The Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

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October 15, 2017

Isaiah 25:6-10; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20; Matthew 22:1-14

The reading from Isaiah holds out the promise of a rich heavenly banquet where our soul’s desires are met. The Lord will provide for every care and He will wipe away every tear from our eyes because he will destroy death – the great barrier that separates us from our loved ones. Our souls will have solemn joy because God has saved a place for us.

Jesus tells his disciples another parable, this one about invitations to a king’s great wedding feast. He gives us these stories so we can know something profound about God’s nature. In this story, God as king invites many people to his son’s wedding, and God is offended by the people’s response. His graciousness and goodwill falls upon deaf ears. What do the people do? For the first offer, they refuse to attend; at the second offer, they attack the king’s servants. Everyone has his or her own particular reason for wanting to do something else instead. The people reject choice wines, free abundant food, and the beneficence of a mighty, influential ruler because they no longer saw this man as important to their daily lives. All this king wanted was to share his joy with his villagers, but they would not acquiesce.

I have not always responded well to invitations. There have been those times when friends make plans to do something on a particular evening, but as the date approaches, other events pop up. I thought, “Well, if I do not hear from my friend, it means that he is not really interested in honoring the plans.” I let our plans slide when it would have been better for me to check out if our plans were still firm. Sometimes friends agree to meet unless something better comes up. In this case, we find ourselves deeply rooted in the Gospel story: we reject the invitation as we become busy with our own agendas.

The moral of the Gospel parable is this: The plans do not matter, but the friendship does, and we have to spend time with friends to keep the relationship secure. God invites us, not to a dinner, but into a friendship. God wants to share with us what is most important and sometimes we barely notice. Imagine the hurt and disappointment when a dinner party host spends hours planning a meal, cleaning and decorating the house, taking notice of the small details you like, spending generously for your delight, and you cancel the plans. I imagine God feels something similar.

However, the message goes deeper. For those who decide to attend, they have to decide to wholeheartedly show up. The man who wore the wrong outfit did the bare minimum to attend. The king gets angry with him for not having the proper disposition. He had the wrong attitude. Our attitudes cannot be hidden. They find ways to speak for themselves.  Therefore, if we make a decision, we must wholly commit to it and enjoy the fullness of the relationship.

In whatever we do, let’s give it our full effort with the most positive interpretation we can find. Again, the most important aspect of our plans is the relationship to which we are being invited. We have to decide if or how we are going to nurture it. God challenges us through these readings. When we show up for an event, let us recognize that we are privileged because someone really does care to invite us. When we come to church, let us consider that God is delighted that we said yes and that God wants to spend time in our presence. As for our clothing, let us put on the garments of love, gratitude, humility, peace and joy, that is, everything that is Christ.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (Romans 1) Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.

Tuesday: (Romans 1) I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe: for Jew first, and then Greek. For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous by faith will live."

Wednesday: (2 Timothy 4) At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, but everyone deserted me. But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it.

Thursday: (Romans 3) All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his Blood, to prove his righteousness.

Friday (Romans 4) What does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. A worker's wage is credited not as a gift, but as something due. But when one does not work, yet believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. 

Saturday (Romans 4) It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith.

Gospel: 

Monday: (Luke 11) "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

Tuesday: (Luke 11) A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine at his home. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said, "Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil.

Wednesday (Luke 10) The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every place he intended to visit. The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.

Thursday (Luke 11) The Lord said: "Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets 
whom your fathers killed. Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building.

Friday (Luke 12) So many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot. Jesus began to speak, first to his disciples, "Beware of the leaven–that is, the hypocrisy–of the Pharisees.

Saturday (Luke 12) Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,
but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

Saints of the Week

October 15: Teresa of Avila, doctor (1515-1582), entered the Carmelites in Avila and became disenchanted with the laxity of the order. She progressed in prayer and had mystical visions. She introduced stricter reforms through her guidance of John of the Cross and Peter Alcantara. They founded the Discalced Carmelites for men and women.

October 16: Hedwig, religious, at age 12 married Henry, a prince who would become king of Silesia. As a monarch, they built a Cistercian monastery for women. They soon built many other religious houses and hospitals. She chose to live in austere poverty to be in solidarity with the poor.

October 16: Margaret Mary Alocoque entered the Visitation Order at Paray-le-Monial in 1671. She received visions of Christ's love and told her Jesuit spiritual director, Claude la Colombiere, who asked her to write about her experiences. They developed the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her community resisted her promotion of the devotion at first, but later came to see the power of the prayers.

October 17: Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr (d. 107) was born around 33 A.D. and became a leading figure in the new church at Antioch. He served as bishop for 38 years before he was persecuted and killed under Emperor Trajan for being a Christian leader. He wrote seven letters about church life in the early second century and is the first-mentioned martyr of Roman heroes in the first Eucharistic Prayer.

October 18: Luke, evangelist (first century) was the author of his version of the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He is described as a doctor and a friend of Paul. He was a well-educated Gentile who was familiar with the Jewish scriptures and he wrote to other Gentiles who were coming into a faith.

October 19: North American Jesuit martyrs: Isaac Jogues, John de Brebeuf, priests, and companions (17th century) were killed between 1642 and 1649 in Canada and the United States. Though they knew of harsh conditions among the warring Huron and Mohawk tribes in the New World, these priests and laymen persisted in evangelizing until they were captured, brutally tortured, and barbarically killed.

October 20: Paul of the Cross, priest (1694-1775), founded the Passionists in 1747. He had a boyhood call that propelled him into a life of austerity and prayer. After receiving several visions, he began to preach missions throughout Italy that mostly focused upon the Passion of the Lord. After his death, a congregation for nuns was begun.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      October 15, 1582: St Teresa of Avila died on this day -- the first day of the new Gregorian calendar. She always wished to have a Jesuit as a confessor.

·      October 16, 1873: About two weeks after Victor Emmanuel's visit to Berlin, where he had long conferences with Bismark, rumors reached the Society in Rome that all of their houses in Rome were threatened.

·      October 17, 1578: St Robert Bellarmine entered the Jesuit novitiate of San Andrea in Rome at the age of 16.

·      October 18, 1553: A theological course was opened in our college in Lisbon; 400 students were at once enrolled.

·      October 19, 1588: At Munster, in Westphalia, the Society opens a college, in spite of an outcry raised locally by some of the Protestants.

·      October 20, 1763: In a pastoral letter read in all his churches, the Archbishop of Paris expressed his bitter regret at the suppression of the Society in France. He described it as a veritable calamity for his country.

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·      October 21, 1568: Fr. Robert Parsons was elected Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He resigned his Fellowship in 1574.