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Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Reflection for August 20, Thursday; Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church: Matthew 22:1-14


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:
Do we always find time for Holy Mass especially during Sundays? Every Holy Mass is an invitation for all of us to be present at the Lord’s banquet. To be present there will not cost us anything except a little of our time. In fact it’s us who will be greatly blessed by the Lord if we would make ourselves available for Holy Mass.

In the gospel Jesus tells us about a parable regarding a king who had invited guest to come to the wedding banquet of his son. But for the reason of their preoccupation nobody came to honor the king’s invitation. Thus, they missed the opportunity to break bread with the king, his son and other members of his family.
    
This is also what we miss when we fail to attend Holy Mass. We miss the opportunity to break bread with Jesus and partake of His Body and Blood and subsequently be strengthened by it. However, we are in an extra-ordinary time right now because of the covid-19 pandemic. Many of us will not be able to be there so we have to make it a point to watch Holy using the internet or TV.

Let us always find time to respond to Jesus’ invitation to be with Him at Holy Mass no matter how busy we are. Let us not miss the opportunity to be blessed by Him and to be up close and personal with our Lord.

Do you always find time to be with Jesus at Holy Mass? – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

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