Message from Father Jim
27th September 2026
Today’s Gospel speaks to me not only as a priest, but also as a researcher interested in how people think, learn and change. Jesus tells us about two sons. Their father asks both of them to go and work in the vineyard. One says, “No, I will not go” But later, he changes his mind and decides to go. The other immediately says, “Yes, I will go and then does not to go.”
What interests me is what happens between the first response and the eventual action. The first son gives what we might call an automatic response. He reacts immediately with “No.” He does not appear to stop and think it through. But that is not the end of the story. Something happens. He reflects, he reconsiders, and he changes his mind. His first response does not determine his final action.
And perhaps there is something here for all of us. We all have automatic responses. Sometimes we react before we have really thought about what we are saying or doing. We can respond out of habit, experience, emotion or simply because that is how we have learned to respond. But an automatic response does not have to be our final response.
There can be a moment between the reaction and the action, a moment to stop, to think, to listen and to reconsider.
That moment is important because it is where we can exercise our freedom. We can ask ourselves: “Is this really what I want to do? Is this the right response? Is there another way of seeing this?”
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