TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)
October 15, 2023

FIRST READING (Isaiah 25:6-10a)

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken. On that day it will be said: "Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!" For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6)

Refrain: I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

1) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul. (Refrain:)

2) He guides me in right paths for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff that give me courage. (Refrain:)

3) You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Refrain:)

4) Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come. (Refrain:)

SECOND READING (Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20)

Brothers and sisters: I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress. My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father, glory forever and ever. Amen.

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."

(Copyright 1970, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2001 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Copyright 1970, 1997, 1998 Contraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The English translation of some Psalm responses, some Alleluia and Gospel verses and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, some Summaries, and the Titles and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass copyright 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc., Washington D.C. All rights reserved.

The poetic English translation of the sequences of the Roman Missal are taken from the Roman Missal approved by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States, copyright 1964 by the National Catholic Welfare Conference, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission of ICEL.)

Second Reading (RCL)(Philippians 4: 1-9)

Therefore, my brethren, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat Eu-o'dia and I entreat Syn'tyche to agree in the Lord. And I ask you also, true yokefellow, help these women, for they have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you.

(from The Bible Gateway)

Second Reading (EL)(Philippians 4: 4-13)

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me; you were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.

(from The Bible Gateway)

First Reading (RCL & EL)(Isaiah 25: 1-9)

O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. For thou hast made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt. Therefore strong peoples will glorify thee; cities of ruthless nations will fear thee. For thou hast been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the blast of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, like heat in a dry place. Thou dost subdue the noise of the aliens; as heat by the shade of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled. On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined. And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over nations. He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

Alternate First Reading (RCL)(Exodus 32: 1-14)

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, "Up, make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." And Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." So all the people took off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a molten calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD." And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people; now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; but of you I will make a great nation." But Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does thy wrath burn hot against thy people, whom thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thine own self, and didst say to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.'" And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people.

(from The Bible Gateway)

Homily

A Most Unusual Wedding Banquet

As is always the case when we read a text concerning the norms of a society of more than two thousand years ago, a little background might be in order. One of the commentaries I read on this week’s gospel text notes the following:

Now of course, in today’s society we would think that the mingling of “elite” and “non-elite” would occur more readily. But would it really? If we were to paraphrase this week’s gospel into a more contemporary situation, it might come out something like the following story.

So just like the king’s banquet in our Lord’s parable, this wedding banquet was also highly unusual. But there is a second part of this parable, namely, the wedding garment. Now more than likely, even when a guest would arrive at the banquet without the proper garment, one would be provided by the host. This is much the same as would occur in our own day at high-end restaurants where a jacket and tie would be required. If a guest arrived without them, they would be provided by the restaurant. Now they might not be the most fashionable, but they would at least be enough to bring the guest into compliance with the restaurant's requirements.

So the next question is: why would someone be provided with the proper garment and still not wear it? Let us first consider that perhaps Matthew is using this example to challenge his hearers to put on the clothing which symbolizes righteousness. There is some precedence for this language and its meaning. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul says: “As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (3:12-15)

Now perhaps the point is this: just like the guests are provided a wedding garment for the king’s feast, we have all been given the qualities that Paul mentions in his letter as part of our very human nature. But the person in the parable who didn’t wear the wedding garment has chosen not to follow the qualities instilled in him by God and has led a life contrary to them. Thus, he is not clothed properly and is thrown out of the wedding banquet into the darkness outside.

I think the challenge for us is clear: we all have the ability to clothe ourselves with the qualities enumerated by Paul: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness and, above all, love. But do we actually live our lives according to these principles?? How we answer this question is important. Our participation in the eternal wedding banquet in heaven depends on it.

References

1. From The Cultural World of Jesus, Year A by John Pilch, pp. 148-150. Copyright 1995 by the Order of St. Benedict, Collegeville, MN.

2. From What's So Amazing About Grace?, pp. 48-49. Copyright 1997 by Philip Yancey. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI

(Copyright 2017 by the Spirit through Deacon Sil Galvan, with a little help from the friends noted above. Permission is freely granted for use, in whole or in part, in oral presentations. For permission to use in writing, please contact the human intermediary at deaconsil@comcast.net.)

Alternate humorous illustration

In today’s gospel passage, guests refuse to attend a king’s wedding banquet for a variety of reasons. But they are not the only reasons. Consider the following:

Homily #2

Special People

I don't know about you, but whenever I heard this parable in the past, I always questioned why someone would be invited to a wedding feast and then be ushered out just because he didn't wear the right clothing. After all, doesn't God search the heart of each one of us and not care about what we wear? In order to better understand this parable, we really need to divide it into two parts, namely the wedding banquet and the wedding garment. Then we need to examine each of these parts to see: 1) how they reflect the customs of the day; 2) what the implications would have been for its hearers in our Lord's day; and 3) what it means to us today.

First of all, the events of the parable having to deal with the wedding feast were completely in accordance with the normal Jewish customs. Whenever you were throwing a party,"you announced throughout the village when it was going to be held. When it was ready to roll, you sent word to those who had been invited. It would then be very embarrassing if hardly anyone turned up. But this is exactly what happened in the story. So the host of the party decided to do the next best thing: invite anyone in the village whom they ran across. And it worked. Just like many of Jesus' parables, the experience would have rung bells for people and they could have easily related to it." (1)

Then we have the second part of the parable, namely the puzzling account of the wedding garment. In ancient times, just as today, guests at any banquet would be expected to come properly attired. And it could easily be deduced that garments would have been provided for the late-comers, just as jackets and ties are provided to diners at some upscale restaurants. But for some unknown reason, one guest does not wear his garment and is promptly ejected.

Now we turn to the meanings of these two parts for the listeners in our Lord's day. As we have heard in the gospel passages for the last few weeks, this parable occurs amidst several other confrontations between our Lord and the Jewish leaders. If you recall in last week's parable of the tenants, the workers who killed the servants of the king represented the Jewish leaders, and as a result of their actions, the vineyard would be turned over to other workers. Likewise in today's passage, the ones who refused to come to the feast were again representative of the Jewish leaders. And again as a result of their rejection of the king's invitation and their actions, the kingdom of God will now be open to all comers.

This brings us to the meaning of the wedding garment. Matthew uses this image to challenge his hearers to put on the clothing which symbolizes righteousness. There is some precedence for this language and its meaning. Paul states in his letter to the Ephesians: "So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate" (6:14). In Colossians, he further amplifies the meaning of this phrase: "As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful." (3:12-15)

Matthew's point is that there is no privilege to the kingdom based on status. Only a life of transformed attitude and performance counts as a valid wedding garment which will get a person into the kingdom of God. Mere presence will not do. Thus, Matthew undermines the "us and them" beliefs prevalent among the Hebrews (who believed that they were "God's chosen people") and which Matthew feared might creep into the Christian community.

This brings us to the third element of our analysis of this text: what does it mean to us. The principal point should be obvious. We should not feel comfortable with just participating in the Christian community of faith; that faith has to become a part of our lives. There is no such thing as a Christian in name only. A true Christian must be known by their deeds and deal with others on an equal basis. I read the following story which I believe summarizes this point very well.

As members of a Christian community, we have to make sure that we respond to the Lord's invitation to participate in the Eucharistic feast not only be being present but also by wearing the proper wedding garment. We can't become smug and feel superior to others in any way because we are all equals when we gather around the table of the Lord to participate in the Eucharistic feast. Just as the boy in our story learned what it means to live by the "Golden Rule", so must we. You see, none of us is more special than anyone else because we are all equally special in the eyes of God, special people for whom he sent his Son to prepare this Eucharistic feast of his own Body and Blood. (3)

References

1. from Lectionary Resources by William Loader, available at http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/Pent20.htm .

2. Like Me, copyright 1999 by Emily Perl Kingsley. Reprinted with permission from Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul, pp.176-177, copyright 1999 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, FL.

3. From What's So Amazing About Grace?, pp. 48-49. Copyright 1997 by Philip Yancey. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI)

(Copyright 2014 by the Spirit through Deacon Sil Galvan, with a little help from the friends noted above. Permission is freely granted for use, in whole or in part, in oral presentations. For permission to use in writing, please contact the human intermediary at deaconsil@comcast.net.)

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

October 15, 2023

Penitential Rite

Lord Jesus, you have prepared a Eucharistic feast of your own Body and Blood. Lord, have mercy.

Christ Jesus, you have called us all to share in your Eucharistic feast. Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you have called us to clothe ourselves in works of charity and justice. Lord, have mercy.

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

October 15, 2023

Prayers of the Faithful

Celebrant: As we prepare to celebrate the Eucharistic feast which our Savior and our brother Jesus Christ has prepared for us, we remember the needs of all of our brothers and sisters who also gather around the table of the Lord.

Deacon/Lector: Our response is "Lord, lead us to life."

That the leaders of the Church will lead us to welcome all to the table of the Lord, we pray to the Lord.

That the leaders of the nations of the world will do all in their power to bring peace on earth and end the wars in Ukraine and Israel, we pray to the Lord.

That the sick, the elderly and those who are grieving the loss of a loved one will find comfort in the One who died for them, we pray to the Lord.

That our Lord will welcome all of those who shared in his Eucharistic banquet on earth to their eternal wedding feast in heaven, we pray to the Lord.

That more men and women will answer the Lord’s call to serve him and his people through the priesthood, the diaconate and religious life, we pray to the Lord.

That the Lord will bless our harvests so that we may share our bounty with those in need, we pray to the Lord.

That all of those whose lives have been affected by natural disasters, including fires, floods and hurricanes, will be strengthened in their efforts to rebuild their lives and not give in to despair, we pray to the Lord.

That all of our brothers and sisters will be treated as our equals in the site of God regardless of their race, color, nationality or religion, we pray to the Lord.

For all of the intentions we hold in our hearts and which we now recall in silence. (Pause) For all of these intentions, we pray to the Lord.

Celebrant: Gracious Father, you have called us all to participate in the Eucharistic banquet which your Son has prepared for us through the sacrifice of his own Body and Blood. Grant us the grace of your Spirit to sacrifice ourselves for one another and thus prepare ourselves to share in your eternal wedding feast in heaven. And we ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.