October 11, 2026
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 142
Reading 1
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
R. (6cd) I shall live in the house of the Lord all the
days of my life.
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.
R. I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
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.
R. I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
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.
R. I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
Reading 2
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.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our hearts,
so that we may know what is the hope
that belongs to our call.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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."
or
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."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101126.cfm
Commentary on Isaiah
25:6-10; Philippians 4:12-14,19-20; Matthew 22:1-14
We have today another parable about the rejection of Jesus
by the leaders of his own people. It is, as the others were, being addressed to
the chief priests and elders of the people, the religious and civic leaders.
The parable divides clearly into three distinct parts:
- two
invitations sent out to the intended guests;
- a
general call to all kinds of outcasts;
- some
criteria set for taking part in the feast.
People of the Kingdom
This is a parable about the Kingdom of God and about the people who will
eventually belong to it. It is seen here under the aspect of a marriage feast
for a king’s son. In the First Reading from Isaiah we have a graphic
description of the great banquet that the Lord will prepare for his people.
There will be rich food and fine wines; there will be neither mourning nor
death:
The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and
the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth…
There will be exultation and rejoicing and:
It will be said on that day, “See, this is our God; we
have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we
have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
In the Gospel parable, the king sends out his servants,
referring to the long line of prophets sent to the people of Israel calling
them to love and service. Jesus says:
…but they would not come…
Another batch of servants is sent out:
Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared
my dinner…everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.
When God calls there is always a sense of urgency. The only
time to respond is now. I need always to be on the watch, but that is not what
happens here. We are told that those invited were simply not interested. They
reacted in two ways. Either they were too involved in their own worldly
interests to be bothered or else they:
…seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.
This should remind us of the parable in last week’s readings
about the absentee landlord sending messengers to collect the produce and the
reception they got.
How many of us are guilty of the first way? To what extent,
even right now, are we closed to calls from God because we are so tied up in
all kinds of concerns and anxieties about things which do not really matter, or
about things which cannot guarantee us any real fulfilment and happiness?
Then, after the treatment his messengers received, Jesus says:
The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those
murderers, and burned their city.
This is strictly an historical interpolation by the
evangelist and not really part of the original parable. It refers clearly to
the sacking and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Roman imperial
forces in the year AD 70 (the appearance of Matthew’s Gospel is usually set
around AD 85). As for this second way, we still see in our own day God’s
messengers being arrested, jailed, tortured and killed.
The highways and byways
With the refusal of those originally invited, the king once again repeats that
the wedding is “ready”. There is an urgency to respond to the king’s call. The
servants are now sent out, not to the houses of the wealthy and respectable, but
to the “main streets”. These are near the gates and markets of a typical Middle
East town where large crowds of ordinary people would gather. Here, they are
the social and religious outcasts, tax collectors, prostitutes, all those in
despised trades. No exceptions are made. All are invited, good and bad alike,
until the wedding hall is filled.
There is now no ‘chosen people’, no elite. The Church calls
all to its bosom. It is, and always will be, a Church of both saints and
sinners. We need to remember that there will always be constant temptations to
create first- and second-class tiers of membership, always temptations for the
formation of elite groups, which are ‘different’ and, by implication, ‘better’.
It would be so nice to have a parish consisting only of totally dedicated
Christians, but it would not be truly representative of the love of God
reaching out to all. It would not be truly a ‘catholic’ church, a church for
all.
Contradiction?
Having said all this, the last part of the parable seems a gross contradiction.
It seems so unjust. Having gone out to the highways and byways to bring in all
and sundry without exception, how can one justify tossing out someone because
he does not have a “wedding garment”? Where was he expected to get it at such short
notice? Yet, some reflection will reveal that it is really part of the same
teaching.
The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus. Other people, Jewish
outcasts and pagans, were invited to take their place at the banquet. However,
it is not enough just to be present at the banquet. One was expected to come
properly dressed and not in dirty and untidy clothes. This would show a total
lack of respect for one’s fellow-guests.
While many, in fact all, are called to the banquet, they are
expected to behave as wedding guests. In practical terms, while the Church
opens wide its arms to the sinner, it expects that he make some effort to
repent and be converted. It is not tolerable that he simply continue unabated
in his sinful ways. That would not make any sense.
We have seen previously that, while Jesus went out of his
way to be friendly with the tax collector and the prostitute, it was not a
blanket acceptance of their ways, but a means of calling them to conversion and
change. In various statements across the Gospels, Jesus tells those he has
healed:
Your faith has made you whole…do not sin again…come,
follow me.
The parable ends on a slightly pessimistic (or is it a
realistic?) note:
For many [i.e. all] are called, but few are
chosen.
It is a sad fact that although everyone is being called to
experience the love of God in their lives, relatively few will take the plunge
and really try to taste that experience. The majority take what they regard as
the safer path of looking for happiness in such activities as making money,
building a career, indulging in sexual pleasures, rising in the social scale,
surrounding themselves with material abundance. This is what people continue to
do even though that path is strewn with disappointment and pain.
Setting standards
We saw, when discussing the readings of the 23rd Sunday, that the Church, too,
can and indeed must set standards of participation in the life of the community
if it is to remain a credible witness to the gospel of Jesus and as the Body of
Christ. The church could hardly accept as a full member of the community
someone who was an unrepentant wrongdoer involved in murder and
racketeering or a terrorist committed to continuing the killing of innocent
people. For such people to stand with others at the table of the Eucharist
would be altogether blasphemous and sacrilegious.
The wedding garment in the parable symbolises the wedding
guest, whatever his past may have been, ‘putting on’ Christ. Such a person,
through Baptism, the sacrament by which one is given access to the wedding
banquet of the Lord, has grown to be clothed in the spirit and teaching of
Jesus. This is shown by the gradual transformation of that person’s life
through the influence of Jesus as experienced in the Christian community.
Thanks for the invitation
In the light of all this, we might, first of all, express our deep thanks that
we have been invited to the wedding banquet of our King. The knowledge and
experience of God and Jesus that our faith and membership in the Church gives
us should be the most precious gift in our lives. If that is not exactly how we
feel, then perhaps we should ask God to give us a deeper understanding of just
what Jesus can be for us in finding meaning and happiness in our lives.
Second, we might reflect today on just how ‘clean’ our
wedding garment really is. To what extent have we really offered ourselves in
love and service to Jesus and to his people? To what extent could we be
considered purely marginal members of our parish community? To what extent do
we give clear witness of our values and beliefs both inside and outside the
community? And we might take a closer look at our lives and see if there are
any behaviours or activities which are quite at variance with the kind of life
and relationships the Gospel expects of us. Can I in good conscience continue
wearing my wedding garment or am I living a lie in doing so? Or, on the other
hand, perhaps it’s time I put one on?
Third, we must never forget that, while as Church members we
are expected to contribute actively to its life and witnessing, the forgiveness
of God and of the community is always available whenever we express sorrow for
betraying its ideals.
Today’s readings tell us that God has wonderful things in
store for us. Everyone, no matter what kind of past they have had, receives the
same invitation to sit down at God’s table. However, having initially answered
the invitation, we cannot take things for granted. There is no room for
complacency.
Almost more dangerous than being an obviously sinful person
is being the ‘ordinary, run-of-the-mill Catholic’, the ‘Sunday’ Catholic, the
“I’m a good enough Catholic”, the “I’m a Catholic, but not a fanatic about my
religion”. These are all cop-outs. And it is not God, but ourselves who are the
losers.
So let us pray that we may keep our wedding garments pure
and spotless, and that we become disciples who really hear and do the teaching
of Jesus. Let us pray for a deeper faith and love and a better spirit of
service and sense of responsibility to our community.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/oa281/
Sunday,
October 11, 2026
Twenty-eighth
Sunday in Ordinary TIme
Opening Prayer
Spirit of truth, sent by Jesus to guide us to the
whole truth, enlighten our minds so that we may understand the Scriptures. You,
who overshadowed Mary and made her fruitful ground where the Word of God could
germinate, purify our hearts from all obstacles to the Word. Help us to learn
like her to listen with good and pure hearts to the Word that God speaks to us
in life and in Scripture, so that we may observe the Word and produce good
fruit through our perseverance.
Gospel Reading – Matthew 22: 1-14
The
Context:
The meaning of the parable is quite
clear when we read it in its context. It comes straight after another parable
on the Realm (21: 33-43) and is part of an argument between Jesus and the high
priests and the Pharisees on His mission and authority (see 21: 23-46).
In the preceding parable on the vineyard, Jesus sums up the
history of salvation. God enveloped Israel with special care and hoped that
such care would have produced fruit in the shape of a life of faithfulness and
justice. From time-to-time God sent prophets to remind the people of the fruit
that God expected, but their mission always met with Israel’s rejection.
Finally, God sent His own Son, but they killed Him. At this point Jesus says
that because Israel continued to reject the Realm, the Realm would therefore
pass on to another people, that is, the pagans (21: 43). This pronouncement
gives us the key to the reading of our parable, which really repeats the
message of the previous parable using a different image and with different
nuances.
We must affirm clearly that both parables can in no way
justify the idea that God rejected Israel in favor of the Church. Suffice it to
read Romans 9-11 to be convinced of the contrary. Jesus says hard things,
prophetic things, to draw His people to repentance and for them to accept Him.
Besides, the pagans too, the newly invited ones, run the risk of being thrown out
if they do not wear the wedding garment. The
Text:
Jesus began to speak to them in parables once again. '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 with the words, "Tell
those who have been invited: Look, my banquet is 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 dispatched 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 main crossroads
and invite everyone you can find to come to the wedding." So these
servants went out onto 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 into the darkness
outside, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth." For many are
invited but not all are chosen.'
A moment of prayerful silence
so that the
Word of God may enter into us and enlighten our life.
Some Questions
to help us
in our personal reflection.
•
Whom do the invited guests who refuse the
invitation represent?
•
Whom do the newly invited guests found in the
street represent?
•
Whom does the person without the wedding garment
represent?
•
Are there "urgent matters" in my life
that prevent me from accepting God’s invitation?
•
What is the wedding garment God wants me to wear
for me to take part at the wedding banquet of the Realm of God?
A Key to the Reading
for those
who wish to go deeper into the text.
•
The
banquet of the Realm
The prophets often proclaimed the benefits of salvation
and especially those of the eschatological times through the image of a
banquet. The first reading of this Sunday (Isa 25:6-10a) is an example. Like
Jesus, Isaiah too speaks of a banquet prepared by God for all peoples. However,
the people of Israel and especially the city of Jerusalem remain at the center
of God’s plan as mediators of the salvation offered by God for all. In the New
Testament, however, even though there is an admission that "salvation
comes from the Jews" (Jn 4:22), the only mediator of salvation is Jesus,
who continues to exercise His mediation through the community of His disciples,
the Church.
•
The
wedding garment
It is an insult to the one who has sent the invitation to
arrive at the feast wearing ordinary working clothes. It is a sign of not
giving proper consideration for the occasion to which one is invited. This
image, used in the parable on the Realm, wants to convey the idea that one
cannot enter the Realm without preparation, and the only preparation is
conversion. In fact, to change garment in biblical terms means to change style
of life or to be converted (see for instance Rom 13:14; Gal 3:27; Eph 4:20-24).
•
"Many
are called but few are chosen"
This expression is a semitism. In the absence of
comparisons, biblical Hebrew uses expressions that are based on drastic
opposites. Hence this expression says nothing on the numerical relationship
between those called into the Church and the elect to eternal life. However, it
is also true that the parable makes a distinction between the call to
salvation, election and final perseverance. The generosity of the ruler is
huge, but we must be serious about the demands of the Realm. The expression is
a pressing appeal not to be satisfied with just formal membership among the
people of God. We cannot take salvation for granted. Here Jesus follows closely
the teaching of the prophets. Recall Jer 7: 1-15 and Hos 6: 1-6.
Psalm 47
The Lord is Ruler of Israel and the
world
Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the Lord, the Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth.
He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom He loves.
God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the king of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!
God reigns over the nations; God sits
on His holy throne.
The princes of the peoples
gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields
of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted!
Closing Prayer
God, Lord of the world and Ruler of all peoples, from the
beginning You have prepared a banquet for Your children and You wish to gather
us around Your table to share in Your own life. We thank You for having called
us into Your Church through Jesus Your Son. May Your Spirit make us ever
attentive and ready to continue to accept Your invitation and may we, through
the same Spirit, put on the new person, created according to God in justice and
in true holiness, in the image of Christ, so that we may enter the banquet of
Your Realm together with a multitude of brothers and sisters. Use us, if You so
wish, to continue to call others to the universal banquet of Your Realm. We ask
this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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