In this Sunday's Gospel, we hear a father ask his sons to go work in the vineyard. Every time I hear those words I think of the immigrant workers of California who get up before sunrise to pick strawberries and cut lettuce. I think of the landscapers who work under the hot sun and keep lawns beautiful and green and of the women who clean other people's homes with the same love they give their own. As the son of Oaxacan immigrants, I know that the ones who truly go to work in the vineyard are often the same people this country refuses to accept as neighbors. 

The son who says "Yes, sir" and never goes, looks like a nation that proudly tells how its grandparents arrived from other lands with nothing, and now shuts the door on those who came to this country hoping to give their children a life of opportunity. He also looks like a country that talks so much about defending life while it separates parents from their children and locks them up in detention centers a short distance from our communities.

During the Psalm we ask the Lord to teach us his ways and to remember us in his love and compassion, and that prayer has an answer, because the Psalm promises that God guides the humble to justice and teaches them His way. Although our laws close doors with walls and paperwork, our families have always known how to open paths where there were none, and every time we walk with a neighbor to court or share the little we have, we become the hands through which God keeps that promise. In the first reading, Ezekiel assures us that whoever takes the path of justice shall live, and that path is open to everyone, including you.

Today (9/27/26) at 2pm, we walk in procession for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees under the words "All Are Sacred." If you read this before then, come with us and let your feet give the answer the first son gave. If you read this afterward, know that although the procession has ended, the work in the vineyard has not, and the people who have always worked it are waiting to see whether the rest of us will show up.

The Diocese of San Diego takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously and addresses them promptly, confidentially, and with integrity. To report any incident of sexual misconduct, please contact the Victim Assistance Coordinator.
Criminal abuse that is reported or suspected is reported to law enforcement in accordance with civil law.

Mary Acosta

Office for Child and Youth Protection, Safe Environment & Victim Assistance

(858) 490-8353.