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Scripture readings<\/a> for Sunday, Sept. 27, Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/p>\n Ez 18:25-28\u00a0 Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9\u00a0 Phil 2:1-11 or Phil 2:1-5\u00a0 Mt 21:28-32<\/p>\n \u201cIs that your final answer?\u201d<\/p>\n Spend enough time watching daytime TV \u2014 as I did recently while recovering from surgery \u2014 and you realize that on most game shows they almost always give you one more chance. You don\u2019t have to lock in your answer right away. There\u2019s time to reconsider, reverse, change direction, have second thoughts. Having doubts? Misgivings? Wondering if you\u2019ve made the wrong choice? There\u2019s a way out.<\/p>\n That is part of the message in this Sunday\u2019s Gospel, too, as we hear how Jesus reminded the chief priests and elders that conversion \u2014 fundamentally, a radical change of heart \u2014 is open to everyone. Some of the most serious and public sinners were changing their lives. But what about everyone else? In telling the parable of the son who belatedly agreed to follow his father\u2019s will, Jesus was sending a not-so-subtle message: It\u2019s not too late to choose another path.<\/p>\n In a world where we often spend so much time making poor choices and stubbornly misguided decisions, God is patiently asking, \u201cReally? Is that your final answer?\u201d<\/p>\n Confronted with this scripture, it\u2019s worth taking time to reconsider our time \u2014 and to rethink the choices we\u2019re making and the answers we are giving to God\u2019s call in our lives.<\/p>\n The first reading, from Ezekiel, states it plainly, focusing on a wayward and sinful man who doesn\u2019t have to live that way: \u201cIf he turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life.\u201d<\/p>\n The psalm that follows offers a prayer for anyone seeking a way to a better life: \u201cYour ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths \u2026 Remember that your compassion, O Lord, How many of us wish we could rewrite the past \u2014 or at least redirect our future? How many of us live with regret?<\/p>\n To all who feel stuck in old habits or stubborn patterns of living, these readings say, simply, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Pope Francis liked to underscore that. He preached often about God\u2019s limitless mercy. He even devoted an entire year to exploring that theme. The Lord is willing to wait for us. At one point, during his Angelus<\/a>, Francis reflected on this passage: \u201cGod is patient with each of us: he does not tire, he does not desist after our \u2018no; he leaves us free even to distance ourselves from him and to make mistakes,\u201d he said. \u201cThinking about God\u2019s patience is wonderful! How the Lord always waits for us; he is always beside us to help us; but he respects our freedom. And he anxiously awaits our \u2018yes,\u2019 so as to welcome us anew in his fatherly arms and to fill us with his boundless mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n Francis went on to explain that conversion doesn\u2019t usually happen overnight. Most of us don\u2019t have a St. Paul road-to-Damascus moment. For most, it is a journey, a process. We need help to get there. The pope suggested a prayer: \u201cLord, give me the grace to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n This should be the desire burning in our hearts \u2014 praying to be transformed, improved, converted in heart and mind from what we were to what God wants us to be!<\/p>\n If prostitutes and tax collectors could do it 2,000 years ago, what about the rest of us today? If we have already made up our minds, maybe it\u2019s time to ask one more question. Deacon Greg Kandra is an award-winning author and journalist, and creator of the blog \u201cThe Deacon\u2019s Bench.\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
and your love are from of old. The sins of my youth and my frailties remember not.\u201d<\/p>\n
This Gospel reminds us that change isn\u2019t easy, and it doesn\u2019t come without effort. But it is possible. God calls us all to be our best selves, our most faithful followers of his will. We need to ask ourselves: Are we listening? Are we at least hearing him and thinking about what he wants for us?<\/p>\n
Is that our final answer?<\/p>\n