Joyful Gospel Living – September 20, 2026
“Conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ.”
As we journey through the Season of Creation (September 1st to October 4th), it is good to pay attention to this weekend’s Gospel, in which Jesus tells the parable of a landowner who went out five times during the day to hire workers for his vineyard. How are we being called by Christ to care for His Creation? Jesus is telling us that it doesn’t matter when we are called, but rather that we trust God to be just towards us and others when we labor for the good that He offers to all.
A week after the Day of Prayer for Creation (September 1), my husband Jeff and I hosted a monthly Franciscan Justice Circle for Delaware Valley via Zoom. As part of our gathering, we shared coming events from the Church and United Nations calendars that are significant for awareness and action:
- September 20 – World Cleanup Day (UN)
- September 21 – International Day of Peace (UN)
- September 26 – International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (UN)
- September 27 – World Day of Migrants & Refugees (Church observance)
Unfamiliar with World Cleanup Day, I clicked on the link on the UN website (https://www.un.org/en/observances/cleanup-day) and spent considerable time exploring this year’s theme: From Clean Plates to Clean Cities. The UN introduction drew my immediate attention by sharing that every day, billions of meals are wasted, while millions of people remain hungry. This was a passionate topic of the late Pope Francis, who noted, “There is enough food in the world for no one to go to bed with an empty stomach! More than enough food resources are produced to feed 8 billion people.” (30 Sep 22)
In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul admonished them to “conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ.” As Christians, we are to live in communities committed to fraternal love for our neighbors, both near and far away. Actions always speak louder than words.
When my three brothers and I were growing up, we slowly learned that our Mom had suffered greatly during World War II when the Russian government deported between .5 to 1.5 million people (exact numbers are not available). My Mom’s family was part of the February 1940 deportation in Poland which took them to a labor camp in Siberia. She was just 9 years old, and her two sisters were 7 and 5. Between March and July 1942, there was an arranged “amnesty” in which my grandparents, their three daughters, and thousands of others began the long and arduous walk to British Persia, after enduring great hardship, illness, and hunger. Many people had already died going to and within the camps, and then many more weakened refugees perished on the walk to find a safe haven.
During this difficult trek, my Mom’s youngest sister died of starvation and was buried in Tehran at age 7. The rest of the family waited for transport and later moved to refugee camps in British Africa to await the outcome of the war. Due to the Warsaw Pact, they could never return to their home and family that were left behind in Poland.
Because of my Mom’s experience with hunger and the loss of her sister at such a young age, our family learned to appreciate the food that we had on our table and to minimize waste (leftovers were valued). She frequently reminded us of those in the world who were hungry. My Mom was practicing the Catholic social teaching of solidarity, teaching us to connect this way with others for peace and justice.
The celebration of World Cleanup Day is an opportunity to make a change in our daily conduct to be worthy of living Christ’s Gospel. There is much to learn from the facts provided by the UN’s Food & Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP):
- About 05 billion metric tons of food were wasted in 2022 — 19 percent of food available to consumers. (UNEP)
- 60 percent of consumer food waste comes from households. (UNEP)
- Households waste more than one billion meals every day. (UNEP)
- About 13 percent of food is lost after harvest and before retail. (UNEP)
- Food loss and waste generate 8–10 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions. (UNEP)
- Food waste accounts for up to 14 percent of global methane emissions. (UNEP)
- About 673 million people experienced hunger in 2024. (FAO)
In a letter to the UN Director General of the FAO on 29 Sep 23, Pope Francis wrote:
“How can food loss and waste be stopped?…It is essential to strengthen our conviction that wasted food is an affront to the poor. It is the sense of justice towards the needy that must impel each and every one of us to a categorical change of mentality and behavior…the food we throw away is unjustly taken from the hands of those who lack it. It is also necessary to rekindle in ourselves the awareness of our common belonging to the one universal human family. The person who goes to bed with an empty stomach is our brother [sister]. To share with him [her] what we have is an imperative both of justice and of that fraternal solidarity which springs from family relationships.”
As we labor for Christ to build the Kingdom of God, let us appreciate our worthiness to change our conduct to live with an awareness of the needs of others. Psalm 145 assures us that God is listening to those needs:
“The LORD is near to all who call upon Him.”
Teresa S. Redder, OFS
Saint Katharine Drexel Regional Minister
Leave a Reply