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26th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle A

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How do we know what is right or wrong?  Even when we think we have a firm hand on morality, how then do we turn that into a consistent life ethic?  A way of living each and every day in a manner that reflects our beliefs?  These are difficult questions but as Christians do we turn to our scriptures for some answers:

The Word for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 18:25-28
Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
Philippians 2:1-11
Matthew 21:28-32

This Sunday we open with a passage from Ezekiel.  You may recall that we heard a passage from this same prophet a couple weeks ago.  This week Ezekiel, our great priest/prophet from the Babylonian Exile, has a stern warning for us in a passage from just before the fall of Jerusalem.  Ezekiel “sees the writing on the wall” and is urging the people of Israel to reconsider what is fair in the eyes of the Lord, and to do what is right and just.  While Ezekiel’s message didn’t help the Israelites at that time it does provide us with a valuable lesson today.

Our Psalm this week not only helps us draw the message of our readings together, but it also serves as an important counterbalance to those readings.  Our reading from Ezekiel is quite clear on what behavior allows us to live or die in the sight of the Lord, but as good Catholics we must also remember that God is merciful.  With God we have the ability to repent of our sins and be forgiven.

Our Gospel from Matthew this week has Jesus teaching a parable to the chief priests and elders.  In another story that is unique to Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ teaching authority is being called into question by the chief priests and the elders, so in response he gives us the Parable of the Two Sons.  A father asks his two sons to go work in the vineyard.  One says, “no” but later goes out to work.  One says, “yes” then does not go out to work.  Jesus asks them (and us) “Which of the two did his father’s will?”  The answer not only teaches a valuable lesson but exposes the hypocrisy of the chief priests and elders.  In the end, it is our actions, not our intentions, that speak the truth of our hearts.

Then there is our second reading, a continuation of our study of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  Today’s passage, though not directly related to our topic of morality, does provide us with the key to unlocking its mystery.  Paul teaches us to “do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory.”  In other words, to put other’s needs before our own.  This change of focus is what defines Christian morality and serves as the cornerstone of how we should approach life.

Final thoughts:
Many people look to the Church to tell them what is right or wrong.  If only it was that simple!  The context in which we live our lives is not as black and white as some might think.  Instead, we find ourselves having to navigate through the gray areas in which we live our daily lives.  What the Church does is teach us some baseline principles that we then must apply to the given situation – to form our own consciences based on those baseline teachings.  And don’t for a moment think that one teaching won’t contradict the other in a given situation.  Our readings this week demonstrate this very point – what seems right is actually wrong, and what seems wrong is actually right.

Our readings for this week and next week are intended to give us the tools to help us determine right from wrong – to give us the building blocks of what we call Christian morality.  These then become the tools we use to navigate through the gray areas between right and wrong.  And sometimes there is no perfect answer.  Our lives and our society provide many challenges, but the combination of God’s guidance and God’s mercy will bring us to his light.

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