St. Paul the Apostle School

"THE MASS"
with
Members of SPA Parish Staff
(Fr. Tom Jones, CSP, Christopher Walker, Fr. Brad Schoeberle,
CSP, Joan Doyle)
Date, Time, Location TBA

Fee: $5.00 per person per session

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Look for Something Special in October, sponsored by Amnesty International: Sr. Dianna Ortiz, human rights activist and advocate for victims of torture, will be at SPA, as a stop on her national book tour. Sr. Dianna will speak about her traumatic personal experience of torture at the hands of Guatemalan security forces and how she has come to forgive her captors. Copies of her book, The Blindfold’s Eyes; My Journey from Torture to the Truth, Will be available for purchase and signing. More details soon.

Weekly Reading/Reflection:

These are the readings for next Sunday, September 29, the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Please read and reflect on these readings during the week (alone or with family and friends), and come to next Sunday's liturgy prepared to listen attentively to the proclamation of the Word of God.

READING I Ezekiel 18:25-28

Thus says the LORD:
You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!"
Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather,
are not your ways unfair?
When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity,
and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die.
But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed,
he does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life;
since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed,
he shall surely live, he shall not die.

READING II Philippians 2:1-11

Brothers and sisters:
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being
of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality
with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

GOSPEL Matthew 21:28-32

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people:
"What is your opinion? A man had two sons.
He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'
He said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards changed his mind and went.
The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir,' but did not go. They answered, "The first."
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.
When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him;
but tax collectors and prostitutes did.
Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds
and believe him."

R E F L E C T I O N

The psalmists do their share of laying blame and taking blame for the evils of the world. How do we come to know the areas of our own sin and seek forgiveness?
Who does our society consider hopelessly lost or incapable of good? If these "lost" people performed an act of good would we be able to see and acknowledge it, or would we be suspicious

©2001 Archdiocese of Chicago. Reprinted from At Home with the Word 2002. Liturgy Training Publications, 1800 North Hermitage Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60622-1101. All rights reserved. Used with permission.