Accept the Invitation
The 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 15, 2023
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Isaiah 25:6-10; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:12-20; Matthew 22:1-14
Isaiah gives us an appealing vision of the Kingdom of God that is filled with abundance, promise, and possibilities. It is a time and space in which there will be no reason for suffering and heartache and our greatest fear, death, is wiped away. It is the lasting peace and harmony that we all seek, a return to the life God originally promised us and is possible if we realize our interconnectedness and that we belong to one another.
In the Parable, God, as king, invites many to the feast for his son’s wedding feast and they do not come. Invitation upon invitation goes out and the invited refuse to attend. The king, with a broken heart, sends out the troops to collect anyone they can find; this is a feast, a celebration, he wants to share with many, and the people hold the wrong attitude. In our world today, God continues to invite people to the feast, and God does not get the wished-for response.
Through the Church, God invites all the people along the highways and byways to the feast through what the Church is calling the Synod on Synodality. The theme is to enlarge the space of our tent. Many are like those invited by the king; they decline for their own reasons. Others do not realize they are being invited, and still more have not even heard of the feast or they do not know the king’s name. Others want to attend the feast and are kept away by the judgments of those in the king’s name.
Our invitation today is to find new ways to invite people to this feast, to let them know they are welcome and belong. We might have to be creative in how we invite people because it appears the old ways are not working. We live in a world that is complex, multicultural, and diverse, and that means that we have to explore new ways of getting along and understanding each other’s needs. The invitation is one of encounter, of finding commonalities rather than distinctions, of walking with one another and having meaningful conversations. The invitation is to hear what each person needs and learning how to decrease one’s suffering. We want mercy when we make mistakes or make poor choices; laws have their place, but mercy reshapes the world into God’s kingdom. Each of us wants to be respected by those who are meaningful to us. Each of us wants to be seen, and heard, and known, by those who can provide for us. Each of us want to tell our stories to someone who can honor us and behold our goodness. We want to be loved. We want to know that we are lovable. At the root of our humanity, each of us wants to be known for our lovableness. I believe that you are precious and of great value and worth, not just to God, but to those around you.
The invitation we are receiving is to believe in our lovableness, and also that of the person sitting beside us. In a world marked by violence and hatred, we can change it into the kingdom of heaven when we increase this love through our mercy. The only way for hatred and violence to be stopped in its tracks is through our individual acts of love – love for self, love for others, love for those who seem different than us. Love is the most powerful and still yet the most unknown energy of the world. Increase your love by saying “yes” to the invitation to the feast, the feast that is the Synod, the feast that will show us how interconnected we are, the feast that will wipe away all tears and bring us joy. Saying “yes” transforms our hearts, and we will heal God’s broken heart, when we thank God for always inviting us deeper into friendship. Come to the feast and let your heart be moved by your experience of God’s greater, vulnerable love.
Scripture for Daily Mass
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.
Tuesday: (Romans 1) I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: 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. May it not be held against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it.
Thursday: (Romans 3) Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.
Friday (Romans 4) Indeed, if Abraham was justified on the basis of his works, he has reason to boast; but this was not so in the sight of God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him 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. For this reason, it depends on faith, so that it may be a gift.
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) After Jesus had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.
Wednesday (Luke 10) The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.
Thursday (Luke 11) 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) I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.
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.
October 23: John of Capistrano, priest, had a vision of Francis of Assisi when he was imprisoned during an Italian civil war at which time he was the governor of Perugia. He entered the Franciscan Friars Minor in 1415 after ending his marriage. He preached missions throughout Europe including a mission to Hungary to preach a crusade against the Turks. After the Christian victory at the Battle of Belgrade in 1456, John died.
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.
- October 21, 1568: Fr. Robert Parsons was elected Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He resigned his Fellowship in 1574.
- October 22, 1870: In France, Garibaldi and his men drove the Jesuits from the Colleges of Dole and Mont Roland.
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