Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 1, 2017 – Year A
Readings: Ez 18:25-28 / Ps 25 / Phil 2:1-11 / Mt 21:28-32
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

Today is the first day of October, the month of the Holy Rosary. In just two months and twenty-four days, we will be celebrating Christmas 2017. But this month we will first celebrate the feast of the Holy Rosary, this coming Saturday, then we will be joining more than 1.2 billion Christian Catholics all over the world on October 13 in celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the Blessed Mother’s last apparition at Fatima.

The faithful all over the world have experienced thousands of miracles over the past hundred years through the intercession of the Blessed Mother of Fatima. Here in Holy Name of Mary, I have heard a good number of testimonies of graces and blessings received from asking the Blessed Mother’s prayers.

The Virgin Mary instructs all of us, her children, that if we want to receive graces and even see miracles during our lifetimes here on earth, we should do what her Son, the Lord Jesus, tells us to do.

In today’s gospel, the Lord instructs us to be obedient to God’s commandments. Putting into practice and obeying God’s teachings in the sacred scriptures will make our lives in this world easier and happier. Just as, for example, obeying traffic rules will make our driving a more pleasant experience.

In Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians, which we heard in today’s second reading, the apostle said, “Brothers and sisters, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, and have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus.” He is simply telling us to love as Jesus loves.

To do this, we need to always be in close communion with Him, and this is primarily done through prayer. In fact, in his first letter to the Thessalonians, Saint Paul said, “Pray without ceasing.”

There are so many methods of prayers, and there are now thousands of books written about prayer. But we can never go wrong if we ask the Blessed Mother to teach us all and to be with us as we pray.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen (who I believe will be canonized a saint in time) used to end his talk about the Blessed Mother by reading a poem written by Mary Dixon Thayer, which runs like this:

Lovely Lady dressed in blue —
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
Tell me what to say!

Did you lift Him up, sometimes,
Gently on your knee?
Did you sing to Him the way
Mother does to me?

Did you hold His hand at night?
Did you ever try
Telling stories of the world?
O! And did He cry?

Do you really think He cares
If I tell Him things —
Little things that happen? And
Do the Angels’ wings

Make a noise? And can He hear
Me if I speak low?
Does He understand me now?
Tell me — for you know.

Lovely Lady dressed in blue —
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
And you know the way.