Reflection on Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 27, 2026

Ezekiel 18:25-28, Psalm 25, Philippians 2:1-11, Matthew 21:28-32

    Complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love….

Was there ever a time when you didn’t know there was an emptiness in your heart – until it was filled?

Many years ago, I landed at Washington National airport, and rode the then-new Metro train toward the huge cavern of the U.S. Capitol’s Union Station.  To my surprise and great joy, my brothers and sisters warmly welcomed me, waving from a platform as I rolled in. Having grown in independence after college–to become a working girl–I didn’t know there was a loneliness in my heart waiting for my loving siblings to fill it, until they did!

Jesus Himself is the treasure around which the deepest hollow of each of our souls has been shaped—and He longs to fill it with Himself.  He gave us an example by allowing Himself to be emptied first. Leaving behind the glorious appearance of His own divine nature, He joined our lowly human condition.  As Saint Paul told the Philippians in the second reading today, “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.”  With what does Jesus want to fill Himself, now that He has come down to earth “emptied” to dwell among us?

The one burning desire of Jesus is for the singular love and devotion that only we are able to give Him.  He taught that in the Scriptures and relayed it to numerous saints.  Likewise, our reciprocal response to Jesus’ thirst for love means that our empty spaces will be filled with love for Him and others.

The Lord’s self-emptying, which we are called to imitate, is called kenosis. And the most faithful human imitation of this divine self-emptying—the emptying that makes room for God—is found in the perfect woman whom God chose to be His mother. In The Reed of God, the author poetically describes the heart of Mary as the welcoming chalice or nest that God filled with infinite love.  Her virginal emptiness was far from cold; that is a false stereotype.  The Virgin Mary’s most pure heart had a unique creative purpose – to receive infinite Love, Who would live on earth as One of us!

We too should empty our hearts of shallow concerns that do not honor the dignity of a child of God.  The “space” or “silence” left in our souls can then be fruitful like Mary’s.  What a loss if our lives are so full that we don’t leave room for Him!  It is only in being empty vessels that our Lord can turn the water of our everyday lives into the wine of His love.  What an adventure into which we are invited!

The fullness of joy is waiting for us, infinitely more than the joyous welcome my siblings offered me.

Found human in appearance, he humbled himself.