Homily: October 4, 2026, Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (No Anxiety)

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 “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.”

This is how St. Paul speaks to us in today’s second reading. “Have no anxiety at all.” We might immediately think: That is easy to say!

But look at the person who said it. St. Paul wrote these words while he was a prisoner. He was facing an uncertain future and even the possibility of death. And yet his Letter to the Philippians is often called the Letter of Joy.

All of us have anxieties. I have my anxieties too—what to preach, how to raise money, what comes next, concerns about family and ministry. Parents worry about their children and their future. We worry about our health, finances, relationships, and many other things.

St. Paul does not simply say, “Stop worrying.” He tells us what to do with our worries: bring them to God.

“By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.”

In other words: Do what you can, and place what you cannot control into the hands of God.

St. Paul could have peace because he knew he had tried to be faithful to what God had entrusted to him. Elsewhere he says, “I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” He had done his part, and he trusted God with the rest.

Sometimes our anxiety also comes because we are distracted. We postpone what needs to be done. We allow our phones, social media, work, and many other things to take our attention. We become too busy for prayer, too busy for our families, and sometimes even too busy for God. Then unfinished things and neglected relationships become sources of worry.

That is why St. Paul ends with very practical advice:

“Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

It is a simple message for us this Sunday: Do faithfully what God has entrusted to you. Pray about what worries you. Do what you can, and entrust the rest to God.

In today’s Gospel, the tenants failed to do what was entrusted to them. Greed took over their hearts, and they lost sight of their responsibility.

May we be different. Let us faithfully do the work God has given us, bring our worries to him in prayer, and trust him with what we cannot control.

Then, as St. Paul promises, “the God of peace will be with you.”


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Holy Family School Mass Homily   Whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely men? How many of you are fans of Ronaldo? Any Messi fans here? What about Neymar? We all have people we admire. Maybe it is a great soccer player, a singer, or someone else we look up to. Maybe some of you even have a favorite teacher here at school! It is good to admire good people. It is good to have people we can look up to and learn from. But we also have to remember that no human person is perfect. In today’s reading, St. Paul had some “fans” too. Paul had preached to the people first, and later another great preacher named Apollos came. Soon people started choosing sides. Some were saying, “I belong to Paul,” while others were saying, “I belong to Apollos.” But Paul basically tells them, “Don’t make this about me!” Why? Because Paul did not want people simply to be his fans. He wanted them to be followers of Jesus Christ. And that is true for...
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