Cycle A - Year II:

11 October 2020: Twenty-eight Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-10

Second Reading: Philippians 4:12-14

Gospel: Please Read Matthew 22:1-14

"Our invitation to the heavenly feast!"

As Christmas is approaching, we yearn for what it used to be when things were normal before this pandemic. So we miss socializing, attending group events and feasts, and even in public worship it is likely that we will also be missing the traditional Simbang Gabi Masses.

But like a river whose flowing water never goes back, so is our life. We need to face this pandemic where so many things are not allowed for now because of health protocol, and just continue living.

This Sunday's Gospel narrative somehow brings us back to the old normal, when people gather and celebrate life. Our Lord Jesus tells of a parable of a wedding feast to teach us about God's kingdom.

Jesus uses the event of a wedding feast in order for His listeners to better understand how God invites us
to the heavenly home. By the way, one of the most beautiful images of heaven in the Scriptures is the banquet and wedding celebration given by the king for his son.

The Gospel story in brief: The king gave a wedding feast for his son. In the first round of invitations, there is a select set of invited guests. The invitations were sent out well in advance so the guests would have plenty of time to prepare for coming to the feast. But none wanted to come.

The feast was ready but those invited were not worthy to come. So the king invited all those that his servants could find in the main roads to come to the wedding feast and so the hall was filled with guests, the "bad and the good alike".

The parable story concludes with the king finding one guest who was not properly dressed in a wedding garment. He had the guest bound and "cast him into the darkness outside."

What can a royal wedding party tell us about God's kingdom?

God invites all of us to the banquet of salvation, but we need to prepare ourselves for the event when it comes. None of us know the moment when we will be called to the feast. We must therefore prepare ourselves by clothing ourselves in our faith at all times. We must live the life Jesus teaches us to live in order to prepare for that call or invitation, that moment when we find ourselves in front of the Lord.

But also we must heed the warning of the parable. Just because everyone is invited to the wedding it does not mean that everyone gets to stay for supper. The message of the story is clear that we have to be properly disposed for the banquet, and if we are not prepared, we will not eat of the feast.

The man in the parable was cast out because he remained clothed in his sin and iniquities, perhaps not realizing that such invitation to the wedding feast would come at that moment.

Also in the first reading, Isaiah tells Israel that "the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines."

So then, God invites each one of us to His banquet that we may share in His joy. The call to holiness is made to everyone. It is a call to realize that we are invited to become children of the Father, and presented with a great banquet to which we are all invited.

We must be ready and willing to respond to God's invitation, and we must be in the right wedding garment, that is to say, free from the stain of sin, when we feast at the Lord's banquet table.

Finally, this pandemic forces us to re-examine our priorities in life. We need to go back to the basic, God our Father who invites us to His Son's banquet in heaven.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!