28th Week in Ordinary Time
15th October 2023 (Sunday) Readings and Reflection
Psalter: Week 4
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-10a
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain
Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (R. see 6cd)
R/. In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for length of days unending.
Second Reading: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
Brethren: I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Alleluia
V/. Alleluia R/. Alleluia
V/. May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel : Matthew 22:1-14
At that time: Again Jesus spoke to chief priests and elders of the people, in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Highlight: Super-nourished!
Guidlines: God always wants to feed and strengthen us with the choicest nourishment but it needs a willing and receptive response{alertSuccess}
1. Truly powerfully comforting and soul-soothing are the words about God in the first reading from prophet Isaiah. "The Lord God will wipe away tears from every face, He will remove the reproach of His people from the face of the earth. This is the Lord God for whom we looked. He has come and saved us".
2. Are these not words that assure and lift up our drooping spirits? He will feed us with the choicest food and drink and take away the veil of our sadness, He will grace us again with renewed dignity, He will liberate us from the snares and assaults of the evil one.
3.Certainly, in a struggling situation of want and deprivation, disgrace and shame, anxiety and sadness, entanglement and enslavement, this benevolent intervention of God which relieves and retrieves, is truly heart-embalming.
4. God wants constantly to raise us up, into a new realm of abundance, taste, honour, liberation and joy. Even though we are unworthy and undeserving, yet He treats us with so much respect and concern. He never ceases to invite us for the royal and sumptuous banquet, ever making us aware of its immensity and not-to-miss quality.
5. This banquet prepared by God can refer to the sacramental Eucharistic banquet of love and communion with God, to the fraternal banquet of unity and charity, and also to the eschatological banquet of eternal life. Thereby, we are ceaselessly called to feed ourselves on the Eucharistic Lord and to grow in deep intimacy and union with him. We are also called to nurture and foster the spirit of fraternal duty and joy. Further, we are also called to be ever conscious of our heavenly banquet and to strive hard to become sharers of its richness.
6. In response to such a lavish generosity of God, there can be different responses in the light of the gospel. First, there are some who evade and keep away from it. They give all lame excuses, which are often the worldly preoccupations and self-interests. Shrouded and blinded by the self-centred pursuits, they lose sight of the incomparable value of the royal banquet.
7. Secondly, there are some who not only not respond positively, but even violently react toward God's invitations and messages. They become malicious and pernicious, for no reason. Perhaps, the benevolence of God the King itself becomes irksome and disturbing for these, and so they resent and try to eliminate anything connected to God. They realise very little that it is no favour to God but for their own benefit. These are the ones who are so resentful and hostile toward the church or true religion and any spiritual activities or directives of God.
8. Finally, like the wedding guest without the wedding garment, there are those who take for granted God's rich offers, those who take light the immense value of the banquet of God's feed through numerous gifts and blessings. They are greatly blessed, finding entrance to the banquet hall. They enjoy the honours and privileges, of being shares of God's banquet of blessings. But they do not bother to put on the wedding garment.
9. Already they do not deserve that honour, which is mercifully bestowed by God. They completely forget their essential duty of trying to merit what is gifted to them unmeritedly. What they were before being privileged, is one thing. But what they should be after being honoured, is quite another thing. And the people of this category fail to note this essential difference, and fail to live up to their new honour.
10. This is exactly the case of all those followers of Jesus, whether they are authority, priests or religious or lay people. They do not live up to the new dignity, which is the wedding garment of holiness and benevolence. They do not try at all to merit what they are generously given without their merit.
11. Rather, they continue as in the old. They are at a wedding without the wedding garment. They perform rituals of holiness without growing holy. They bless many without becoming blessed. They preach and instruct others, but without being touched and without practising. They guide others but themselves live misguided. They demand values from others but they themselves are without principles and values.
12. Where are we? How foolish we will be to forfeit God's grace and spiritual banquets, in preference to shallow interests and lesser gains! How sad it is that receiving God's messages incessantly, we continue resentful, negative, and hostile, aggressive, manipulative, and harmful? What a loss it is that we go about our sacred duties and treat our blessings and honours in a very casual and mediocre way.
Practice: What an irony it is to be Enjoying the greatest privileges, but not trying at all to make oneself "fit" and "equipped" with the wedding garment of renewal and virtue!{alertSuccess}