Reflection for Thursday 20th Week of Ordinary Time 

By

Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Director, Social Action Movement, Don Bosco Bidar

Today's WORD of GOD 

Matthew  22: 8- 14 

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.  

So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good,and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. 

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.” 


Today's Reflection 

Prepared for the Final Banquet

Ezekiel Talks of Israel Becoming a Purified People of GOD, Using the Classic Symbol of Washing with Water, Referring to GOD'S Lavish Grace of Renewal. This Divine Action will Prepare Them for Re-Entry into the Promised Land, after Their Exile in Babylon. 

It is a Symbol Taken Up in the Liturgy of Baptism, where the Newly Baptized are Prepared for Entry to the Christian Community.

JESUS, in the Punch-Line of Today's Parable, Shows how Gentiles from the Byroads will Share in the Feast that once was Reserved for Jews Alone. In a Later Revision of the Parable, the Evangelist Added the Phrase “Bad as well as Good” to Describe the People from the Byroads, thus Reminding the Reader of the Final Judgment. 

Eventually GOD will Straighten Out Everything, in His All-Wise, Compassionate Way. Till then We must Wait & Believe, Conscious of HIS Abundant Goodness Towards Each of Us, Called in from the Byroads.

An Invitation is Not a Command. 

We Receive Many Invitations in Life, either Verbally or in Writing & We Probably Ignore or Decline a Good Number of Them. We are Free to Accept an Invitation or Not. GOD'S Way of Relating to Us is Shaped More by Invitation than by Command. 

The Parable JESUS Speaks in the Gospel is about GOD'S Invitation to All of Us to the Banquet of Life. 

In the Story, the King who Invites Chosen Guests to His Son’s Wedding Banquet Does Not Cancel the Meal when Those who were Invited All Refuse; instead He Invites a Whole New Group. 

When the Human Response to GOD'S Invitation is Not Forthcoming, GOD Does Not Cancel Anything; HE Simply Intensifies HIS Invitation.

That Aspect of the Story Speaks to Us of GOD'S Persistence. GOD Continues to Work to Ensure that as Many as Possible Approach the Banquet of Life, Embodied in the Person of CHRIST who is the 🍞 of Life. 

The 2nd Part of the Parable Reminds Us that Saying ‘Yes’ to the GOD'S Invitation is Not a Something We Do Once & then Forget About. We Have to Say ‘Yes’ to GOD'S Invitation Everyday of Our Lives. 

In the Language of the Parable, We Have to Keep Putting on the Wedding Garment. Having been Clothed with CHRIST at Baptism, We have to Keep Clothing Ourselves with CHRIST & All HE Stands for, Day by Day.

Saint of the day 

August 18 | St. Helena of Constantinople

Helena had two wishes. She wanted to be a good mother. And she was. She wanted to find the cross on which Jesus had been crucified. And she did.

Helena lived long ago, from the middle of the third century to the early 300s. Her son Constantine became the ruler of the Roman Empire. After that, Helena traveled around the empire doing good.

Helena became a Christian when she was 63 years old. Then she went to Palestine to see where Jesus had walked and talked and died. While in Palestine, Helena had workers dig in the ground. They found a cross. Helena believed that Jesus had died on that cross, and she brought large parts of it back to Rome with her. On that site in Jerusalem was built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Helena also ordered a church built at the Mount of Olives. Jesus had prayed there on the night before he died. She also built a church in Bethlehem at the site where Jesus was born.

Helena helped the people of God by building churches, but she was also kind to soldiers, prisoners, and the poor. Her kindness showed them how Jesus took care of others. Her life showed everyone God’s goodness. She is also known as St. Helen and Helena of Constantinople.

St. Helena, pray for us.

Good Morning

Have a fabulous day

Happy feast of St. Helena