October 4, 2026
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 18:21–35

Today is the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. The passage from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew tells us the parable about the vineyard spoken by Jesus. In fact, over the past few Sundays, we have already heard two stories from Jesus that use the image of a vineyard. Today is the third one. I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.

First, Matthew tells us that Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.” (cf. Matt 21:33)

We see the shadow of the Old Testament in the parable spoken by Jesus. Clearly, this landowner refers to the Heavenly Father. The tenants are us. The author of Genesis tells us that when God created the world, He said: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living animals on earth!” God also said: “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit. They shall be yours for food. And to all the wild animals, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the earth, I give all the green plants for food.” (cf. Gen 1:28–30) Today, God has entrusted this world He created to us, asking us to manage it well.

So how are we managing this world created by God? What are we offering to God? Let us look at the world we live in today: the world we live in is full of all kinds of violence. Those whom God created in His own image and likeness—this beautiful world God entrusted to us to care for—is constantly being harmed by war. Human relationships, distorted by human nature, are no longer harmonious. What binds people together is no longer fraternal affection, but self-interest. We are no longer content with what we have, so much so that we seize from others what does not belong to us—property and interests that are not ours. This is precisely the mindset of those tenants in the parable Jesus spoke today—those who refused to give the landowner his share of the produce. (cf. Matt 21:34–39) Because they believed they were entitled to all of it.

In the parable Jesus spoke, we see those servants who were continually sent to the vineyard by the landowner, and we see the landowner’s son. Those servants who were killed by the tenants are the Christian martyrs who faithfully fulfilled the mission the Heavenly Father entrusted to them. This spirit of martyrdom reached its peak in the landowner’s son—Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus Christ is the faithful servant of God, who always accomplished the will of the Father. When the Evangelist John speaks of the relationship between Jesus and the Father, he records these words of Jesus: “Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what the Father does, the Son will do also.” (cf. John 5:19) Our Lord Jesus Christ also asks us to do the same. He says: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will be my servant. The Father will honor whoever serves me.” (cf. John 12:24–26) The meaning is this: if we place special value on everything we possess in our present life and are unwilling to let go of it, we cannot follow Him, much less accomplish His holy will, much less yield fruit.

Today, let us reflect: Are we those wicked tenants? Do we regard everything we currently possess so highly that we are unwilling to let it go, so as to possess the treasure the Heavenly Father gives us—treasure stored up in heaven, where thieves cannot break in and steal, nor moths destroy, treasure that never depreciates? If we make up our minds to let go of everything we currently possess, it means we have decided to accept the values of the Kingdom of Heaven spoken by Jesus, and to live according to those values. Then, like those servants who were killed by the tenants, we will faithfully accomplish the will of God, and with one accord offer this prayer to God:

Almighty ever-living God,
who in the abundance of your kindness
surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you,
pour out your mercy upon us
to pardon what conscience dreads
and to give what prayer does not dare to ask.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica