Newsletter 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) 27th September, 2026
Our Lord tells a parable. A father has two sons and tells them to work in his vineyard. The first son says, “No,” but later repents and goes. The second son says, “Yes,” but does not go. The Lord tells this parable to the Scribes and Pharisees. They are like the second son. They preach “Yes” but their hearts say “No” to God. The parable is also told to the “tax collectors” and “prostitutes.” They are like the first son; their lives were originally lives of “No” but after the preaching of St John the Baptist many said “Yes” to God. St Augustine, before his conversion lived with a mistress for 15 years. He was so addicted to sin that he could not overcome it but as we know, he did overcome it and obey God’s Will, so much so that he became a great saint. The aim of course is to do God’s Will without rebelling or grumbling, to do it wholeheartedly and immediately with all one’s heart. In today’s Second Reading, St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians states that Our Lord’s obedience to Our Father is impeccable. We read: “His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God. He emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave.” Our Lord definitely became a slave as shown by how He submitted to mankind. He never even defended Himself. He willingly put Himself into the Romans’ hands for them to crucify Him. The creator became obedient to the creature. Our Lord lived obedience to a perfect degree. A person who inspires us because of their obedience is Aisha Te Kani. She was born with club feet and a heart on the outside of her chest. She knows that God made her to His exact specifications for her unique mission. Doctors said the new-born Aisha wouldn’t survive. Some family members warned, “She is a mistake, a curse. You should put her in a home and forget about her.” As you might imagine, her childhood was hard. She wrote: “I would pray to God before I went to sleep and I would say, okay God, right, in the morning, what I need for you to do is, while I’m asleep, just put my heart back inside my body all right? And then fix my feet, all before I wake up, and then we’ll be sweet.” But that didn’t happen. So at age 10, sitting on the bathroom floor, crying her eyes out, she considered suicide. “God spoke to me in that moment. He said, “Aisha, do you know why I created you like that? I created you like that, so when people look at you, they see me…they can see that miracles still happen today. Medically, it is impossible for you to live. The medical professionals with all their little letters after their names, all try to explain why you’re still here. They look at you and say to themselves, how is that possible? I am God. I just have to prove I am bigger than all of you. I have to prove that you need Me in your lives.” As if her heart and “funny feet” weren’t enough of a cross, at 26, she had a brain abscess. She realised it was all to glorify God. As she was in hospital waiting to go into surgery on her brain, an orderly came by. “I just wanted to say it’s an honour to meet you. Did you know that your name is all over this hospital? Everyone is talking about the girl with the heart on the outside of her body. A girl who is a living miracle.” It was another example of God using her to evanglise. She wrote: “As soon as they come into my room, I tell them all about God. If we don’t inject the world with the Gospel of Jesus, why are we here?” “At 38 years old, I am not here just to have a good time, to make myself a nice life. Nah, that’s my last priority. My first priority is to make sure that every time, every moment, I am awake, the declaration of my life is that Jesus is Lord. So, whoever you are today, you’re not just a normal human being. You are called by God.” Aisha accepted the way God made her with her deformities out of love of God and love of neighbour. Recently I spoke with a man, who in 1979, over 40 years ago, had an after-death experience, where he had an experience of the love of God. As he was telling me this, tears fell from his eyes. That experience of how much God loves Him was so powerful, that over 40 years later, whenever he remembers that moment, he is overcome. Since that moment, he has not been concerned about the cares of this world. All he is concerned about is being obedient to God. Sometimes it is difficult to overcome our self-will. But when we think only those thoughts that are of God’s Will, God, when looking at us, sees His Son. Our Blessed Mother spoke to Luisa Piccaretta about the moment her parents Joachim and Anne left her in the temple. Our Mother said to Luisa: “My child listen to me. I was barely 3 years old, and my parents let me know that they wanted to consecrate me to the Temple (after which I would rarely see them again). I was tiny, I needed their parental care. I deprived myself of two great saints; and then I saw that, as the day approached to be deprived of me, who made their life full of joy, they felt the bitterness as to feel themselves dying, but they were disposed to make the heroic act of leaving me in the Temple. My parents’ love for Me was ordered to God, and they regarded me as a gift given by God, and this gave them the strength to complete the painful sacrifice. We are called never to do our own will but only God’s Will. Our Lord offered His life on the Cross for us. Our challenge is to offer our lives equally to Him.
by Fr Doug Harris
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