26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (09/27/26)

I don’t like mornings. I’m not a morning person, and I never wake up happy. I have a sleep app that asks me to rate how I wake up: angry red, “blah” yellow, or happy green. After years of using it, I’ve never once chosen green. I’m permanently yellow. But as a kid, there were mornings when I absolutely would have chosen green: waking up to hear, “It’s a snow day! No school!” Or Dad waking you up for deer hunting. Those were green-face mornings. But when Dad woke you up because there was work to do? Definitely red. In today’s Gospel, a father tells his two sons to go work in the vineyard. The first says, “I will not,” but later changes his mind and goes. The second says, “Yes, sir,” but never goes. Jesus makes the point clear: words matter, but actions reveal our hearts. And if we’re honest, I think most of us already know what God is asking us to do. That’s the Holy Spirit—the spiritual gut-check. So: What’s God asking you to do right now? Maybe it’s calling someone you’ve been avoiding. Forgiving someone. Asking forgiveness. Going to confession. Making time for prayer. Being kinder to someone who gets under your skin. Giving up a habit or sin you keep excusing. Reaching out to someone who’s lonely. Or simply taking the next step toward becoming the person God is calling you to be. The good news is that a bad beginning doesn’t have to mean a bad ending. The first son said no, but he changed his mind and went. And even when we say yes, the road won’t always be easy. There will be obstacles and crosses. That doesn’t mean we’ve failed. We just keep working in the vineyard. Every time we pray the Our Father, we say, “Thy will be done.” Let’s not just say it. Let’s do it. So here’s the gut-check: What’s your next step? Whatever the Father is asking of you—go do it. Because this life is our Father’s vineyard.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (08/30/26)

 Something is happening in our parish—and it’s beautiful. We’re growing: more young families, more baptisms, more people becoming Catholic, and more people coming home to the faith after years away. That doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the Holy Spirit moving through this community, through the prayers, service, hospitality, and witness of so many people. Like Jeremiah’s image of God’s word as a fire in his bones, when we encounter something real in Jesus, we can’t help but share it—and that faith spreads. We see it especially in ministries like Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, where children aren’t simply learning facts about God; they’re being given space to encounter Christ. And as our parish grows, we’re asking an important question: how can everything we do point more clearly to Jesus and make it easier for people to encounter Him? That’s at the heart of conversations about our sanctuary and parish spaces. Nothing has been decided, but the vision is simple: put Jesus at the center—literally and spiritually. God is doing great things here, and He’s not finished with this parish. So let’s keep saying yes to Him and stay open to where He leads us next.