TWENTY SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)
Is 5:1-7; Ps 80; Phil 4:6-9; Mt 21:33-43
For the Sundays of Missionary Month in October 2026, we are pleased to share with you some of the meditations prepared for the month as part of a collaborative initiative involving the National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Italy, India and the United States, together with the PMU International Secretariat.
The commentaries on the biblical readings for Missionary Month have been sent by email to all the PMS National Directors, who may use them in their various missionary animation activities.
We would like to express once again our gratitude to the National Directors who contributed to the preparation of these texts and, in particular, to the authors: Rev. Fr. Alessandro Sacchi (Italy); Rev. Prof. Yesu Karunanidhi (India); and Msgr Roger Landry (United States).
The PMU has also provided some additional points for reflection.
According to the Gospel tradition, on the eve of His Passion, Jesus told the parable of the murderous tenants, in which He foreshadowed the dramatic event of His death. The liturgy of this Sunday presents it by highlighting one aspect of His message, namely the fundamental dogma of Israel—its identity as the chosen people. Indeed, as the first reading, the text offers a passage from Isaiah with the allegory of the vineyard, which describes God’s love for this people, who, instead of remaining faithful, rebelled against Him: a betrayal that consisted essentially in violating the laws contained in the Decalogue, which formed the basis of the covenant between God and Israel. Without the practice of justice, the covenant could not endure, and Isaiah affirmed this, threatening the destruction of the vineyard.
Jesus takes up this theme, addressing, as Luke had emphasized shortly before, the chief priests and elders, that is, the guardians of the covenant. They considered themselves intermediaries between God and His people, and from this they derived honor, respect, power, and material advantage. By virtue of this prerogative, they interfered in the lives of the people, placing burdens on their shoulders that they themselves were unwilling to bear (cf. Mt 23:4). And to secure these privileges, they allied with the Romans and participated with them in the exploitation of the people. Against this instrumentalization of religion, Jesus had protested by driving out the dove sellers and money changers from the Temple, who acted on behalf of the priests. Now, He compares them to the murderous tenants who rebel against the owner of the vineyard, announcing their ruin and the transfer of His covenant to others.
Matthew implies that Jesus was referring to the Church, which, according to Paul, represents the Israel of the last days, the bearer of the new covenant promised by the prophets. Unfortunately, over the centuries, even the leaders of the Church have often fallen into the same contradictions as the priests and elders of Israel, treating adherence to the Church as the only path to salvation and imposing on believers doctrines and practices not always in accordance with the teaching of Jesus. This is what Paul wanted to avoid when, in the passage from the Letter to the Philippians read in this Sunday’s liturgy, he urged them to treasure everything that is true, noble, just, pure, lovable, honorable—in a word, everything that is virtue and worthy of praise, wherever it may be found.
Pope Francis alluded to this directive when, in his Message for 2025 World Mission Sunday, he urged Christians to be “missionaries of hope among the nations” and not to confine themselves to closed or self-referential attitudes, but to proclaim the Gospel by reopening dynamics of fraternal closeness, compassion, and service. Many missionaries overcame the temptation to which the Pope refers when they found themselves among non-Christian populations, for whom being priests conferred no privilege and the structures and patterns of the ancient churches no longer applied. Their experience has certainly helped prevent us from conceiving of the Church as the sole ark of salvation, but rather as a community of brothers and sisters at the service of true peace and of shared, solidary progress
Useful points to consider:
Pope Leo XIV, Homily, Celebration of the Liturgy of the Word and Veneration of the Relics of Saint Augustine, Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro (Pavia), Saturday, 20 June 2026
[…] How can we, […] be a living Church?
The Apostle’s first indication is essential: remain united to Christ, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God. Christ is the foundation of the spiritual building. He is the cornerstone on which our ecclesial journey, our pastoral activity, and our evangelizing mission are built (cf. vv. 4–5).
This our being built on Christ and continually building in Him protects us from the danger of scattering our energies and exhausting ourselves over secondary matters, even good ones, that fail to address what is essential, however. Of course we are called to be realistic. We know that parish communities and diocesan life face countless urgent needs and responsibilities that require commitment and there are also many different activities. Yet, everything must continually be brought back to the centre. We must always build beginning from the cornerstone, ensuring that our efforts do not become fragmented or centred merely upon ourselves and our own efforts. Since Christ is the centre, all of us draw from this one source, and we submit our work to the discernment that comes from His light and His Word. In this way, we build a Church that journeys together, capable of renewal without division – a Church in which everyone recognizes one another as brothers and sisters and joyfully labours in service to the Kingdom of God. […]
Pope Leo XIV, Angelus, St Peter’s Square, Sunday, 29 June 2025
[…] The rock from which Peter received his name is Jesus Christ. He is the rock rejected by the builders, whom God made the cornerstone. This very Square, and the Papal Basilicas of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, are a sign of how that reversal continues in our own day. They are located on the outskirts of the city, “Outside the Walls,” as we say even today. What appears great and glorious to us today, was originally rejected and excluded because it ran counter to the thinking of this world. Those who follow Jesus must tread the path of the Beatitudes, where poverty of spirit, meekness, mercy, hunger and thirst for justice, and peace-making are often met with opposition and even persecution. Yet God’s glory shines forth in his friends and continues to shape them along the way, passing from conversion to conversion.
Dear brothers and sisters, at the tombs of the Apostles, which have been the object of pilgrimage for almost two thousand years, we come to realize that we too can pass from conversion to conversion. The New Testament does not conceal the errors, conflicts and sins of those whom we venerate as the greatest Apostles. Their greatness was shaped by forgiveness. The risen Lord reached out to them more than once, to put them back on the right path. Jesus never calls just one time. That is why we can always hope. […]
Pope Francis, Angelus, Saint Peter’s Square, Sunday, 8 October 2017
This Sunday’s liturgy offers us the parable of the tenants to whom a landowner lends the vineyard which he has planted, and then goes away (cf. Mt 21:33-43). This is how the loyalty of these tenants is tested: the vineyard is entrusted to them, they are to tend it, make it bear fruit and deliver its harvest to the owner. When the time comes to harvest the grapes, the landlord sends his servants to pick the fruit. However, the vineyard tenants assume a possessive attitude. They do not consider themselves to be simple supervisors, but rather landowners, and they refuse to hand over the harvest. They mistreat the servants, to the point of killing them. The landowner is patient with them. He sends more servants, larger in number than the previous ones, but the result is the same. In the end, he patiently decides to send his own son. But those tenants, prisoners to their own possessive behaviour, also kill the son, reasoning that, in this way, they would have the inheritance.
This narrative allegorically illustrates the reproaches of the prophets in the story of Israel. It is a history that belongs to us. It is about the Covenant which God wished to establish with mankind and in which he also called us to participate. Like any other love story, this story of the Covenant has its positive moments too, but it is also marked by betrayal and rejection. In order to make us understand how God the Father responds to the rejection of his love and his proposal of an alliance, the Gospel passage puts a question on the lips of the owner of the vineyard: “When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (v. 40). This question emphasizes that God’s disappointment at the wicked behaviour of mankind is not the last word! This is the great novelty of Christianity: a God who, even though disappointed by our mistakes and our sins, does not fail to keep his Word, does not give up and, most of all, does not seek vengeance! […]
The urgency of replying with good fruits to the call of the Lord, who asks us to become his vineyard, helps us understand what is new and original about the Christian faith. It is not so much the sum of precepts and moral norms but rather, it is first and foremost a proposal of love which God makes through Jesus and continues to make with mankind. It is an invitation to enter into this love story, by becoming a lively and open vine, rich in fruits and hope for everyone. […]
Pope Francis, Angelus, Saint Peter’s Square, Sunday, 4 October 2020
[…] The image of the vineyard is clear: it represents the people whom the Lord has chosen and formed with such care; the servants sent by the landowner are the prophets, sent by God, while the son represents Jesus. And just as the prophets were rejected, so too Christ was rejected and killed.
At the end of the story, Jesus asks the leaders of the people: “When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (v. 40). And, caught up in the logic of the narrative, they deliver their own sentence: the householder, they say, will severely punish those wicked people and “let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons” (v. 41).
With this very harsh parable, Jesus confronts his interlocutors with their responsibility, and he does so with extreme clarity. But let us not think that this admonition applies only to those who rejected Jesus at that time. It applies to all times, including our own. Even today God awaits the fruits of his vineyard from those he has sent to work in it. All of us.
In any age, those who have authority, any authority, also in the Church, in the People of God, may be tempted to work in their own interests instead of those of God. And Jesus says that true authority is when one performs service; it is in serving, not exploiting others. The vineyard is the Lord’s, not ours. Authority is a service, and as such should be exercised for the good of all and for the dissemination of the Gospel. It is awful to see when people who have authority in the Church seek their own interests.
