A Homily – The Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

First Reading – Isaiah 25:6-10 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 22(23) ©

Second Reading – Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 1:14, 12

Alternative Acclamation – Ephesians 1:17, 18

The Gospel According to Matthew 22:1 - 14 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 Consider the words of the prophet and know that God, the creator of the universe, that God seeks the well-being of all people. God is working toward the salvation of every single one of us.

 The prophet asks us to do the same: to hope for it, to pray for it and to wait for it in humility. The prophet asks us to advance the work of God with patience, demonstrating kindness, evincing mercy.

 Everyone has a seat at God’s table: all people of all nations, everyone from every clan and every tribe, all people will be healed by the hand of God.

 Consider the words of the psalmist. God is shepherd to us all; if we walk in the way of God, we may serve as shepherd to our sisters and brothers.

 Whenever the circumstances of our life are such that we struggle with wants and needs, when we experience a sense of lack in our lives, know this: our time in this world is not the end of all things…everything is transitory.

 If we are hungry, we are hungry only for a time. If we thirst, it is but for a moment. We live and breathe but briefly, before we are called to the divine.

 Trust in God…have faith; believe in what we hope for, this is the way and there is peace in it.

 Know this.

 The power of sin and evil, the reality of death, these are temporalities, we endure them in our sojourn through time and space, and then the are gone; only God endures forever, and we are all the children of God.

Be mindful.

 It is not only because God loves you that God guides you, it is for God’s own sake that God blesses you. Follow the way, when your table is set share it with the world, invite even your adversaries and love them.

 Consider the life of the apostle:

 It is sad to read the account of him, begging for money. Jesus never asked for anything for himself, but only for the poor.

 It is sad to read of the apostle promising the fledgling Christian communities that God will reward them lavishly, because they have given him what he needs…neither salvation nor its promise should be treated as a commodity, grace is not transactional, it is not a thing that can be exchanged.

 Much harm has come to the world because of these words; many priests and bishops and would be prophets have enriched themselves while doing little for the poor…we are called to be better than that.

 Listen!

 Do not repeat the errors of John, do not depart from the message that all people are the children of God, who is the author of all being. We do not come into existence by any other power, not by a power that comes from within us, neither by a power that is external to us. We are born as children of God, created in the Word, by the Word and through the Word who sustains everything that is.

 Our status as children of God is as unconditional as God’s love for us, which is to say that it is without condition.

 Remember this when you meditate on the life of Jesus, and God; whom he called father…abba… amma…mother.

 May each and every one of us come to the knowledge of God. There is hope in the knowledge of Godl we are called to express it, to preach that the hope we hold for ourselves and those we love is meant to be extended to everyone, even those we do not love, for God leads us in our hope, and God heals us through our hope.

 If you think that God has promised riches and glories to be the inheritance of the saints, remember that the first will be last and the last will be first, and that spiritual rewards are not counted in gold and silver and precious things.

 Know this.

 God’s greatest status is that of parent living in relation to us, enduring the world as we do, suffering with us while holding onto love and demonstrating mercy, in the spirit of humility.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today:

 It is shameful when the Gospel writers betray the teaching and mission of Jesus, when they allow their own fears and their own reflections on the tribulations they have suffered to warp the good news that Jesus proclaimed as the entry point to the way of God.

 Understand this.

 Heaven is not a kingdom, it is a garden; God is not a king, God is a loving parent; Jesus is not a princeling, he is our brother.

 Any reflection on the way that does not reflect these principles, is a distortion or a deliberate deception.

 God does not command troops, God is not a warrior, God does not deliver the death sentence as punishment for any crime; rather God’s Justice is merciful, it is loving and kind.

 As Isaiah said, God has laid a table for everyone to share. God has invited the good and the bad alike, the rich and the poor, the friend and the stranger; God has made a place everyone.

 The feast at God’s table is less a wedding celebration and more of a family reunion (though the two have much in common), the feast is not to celebrate the contractual joining of two, who were not one already; it is the celebration of a unity that pre-exists all things, and because God has made it thus, it can never be broken.

 At the feast we come to know a thing we have forgotten, that all people are the children of God; we are all brothers and sisters in the divine.

 At the feast in the garden, at the foot of God’s mountain, there are no wedding garments, we wear no badges, we are not asked to present credentials; everyone is welcome and none are rejected.

 At the feast there is no darkness, the sun never sets and there is no weeping, no gnashing of teeth; there is joy of God’s blessing, and all things in one.

 

First Reading – Isaiah 25:6-10 ©

The Lord Will Prepare a Banquet for Every Nation

On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines, of food rich and juicy, of fine strained wines.

On this mountain he will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations, he will destroy Death for ever.

The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek; he will take away his people’s shame everywhere on earth, for the Lord has said so.

That day, it will be said: See, this is our God in whom we hoped for salvation; the Lord is the one in whom we hoped.

We exult and we rejoice that he has saved us; for the hand of the Lord rests on this mountain.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 22(23) ©

In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.

The Lord is my shepherd;

  there is nothing I shall want.

Fresh and green are the pastures

  where he gives me repose.

Near restful waters he leads me,

  to revive my drooping spirit.

In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.

He guides me along the right path;

  he is true to his name.

If I should walk in the valley of darkness

  no evil would I fear.

You are there with your crook and your staff;

  with these you give me comfort.

In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.

You have prepared a banquet for me

  in the sight of my foes.

My head you have anointed with oil;

  my cup is overflowing.

In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.

Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me

  all the days of my life.

In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell

  for ever and ever.

In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.

 

Second Reading – Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 ©

With the Help of the One Who Gives Me Strength, There Is Nothing I Cannot Master

I know how to be poor and I know how to be rich too. I have been through my initiation and now I am ready for anything anywhere: full stomach or empty stomach, poverty or plenty. There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength. All the same, it was good of you to share with me in my hardships. In return my God will fulfil all your needs, in Christ Jesus, as lavishly as only God can. Glory to God, our Father, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 1:14, 12

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Word was made flesh and lived among us: to all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – Ephesians 1:17, 18

Alleluia, alleluia!

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our mind, so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 22:1 - 14 ©

Invite Everyone You Can to the Wedding

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding. He sent his servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come. Next he sent some more servants. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.” But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them. The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy, go to the crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding.” So these servants went out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment, and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” And the man was silent. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’

 

The Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)