Gospel: Matthew
22:1-14
Jesus again in reply
spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables saying,
“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for
his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell
those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened
cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.” Some ignored
the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The
rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was
enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were
invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and
invite to the feast whomever you find.’ The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with
guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not
dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you
came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then
the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into
the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many
are invited, but few are chosen.”
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Reflection:
A father would always
wake up early every Sunday to prepare himself to go to church for Holy Mass. He
would patiently wait to hear the church bells to toll. And the moment he hears
it he would tell his family that the tolling of church bells is the invitation
of the lord let us respond and go to church for Mass.
As we move on with
our lives in this world. There would be people who will invite us to attend
Holy Mass. However, because of our many preoccupations we don’t give an ear to
many of them we just hear them and not take them seriously. If only we would
take time to listen, we would be entitled to many blessings including the
gateway to heaven.
For example, what
blessing/s does your attendance at Holy Mass gives you? When you attend Holy
Mass you have a foretaste of heaven while you’re still in this world. You may
not know it but you’re healed of your emotional, spiritual and physical
sickness.
This is true,
observe those who regularly attend daily Mass. They are mostly senior citizens;
they are mostly retired yet they are not tired neither sick. In fact, they are
physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy to regularly attend daily Mass.
In our gospel, the
king gave a wedding banquet. So he told
his servants to call the invited guests to the feast but because of their many
preoccupations they refused to heed the call. And in the process they missed to
be in the presence of the king. The king who could have given them something
that they would very much treasure for the rest of their lives. The king who
could have given them protection and security. And the king who could have been
their close friend.
Let us not refuse
God’s call for us to be closer to HIM. We have nothing to lose but everything
to gain if we would only listen to HIS invitation to be present at His wedding
banquet which is none other than the celebration of the Holy Mass. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
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