that we have been the ones who have made decisions and taken certain paths and have not realised the consequences of those actions. In Matthew’s Gospel this Sunday, the first son is reluctant to do what his father requested, initially refusing to do as he was asked. On thinking about this, he changed his mind. Instead of thinking about himself, he realised his father needed help. In his actions, he proved to be a helpful and loving son. The second son promised he would, but did not carry through. His actions showed he lacked respect for his father. We can easily see the first son was the better son.

Paul reminds us that we need to put others first before ourselves. It is our actions that prove our love for others, not our words.

As sons and daughters of God, we too make promises that we often do not keep, for one reason or another. It is at these times that others suffer because we have not followed through. We have lost our integrity, as Ezekiel describes in the first reading, and fall into sin. In a way, we have died a little, but Ezekiel reminds us that we can choose to change our ways and renounce the wrong we have done. Likewise, to those whom we have promised we can apologize, and make up for the wrong we have done by putting them first above our own self-interests. In doing so, our spirit is lifted, and we come back to life.

Jesus reminds us that we should not be competing with others but working with them so that all benefit. Putting others first is more important.

In the alternative universe, Declan had put his love of a game before the love of Bronagh. On his own, he could not affect the outcome of what would happen on the pitch, but by putting his wife’s needs first he would have been demonstrating his love for her through his actions.

Today, we are being asked do we show our love for God through our actions, or do we put our own self-interests first, and then complain to God when things go wrong.

We have been given a free will to choose. If we can make the right choices and put others first, we will be showing our love for God. If we can be like Jesus, we will be richly rewarded and live. If we put ourselves first, we will gradually die inside, and our hearts will become as hard as rock. The Good News is that we have every opportunity to change our minds and turn back to God. We show our love through what we do for others.

Amen.

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