JOYFUL GOSPEL LIVING – 27th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (OCTOBER 4, 2026)
“I have chosen you from the world, says the Lord.”
This weekend, the Scriptures provide us with the images of vineyards that God planted with the hope of producing good fruit. The Prophet Isaiah compared the disappointing vineyard yield in his prophecy to the fickle people of Israel, with only wild grapes after careful cultivation.
Psalm 80 and its response “The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel” also provided a meditation on the relationship of God with His vineyard–His chosen people. Finally, the Gospel provided a parable from Jesus with the warning to take our calling seriously to do what God expects of us.
When we hear the Gospel acclamation at Mass, the cantor sings a verse from Scripture in between our Alleluias. Along with the images of vineyards, the Gospel acclamation tells us: “I have chosen you from the world, says the Lord.” How aware are we of what it means to be chosen?
This year, the feast of St. Francis falls on the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time with these powerful readings to contemplate. We know that when Christ spoke to Francis from the Crucifix of San Damiano, the saint took literally what he heard: rebuild run-down churches (later, he understood that Christ meant His Church); renounce worldly allures, including his father’s ambitions for him; give up all of his possessions; and go from town to town proclaiming the Good News by living it with joy and fidelity.
Because this has been a Jubilee Year of St. Francis that has marked the 8th Centenary (800 years) since his passing to eternal life, the friars of the OFM Conventual shared a novena that began on September 25th to reflect on the life of Saint Francis from the perspective of nine colleagues (eight brothers in the Order and Lady Jacopa de Settesoli (a noblewoman whom Francis called “Brother”), who are buried close to St. Francis in the Basilica in Assisi.
Just as Christ chose Francis and has chosen us, Francis likewise invited others to follow Christ. One of his original brothers was the nobleman Rufino of Assisi, who is buried in the crypt church with Francis. On the eighth day of the novena, Rufino reflected on his personal experience of what it meant to embrace Christ as Francis did. The setting for this reflection is in the courtyard of the bishop of Assisi:
“My family were nobility. When the townspeople rose and burned the great houses we ran to Perugia, and [Saint] Clare, who is my cousin, was a small child in that flight. So when I tell you that a town can tear itself in half, I am not speaking generally. I prayed. That is what I did and it is very nearly all I did. I was no use in conversation, I could not preach, and when Francis made me go and preach anyway I did it half undressed and made a fool of myself, and then he came and did the same beside me so that I would not be the only fool in the town square.
Then the bishop excommunicated the mayor, and the mayor forbade the town to do business with the bishop, and not one churchman and not one layman went near either of them. Francis was in bed and going blind, and what he said was this. It is a disgrace to you, servants of God, that these two hate each other and nobody is doing anything about it. To us. He said it to us, the praying ones.
Then he wrote one verse, and he sent us to sing it. I have no voice. I never had one. But he did not ask me to make a speech, and he did not ask me to be persuasive, and he did not ask me to be right. He asked me to carry his words across a courtyard and let them out of my mouth. So we stood in front of the bishop and the mayor and half the city and we sang, and the mayor knelt down on the stones, and the bishop said he was quick-tempered and sorry for it, and it was over. I could not preach. I could sing another man’s poem. It turned out that was enough. Prayer that will not get up and walk across a courtyard is not yet prayer.”
What would we do if we were chosen to bring a message to two powerful and quarreling people? Would we feel inadequate? How would our message be received? Would they hear the voice of Christ in the message?
The verse that Francis gave to Rufino was an addition to his Canticle of the Creatures:
“Praised be to You, my Lord, though those who give pardon for Your love, and who bear infirmity and tribulation. Blessed are those who endure in peace, for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.”
What faith it took to be obedient and bring the message of that song to the bishop and the mayor! Rufino learned to practice prayer without ceasing. God’s vineyard in Assisi, which had previously been witness to a most public quarrel, likewise saw reconciliation through the words of a song. These stories give us such hope for our world, if we only choose to remember that we too are chosen by God to share His love in our world.
For many generations, God has looked after His vineyard with loving care. God provides for all of our needs, as we hear in the song “Table Of Plenty.” With each new day, we have the opportunity to be aware of God’s Presence in our lives and to desire a relationship with Him above all other desires. God will never disappoint that kind of longing because His love for us is boundless.
If we become acutely aware that we are chosen, then we will open ourselves to the graces to be found in God’s vineyard and we will act with great purpose:
“…go and bear fruit that will remain.”
Teresa S. Redder, OFS
Saint Katharine Drexel Regional Minister
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