Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"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. Which of the two did his father's will?"

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Many times in our lives we say one thing and do another. Our Yeses and No’s mean maybes. Our promises are broken. Our actions fall short. We let distractions, doubts, and other things derail us from our intended path. We begin fully intending to do right, but end up doing wrong. Other times we complain or resist doing good, but rethink our objections and do God’s Will. We push aside our personal desires or plans and find a way to make things work. We go out to the vineyard because we know it’s what God is calling us to do. Of course, it would be even better for us if we did God’s Will without complaint from the very beginning and that is where we want to be as Christians. We want to follow through on the good and avoid the bad. We want our Yeses and No’s to mean something.

Are we more like the first son, denying God’s Will at first, but then doing what is right? Or are we more like the second son with good intentions, but no follow through? How can we make our lives into living Yeses to God’s Will?

O Lord, help us to do your will without hesitation or complaint.

Amen.

Tenth Saturday of Ordinary Time

But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the Evil One.

It's amazing how much truth can be captured in one sentence. Let your "Yes" mean "Yes," and your "No" mean "No." This saying is something we all should take to heart. It can be so easy to say, "Yes," to something, but then change our minds. We break promises. We forget. We let fears, doubts, and anxieties keep us from following through with our plans. We can be too hasty in saying, both "Yes" and "No." We should put more thought into our decisions and make sure we are making the right choice from the beginning. We shouldn't make decisions lightly or with the knowledge that we are only saying "Yes" or "No" with no plan to follow what we say. This is not to say there aren't times when we should change our minds, especially when new information is discovered. Being too stubborn to change our minds is also a fault. However, changing our minds should be something we take very seriously precisely because we put effort into our initial decision.

Does our "Yes" mean "Yes" and our "No" mean "No?" Do we take time to properly weigh our decisions and responses to others? Do we take our decisions to heart and follow through on them to the best of our abilities?

O Lord, let our "Yes" mean "Yes" and our "No" mean "No."

Amen.