Accepting God´s invitation
Listening the Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. And kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you will renew the face of the earth.
Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit you have taught the hearts of your faithful. In the same Spirit help us to relish what is right and always rejoice in your consolation.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Listening the Word: 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."
Reflection
Suppose we are invited to a great celebration, such as a banquet with a president or a rich person. To this invitation it’s important to fulfill certain requirements: to dress decently, to be a friend, to have a certain position, and reputation. The place of the celebration is full of many important people. Thus, not all people can assist to this feast, and the person who invites selects the people. The feast is a sign of honor; normally people who are invited feel proud of it.
In the gospel, we heard that the people who were invited refused to accept rejected the invitation and decided to take care of their own business. because of their personal goals they easy ignore the invitation. Each one’s business became an excuse for declining such an important invitation. We may not be such happy if we are the one who invited and received this answer from people. We may be angry at them, and we may not invite them anymore.
The person who invites the guests found them not worthy and started inviting all the people bad and good alike. One invited guest was not dressed properly for the celebration and the host sent him out.
What this parable tells us, we are invited to God’s kingdom without any distinction. We are invited bad and good alike. We are invited to attend properly to this great banquet. Every Sunday we have the eucharistic celebration in which we are invited to participate. Some accept the invitation whereas others may focus on their own business and not attend the Eucharist. At the same time, when we come to the mass, we are invited to be in the celebration, to listen to the word of God, however, the distractions with the cellphone, with our own thoughts in what we will do distracting us to be in the celebration. Let us ask ourselves, how we want to answer to the Lord’s invitation? How we want to dress to this celebration? Are we ready to answer to God´s invitation?
We need to be dressed properly, which means that we, as sons and daughters of God, need to strive to imitate Christ while loving and serving others, behaving as Christ did, forgiving others and before wanting to be serve we need to serve others serving instead of seeking to be served. For us, in our daily life we can dress well if we are giving good example to our sons and daughters, while being honest in our workplaces, if we can see the needs of others and stop thinking in ourselves alone.
We need to understand and value God´s invitation though sometimes we may pay more attention personal business. Overall, God is not asking us to neglect our personal responsibilities, such as doing one’s business to take care of a family, working;however, He is calling us to integrate all our doing into his Kingdom. God’s kingdom must encompass all the dimensions of our lives.
Reflection Questions
1. What are the things in my daily life that sometimes prevent me from accepting God’s invitation and giving Him the time and attention He deserves?
2. How can I “dress properly” for God’s banquet by imitating Christ in my daily life through loving, forgiving, serving others, and integrating my personal and family responsibilities into God’s Kingdom?
