Homily of the 11^th Sunday of OT, 2026

The homily today focuses on Jesus’ teaching about laborers in God’s field and a message to preach.

The first point is: Jesus said: “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” How do we understand Jesus’ teaching?

The harvest is of the Lord, not us. workers also come from the Lord. He is the one to decide when the time for harvest will be. Also, the Lord is the One who will provide workers with his harvest.

Vocation is a personal response to God’s invitation, not human initiating. People are curious about my vocation; how did I choose to become a priest? It was a long story. I remember on that Sunday, the priest's announcement about the shortage of priests hit my heart. I heard the call and I wanted to respond to that call, and my journey began. It was not a smooth and easy road, but it was a narrow and rough road like Jesus said. But with God’s grace, I am who I am now.

The second point is: What do Jesus’ disciples have to proclaim? Jesus gave the twelves a clear message to proclaim: “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

One thing we all should understand: Jesus did not tell his disciples to proclaim about the “end time” or “judgment day,” etc.… but “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” I say this because I see on social media nowadays, there are many preachers or Christian broadcasts warning people about those things. Their messages only give you fear, and that fear will not help our faith, hope and love. Yes, Jesus teaches us about His Judgment Day, but he said it not to scare us, but to prepare us for what comes next. The Church Fathers taught about the holy fear or filial fear is the fear of offending God and excluded from the kingdom of heaven.

Where is “the kingdom of heaven” you may ask? The kingdom of heaven is in our midst; wherever people gather to worship true God, love each other as Jesus commands, there is the kingdom of heaven. Wherever sins exist, injustice exists, violence exists, there is the kingdom of darkness. We all must tell our children and our friends that they better to repent and get into the kingdom of heaven now before it is too late.

Let me tell you, the Catholic Church is the kingdom of heaven. In the creed, we say: We believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Apostolic means: at first, Jesus chose and sent the twelves, then the twelve chose their successors which we call bishops to continue their missions in the Church until now. Ordained priests are cooperating with their bishops to work in the Lord’s harvest. The lay faithful are called to cooperate with their priests to work for the kingdom. We call it Lay Apostolate. Vatican II makes it clear that the evangelization is not only the bishop's task, but it is the task of the whole faithful. Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we all share in this mission. That is the meaning of our baptism. In different ways, we all participate in Christ’s priesthood, prophets and kings.

Dear friends in Christ, I am grateful to my parents who brought me to baptism in the Catholic Church. My parents did not take away my freedom when they did this because when I grew up, I continued to choose to belong to the Catholic Church which is the Kingdom of heaven. 

Jesus also said: without cost we have received, without cost we are to give. So, we, to different degrees, participate in our Father’s harvest field. Remember: A worker or a laborer is supposed to do the will of the master, not another way around. Don’t ever forget to pray for vocations in the Church. “Without priest there is no Mass, without Mass there is no Church.”