28th Sunday - A (October 11, 2020)

 

“All Peoples”

Matthew 22: 1-14

 

Isaiah uses the image of a banquet to speak of God’s Reign.  About seven hundred years before the time of the Messiah, Isaiah prophesized, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples” (First Reading, emphasis mine).   

 

In the Gospel, Jesus tells a parable signifying the time has come when he fulfills that prophesy.

 

In Jesus Christ, God invites to his banquet all kinds of people, “bad and good alike.”  They are now all “guests.” 

 

Our world today still needs to know this inclusivity of God’s Reign.  And each follower of Christ must be a witness and instrument of God’s invitation and welcome for all people. 

 

I might think “I’m in” and become full of pride, forgetting that I cannot earn a place at the banquet.  Besides, I might be tempted to judge people by my standards, to allow some in and keep others out.  

 

It is helpful to keep in mind that the banquet is God’s, not mine.  And it is God who offers the invitation and who is also the host, not me.

 

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27th Sunday - A (October 4, 2020)

God’s Patience

Matthew 21: 33-43

 

“The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.”  These words from the Prophet Isaiah (first reading and the response) provides the background for Jesus’ use of the vineyard image in the Gospel parable.

 

The Lord also treats the Church, the new Israel, as His vineyard.

 

So does God treat each of God’s children. 

 

Think of God’s patience and repeated efforts to care for the vineyard, each one of us, and to enable us to bear fruits.

 

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26th Sunday - A (September 27, 2020)

 

The Son Who Does the Father’s Will

Matthew 21: 28-32

 

Today’s Gospel passage comes from Chapter 21 of the Gospel According to Matthew.

The chapter began with Jesus entering Jerusalem.  Prior to this passage, Jesus had purified the Temple by chasing out the vendors and money changers.

 

The plot is thickening leading to his arrest, unjust trial, and crucifixion. 

 

Jesus is the son who “does the Father’s will” to the point of death.  This is also the emphasis of the 2^nd reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians. 

 

Thanks to Jesus who does the Father’s will, sinners who believe in him may now enter the kingdom of God.

 

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25th Sunday - A (September 20, 2020)

 

I Deserve This.

Matthew 20: 1-16a

 

The first group of laborers complained to the landowner, “You have made them equals to us.”  (emphasis is mine).  They also credited themselves, “We bore the day’s burden and the heat.”

To be fair to them, they were there at dawn, ready to work. 

 

We hear these kind of expressions that often.  We all probably have said or thought similarly about ourselves too.  We worked hard.  We took our job seriously.  We deserved it.  Then we compare ourselves with others, “We work harder.  They don’t deserve it.”

 

There is room for a system of merits and rewards in human society.  Sometimes, it’s even a matter of justice.

 

But we are wrong to apply this way of thinking to God and God’s gift. 

 

If the landowner had not given the laborers work, all of them, including the first group, could be “standing idle all day.” 

 

God’s forgiveness, mercy, and love are all given to us unconditionally. 

 

If God had not created us, we would not even exist.  Moreover, God gave us God’s only Son to die for us sinners to save us and to make us children of God.  The Holy Spirit is present to guide us to eternal life with the Trinity. 

 

Therefore, gratitude is the only thing we have to offer.  

 

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24th Sunday - A (September 13, 2020)

God’s Gift of Conscience

Matthew 18: 21-35

 

We have “in [our] hearts a law inscribed by God” [1] that is called conscience.  Thus, conscience is God’s gift to us. 

 

One of the gifts of a well-formed conscience is it helps us know our sins.  Knowing our sins could help us be more aware of our need for God’s forgiveness.

 

The awareness our need for God’s forgiveness should then lead us to greater gratitude to God and appreciation of God’s mercy.  (On the contrary, without the awareness of God’s boundless mercy, the awareness of sins alone can easily lead us to despair).

 

Appreciation of God’s mercy in turn could help us grow in our compassion with ourselves and with others. 

 

The first servant in today’s Gospel does not know the immensity of what he owes the king.  He even brags, “I will pay you back in full” although he has “no way of paying it back.”  He is clueless of either the size of the debt or his situation.  That is similar to the unawareness of one’s sins. 

 

Consequently, the servant has no appreciation for the king who was so “moved with compassion” for him that the king just “let him go and forgave him the loan.”

 

We know the rest of the story. 

 

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church #1776, quoted Gaudium et Spes 16, quoted Romans 2:15.

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23rd Sunday - A (September 6, 2020)

 

When We Sin

Matthew 18: 15-20

 

The verb used for “to sin” in Matthew 18: 15 is a Greek verb that “came originally from the world of archery and means "missing the mark." [1]   It also means “to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honor,” or “to wander from the law of God.” [2]

 

When we sin, we miss the mark.  We fail to be the people God creates [1] and calls to be.

 

Correction in the community, according to the way of Jesus, is an act of charity.  Its purpose is to help the community members to become who God calls us to be – “perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5: 48) 

 

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[1] https://www.progressiveinvolvement.com

[2] https://www.blueletterbible.org

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22nd Sunday - A (August 30, 2020)

 

It Is Not Easy

Matthew 16: 21-27

 

It is easier to profess with our words who Jesus is.  That was what Peter did in last Sunday’s Gospel.  Peter acclaimed that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

 

It is harder to accept that the Christ must “suffer greatly and be killed” by crucifixion.  That’s where Peter fails in today’s Gospel.

 

We know and believe that Jesus suffered and died on the cross to save us.  But it is not easy to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow him.

 

Lord Jesus, give me strength to carry my cross and follow you, because that is the way you allow me to share in your mission of saving us and the whole world from sin and death.  

 

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