September 27, 2026

Dear Parishioners,

This Sunday’s “parable” is not really a parable. It’s a question based on a fictional scenario Jesus poses to the chief priests and elders. It seems pretty obvious to me what the answer is: that the better son is the first one who works in the vineyard even though he said no at first, as opposed to the second son who said he would work and ends up not going into the field. So why did Jesus bother asking this question? Why didn’t he skip the meaningless intro and get right to it: “Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you.”

Let me try to work this through with you here. My guess is that our Lord, in starting with the question, as opposed to immediately delivering the statement, was trying to make the impact of his lesson even more significant. It’s like how a carpenter creates a pilot-hole before driving the nail in the wood to ensure the nail goes in perfectly straight. Remember when Nathan gave David the parable about the wealthy man who stole the poor farmer’s beloved lamb, and then accused David of being that wealthy man? Nathan could have straight out condemned David for being an adulterer and murderer, but starting with the story helped drive home the reality for David, and helped bring about his conversion. Hopefully the chief priests and elders, with our Lord’s question, would realize even more they are like the second son who talks a good talk and doesn’t follow through on action.

And here we go again with the parables: they are challenging and they are meant for us. We are the chief priests and elders. How many of us “talk” a good game, but when it comes time to delivering, we’re nowhere to be found?  I’m the king of this. I have all these great ideas to ‘save the Church’ when I’m praying in the chapel or in a dinner conversation with friends. But when it comes time to volunteer, to reach out to someone, or try to put one of my “brilliant ideas” into action, I’m silent. Is it because I’m afraid? Because I’m lazy? Because my “ideas” weren’t from God and were just me bloviating?

If you think about it, I’m sure you frequently do the same. Say, for example, when you pray about forgiving a family member from whom you are estranged, it feels right and you are resolved to do it. You leave Mass and instead of calling the individual, you watch the Bears game. I’ll call them after the game, you tell yourself. The game ends and, Oh, it’s too late now, I’ll call them at some point next week. And it never happens. Was your inclination to call and forgive not from God? Or were you too lazy or afraid?

For myself, I never quite accept laziness or fear as an excuse for why I don’t follow through on something. Because I know I’m generally not someone who is lazy or afraid. And I don’t think it’s that my “brilliant ideas” weren’t from God (well, sometimes they’re not from God). I think I don’t follow through on what I initially say I’ll do because I’m truly not convinced this will bear fruit. It’s not worth the trouble, I reason. So I let it go.

But it’s not for me to determine what the fruit will be. Back to the parable, we’re not told why the first son went to work in the field. We don’t know if his work bore any fruit. All we know is that he just did it. If the “idea” I have in my mind is from God, then it’s simply for me to trust in him and follow through on it, regardless of what may come of it. That’s really hard, no?

When we look in the mirror and ask those questions to ourselves–is it worth it, will this be a success, will this be a failure–our focus is off God and we are paralyzed. I imagine the second son did this. He said yes at first, but then started navel-gazing and ended up not doing anything. He’s like the servant from the other parable who buried his talent in the sand.

In the end, I suppose this is an invitation to trust yourself. Yes, trust yourself. If you are close to God–and I imagine those of you reading this are–then God is working through you. The ideas and inspirations you have are from him, and if you have the grace and courage to follow through on them, you’ll bear fruit for us all.

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I am pleased to announce that three of our parishioners have received the Archdiocesan Christifidelis Award: Mary Regina and Randall Reither, and Eleanor LaMacchia. This is an annual award the Archdiocese bestows upon lay volunteers. Several of our parishioners have received this award the past few years, and we are honored as a parish to have them recognized on the larger Archdiocesan level. Reggie, Randy, and Elly spend countless hours helping around the parish, from unlocking the church and setting up for daily Mass to manual labor around the parish grounds. We are truly blessed at this parish with wonderful volunteers. May God reward you all your efforts, and congratulations to our newest recipients.

In case you missed last week’s bulletin, parishioner Jim Mirabelli is in the program at Mundelein Seminary to become a permanent deacon for the Catholic Church. Jim will be ordained a deacon in 2029. We are proud of Jim and his wife Kim–thank you both for answering the Lord’s call to serve.

The SPC Oktoberfest, which will take place on Friday, October 2nd. A special thanks to the SPC Women’s Club for hosting this event. Stay tuned in the bulletin for more details, but please save the date.

The annual Pet Blessing in honor of St. Francis of Assisi will take place on Saturday, October 3rd at 9am (following the 8:30am daily Mass). On Friday, Sr. Maria, our new campus minister, and myself will go through the young grades in school for the stuffed animal pet blessing. 

Yours in Christ,

Fr. James