Vol. 38    No. 54             OCTOBER  09, 2011                Cycle  A XXVIII  SUNDAY  OF  THE  YEAR                 To ignore God's invitation altogether is the worst form of refusal ENTRANCE ANTIPHON If you, O Lord, laid bare our guilt, who could endure it? But you are forgiving, God of Israel. (Ps 129:3-4) PENITENTIAL RITE God in his goodness calls everyone to experience the joy of His heavenly banquet. But people refuse to accept the invitation on flimsy pretexts. Yet God, with great forbearance repeats the invitation to all of us, at every age. Today, as we gather together to celebrate the Eucharist which gives us a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, let us be sorry for the many times, we have rejected God’s invitation and carried on with our own personal affairs and earthly ambitions, without having any regard for God’s offer of forgiveness and compassion. (Pause) I confess… Glory to God… OPENING PRAYER Lord, our help and guide, make your love the foundation of our lives. May our love for you express itself in our eagerness to do good for others. Grant this… FIRST READING (Isaiah speaks of a great banquet, for all of God’s people, on the mountain of the Lord. It is an image of the Messianic Kingdom.) A reading from the Book of Isaiah    (25:6-10) On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined. And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain. This is the Word of the Lord PSALM   (22) Response: In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell, for ever and ever. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me, to revive my drooping spirit.   He guides me along the right path; he is true to his name. If I should walk in the valley of darkness no evil would I fear. You are there with your crook and your staff; with these you give me comfort. You have prepared a banquet for me in the sight of my foes. My head you have anointed with oil; my cup is overflowing. Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life. In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever. SECOND READING (St Paul, while thanking the Philippian community for supporting him, expresses his total and unconditional trust in Jesus, who strengthens him always.) A reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Philippians   (4:12-14,19-20) I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION Alleluia, alleluia! I am the light of the world, says the Lord; he who follows me will have the light of life. Alleluia! (Jn 8:12) GOSPEL (The parable of the great banquet speaks of God’s generosity in inviting everyone, and man’s refusal to accept the invitation.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew   (22:1-14) Jesus answered the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.’ But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” This is the Gospel of the Lord I believe in God,/the Father Almighty,/ Creator of heaven and earth./ I believe in Jesus Christ,/his only Son, our Lord./ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit/ and born of the Virgin Mary./He suffered under Pontius Pilate,/was crucified, died, and was buried./He descended to the dead./On the third day he rose again./He ascended into Heaven,/and is seated at the right hand of the Father./He will come again to judge the living and the dead./I believe in the Holy Spirit,/the Holy Catholic Church,/the communion of saints,/the forgiveness of sins,/the resurrection of the body,/and the life everlasting./ Amen. PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Cel: Dear brothers and sisters, God our loving Father prepares a banquet in his Kingdom and invites all of us to take part in it. Let us pray for the grace to be worthy of this call and respond to it joyfully and generously. Response: Lord, graciously hear our prayer. 1. That our Pope, bishops, priests and religious may strive for holiness and be ever attentive to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 2. That the poor and the downtrodden in society may receive abundant help for a decent living from their rich brothers and sisters. 3. That all unbelievers may turn to God, their Creator and experience the joy of finding their true home. 4. That all our leaders may work earnestly to put an end to corruption, unethical and anti-social practices. 5. That all of us, participating in this holy Eucharist, may be enabled to believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Sacrament and prepare ourselves in faith to receive him with proper dispositions. (Pray for local and personal needs) Cel: Loving Father, you prepare a banquet for us and invite us to join you inspite of our unworthiness. Give us the gift of repentance, so that we too may share in the eternal banquet that you have prepared for us. We ask this… PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Lord, accept the prayers and gifts we offer in faith and love. May this Eucharist bring us to your glory. We ask this… PREFACE (P 33) Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks. All things are of your making, all times and seasons obey your laws, but you chose to create man in your image, setting him over the whole world in all its wonder. You made man the steward of creation, to praise you day by day for the marvels of your wisdom and power, through Jesus Christ our Lord. We praise you, Lord, with all the angels in their song of joy: All: Holy, holy, holy… COMMUNION ANTIPHON The rich suffer want and go hungry, but nothing shall be lacking to those who fear the Lord. (Ps 33:11) PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Almighty Father, may the body and blood of your Son give us a share in his life, for he is Lord for ever and ever.     LITURGY  AND  LIFE It is a privilege and honour to be invited to a function, organized by the President or the Prime Minister of a country. The positive response to such an invitation and participation in the event would convey the appreciation, friendship and loyalty to him or her and the refusal would of course mean a lack of trust. Participation in functions, organized by eminent persons, can make a relationship and the refusal can break one. Jesus invites us to a banquet. It is a banquet with a difference. The participation in this banquet ensures a relationship with Jesus that lasts eternally. However, the issue here isn’t friendship, being good followers of Jesus, or graciousness in responding to an invitation. The context for today’s Gospel has an eschatological thrust, which makes eternal life the issue, something that we can’t toy with. Jesus assures us, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (Jn 6:35). He also tells us, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn 6:51). It is not to any meal that he is inviting us, but to him who becomes the meal for us. Neither the privileged status in society or in the Church, nor the meticulous following of the laws or rituals, can make us worthy participants in the banquet of the Lord, but only the ones who are invited and have the garment given by Jesus, can partake in the meal. While nobody is compelled to participate in the meal, the participation with a right attitude will ensure one’s eternal life. In order to share in the banquet of the Lord, one should wear a garment of friendship, trust, closeness, caring, repentance, love, and forgiveness. One cannot harbour hostilities against the other while trying to honour the invitation of the Lord. Breaking bread together means breaking the chains of resentment, hostility and bitterness that hold us in bondage. A pharisaic mentality is not going to make us participants of the meal that Jesus is. Today there is so much insistence on the rubrics of the celebration of the Mass, but less insistence on possessing Christ’s attitudes in the celebration; more insistence on the external appearance and less on interior preparation and disposition. Jesus has told us, every celebration of the breaking of the bread has to be done in memory of him but I am afraid whether our celebrations have become mere fulfilling of obligations, that do not lead us to a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. Our participation in the Eucharistic meal calls us to share forgiveness, tolerance, understanding, and love and thus experience the freedom and life of the children of God. To participate in the banquet that Jesus offers us, we should have a Christ-like attitude of self-emptying and self-sacrificing. The Mass is our sharing in the Messianic Banquet that has been begun by Jesus. When I come for this celebration with resentment in my heart, and bitterness towards others, how can I share in Christ’s banquet? The Mass is a celebration of self-emptying, sacrificing, sharing, and the garment that we will put on at this celebration is the attitude of the Publican in the Synagogue, of Zacchaeus who wanted to see Jesus or of the Prodigal Son who returned to the Father. It is Jesus who makes us worthy of the banquet he prepares. He is the food that we are called to share in, and no human laws and rubrics can make us worthy of this meal unless we have been invited and made worthy (with the wedding garment) by Jesus himself. Let us pray that we may be blessed with the proper garment, to attend the feast when he invites us. —Fr Johnson Vattakkunnel, ssp        October  2011              READINGS  OF  THE  WEEK               Psalter Week  4 10 Mon (G) Rom 1:1-7/ Ps 98:1. 2-3ab. 3cd-4/ Lk 11:29-32 11 Tue (G) Rom 1:16-25/ Ps 19:2-3. 4-5/ Lk 11:37-41 12 Wed (G) Rom 2:1-11/ Ps 62:2-3. 6-7. 9/ Lk 11:42-46 13 Thu (G) Rom 3:21-30/ Ps 130:1b-2. 3-4. 5-6ab/ Lk 11:47-54 14 Fri (G) Rom 4:1-8/Ps 32:1b-2,5-11/Lk 12:1-7 15 Sat (W) St Teresa of Avila, Rom 4:13.16-18/ Ps 105:6-7.8-9.42-43/ Lk 12:8-12