Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and 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 he 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. The king 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:
What are you going to do if say for example a neighbor would invite you
to go to church for Holy Mass? Would we accept it or not? It would
be easy to accept the invitation for those who grew attending Holy Mass. But it
would also be hard to accept the invitation if those who are being invited are
not regular Sunday Mass goers.
But what are we missing when we refuse the invitation of the Lord to be
present at Holy Mass? We miss being in heaven for an hour while we are still
here on earth. We miss to attend the holiest and blessings filled gathering of
people.
In our gospel, those who were invited refused the invitation of the king
to attend the wedding feast of his son. For they all have their own preoccupations
and priorities, but come to think of it; what is one hour for the wedding
feast? What is one hour for our attendance at Holy Mass compared to seven
days or 168 hours that we give to our personal lives in a week?
Jesus in the gospel invites us to go to Holy Mass, He doesn’t care about
who we are: How sinful we are, how poor or rich we are. What the good Lord only
cares is our willingness to be with Him at Holy Mass so that He could
spiritually bless our worldly life.
If our focus is always with our personal and worldly activities we would
end up with nothing eventually. What is with all of these worldly activities
when all of these are not permanent and lasting? When all of these we will
leave behind when we eventually die?! Many of these worldly undertakings that
we prioritize over our worship for Jesus could even result to the disintegration
of our family. Or could even result to our getting sick!
What would it benefit us if we gain all the material riches of this world
yet we don’t have Jesus in our life? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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