Sunday 12^th October – 28^th Sunday of the year

Reflection: Matthew 22:1-14

THE BANQUET

Most of us are conversant with “dinners”. A dinner is a special occasion that offers the opportunity to display one’s best outfit in terms of clothing while exotic meals are taken in the company of friends. The memory of a dinner often lingers on for long because dinners take place once in a season. Beloved, in diverse ways and manners, God our Father continues to extend His loving-kindness to us His children. Today, He invites us to a banquet. You can imagine what sort of banquet that would be. This banquet surpasses the memory of every dinner you have ever attended. When God Himself is the host, then you can only but expect the very best. Jesus tells of a parable today, of how many people that were invited to a kingly banquet turned down the invitation for other activities and mundane things.

The banquet of God is one with a heavenly touch; with no ticket fee, and numerous angels abound to wait on the invitees. Now, bringing this home to our everyday experience; God is making a clarion call to you His child. He is saying daily to you: “My child, do not waste your time and youthful energy over mundane and unprofitable things”. You might feel that answering this call would mean that you would no longer enjoy life. But this is a big lie of Satan. God desires the very best for you (Jeremiah 29:11); He wants you to be outstanding in life, hence, He seeks to set you apart from the crowd.

Heeding this divine call gives life its true meaning. What is preventing you from answering the call of your creator? Is there anything in this whole world that is better than what God has to offer you? Have you sought God’s will in major decisions you make or wish to make in life? All these questions beloved, are for you to ponder on. The Scripture says that nothing can separate us from the love of God. (Rom.8:39). Hence, heed the invitation to this banquet of love which your heavenly Father has been inviting you to with enthusiasm and joy, or else someone else may take your place!

PRAYER: Thank you Father for your patience towards me, thank you for not giving up on me. Today I willingly accept to be a partaker of your heavenly banquet. What you say I should do, that, I would do. So help me God. Amen.

KNOW YOUR FAITH: CCC 1721-“God put us in this world to know, to love, and to serve Him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us “partakers of the divine nature” and of eternal life. With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life.”

HIDE A TREASURE: “For many are called, but few are chosen” Matthew 22:14 RSV-CE

Readings for Today: Isaiah 25: 6-10; Psalm 23:1-6; Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20;

Matthew 22:1-14.