Who’s the Real Owner?

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

October 4, 2026

📖 LITURGICAL READINGS
First Reading	Isaiah 5:1-7
Responsorial Psalm	Psalm 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
Second Reading	Philippians 4:6-9
Gospel	Matthew 21:33-43

🌱 Reflection

Author: Frt. Jiggy R. Joson – MSP Affiliate Member

Our Gospel this Sunday tells us of a landowner who leased his vineyard to tenants. But when harvest time came, the tenants no longer wanted to give the landowner his share of the produce. They seized and killed the landowner’s servants, including his son, thinking that they would be able to own the vineyard. Clearly, this was not possible, for the vineyard would be taken from these tenants and given to those who are more responsible and accountable.

Our very lives are a concrete reminder that we are simply caretakers, not owners. We are only entrusted with different things and delegated to do various tasks. As caretakers, we are meant to take good care of the Owner's property. This means we are to manage and tend to these things responsibly and accountably. We do not lord it over them, nor claim them as our own.

The problem is that we often assume that everything we have is ours. We even think that we own the time, talents, and treasures that we possess right now, when they have only been entrusted to us. The truth is that at any time the real Owner decides to, He can take it all from us, including our lives.

I remember that in one of our recollections, we were asked to think of something we could own or that belonged to us. For a moment, we were silent, wondering if there was really something we could say was ours. Finally, the recollection giver told us, “Perhaps, if there is one thing that we can own as ours, it is our sin.”

Today, we are challenged to stop acting like entitled owners and become good caretakers who can give back to the real Owner the things He entrusted to us, with an increase. Let us not become like those tenants who, instead of being grateful to the landowner, were ungrateful; who, instead of giving back to the landowner what belonged to him, took more from him; and who, instead of acknowledging the landowner’s rightful ownership, outright rejected it.

May this be a humbling reminder that everything good we have comes from the Lord, while our sins are ours to acknowledge and repent of. Let us learn to receive His gifts with gratitude, care for them faithfully, and use them according to His will.

Amen.