Thursday, August 18, 201620th Week in Ordinary Time First Reading:
Ez 36: 23-28
Gospel Reading: Mt 22:1-14
Jesus began to address the chief priests and elders of the people, once more using parables:
“This story throws light on the kingdom of heaven. A king celebrated the wedding of his son. He sent his servants to call the invited guests to the wedding feast, but the guests refused to come.
“Again he sent other servants ordering them to say to the invited guests: ‘I have prepared a banquet, slaughtered my fattened calves and other animals, and now everything is ready; come then, to the wedding feast.’ But they paid no attention and went away, some to their fields, and others to their work. While the rest seized the servants of the king, insulted them and killed them.
“The king became angry. He sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city. Then he said to his servants: ‘The wedding banquet is prepared, but the invited guests were not worthy. Go, then, to the crossroads and invite everyone you find to the wedding feast.’
“The servants went out at once into the streets and gathered everyone they found, good and bad alike, so that the hall was filled with guests.
“The king came in to see those who were at table, and he noticed a man not wearing the festal garment. So he said to him: ‘Friend, how did you get in without the wedding garment?’ But the man remained silent. So the king said to his servants: ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the dark where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“Know that many are called, but few are chosen.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated
Life Experience)
While salvation is gratuitous, its acceptance comes with rigorous requirements. Consider, for example, the requirement of values reconstruction. The glitter of earthly pleasures is just too glaring to make many people see where real value lies.
Another onerous requirement is the donning of the “new man”. Baptism has clothed all of us in Christ (Gal. 3:27) and has pre-qualified us to join the heavenly banquet. Donning the new man is a continuing requirement that commits us to the promises we had made at baptism. Many will reject this because sinful habits are hard to give up. Today’s Gospel illustrates what happens when we fail to don this garment.
Salvation is gratuitous. If we find the conditions onerous it must be because our hearts are still attached to fleeting things. Let us pray for wisdom from above so that we may see the value of this hidden treasure. If not, prostitutes and criminals will find their way to heaven ahead of us (Matt. 21:31). – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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