TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY – 14^TH /15^TH OCTOBER 2023

Dear Parishioners,

Today’s reading tells us something about the difference between being called and being chosen.  On the surface it may seem rather hieratical of God, like he is only choosing a select few.  But being chosen is very much linked with our response to God. Our response when he calls us and our availability to listen to Him choosing us.  St John Henry Newman whose feast day we celebrated last Monday once said “God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may n ever know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. ……. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, ….. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain.” 

The Gospel reading for today alludes to us all being called by God.  We are all invited to the wedding banquet, sometimes in different ways.  And we see the response of those invited.  How has God called me/ invited me?  Do the responses of those invited resonate with me and with my own response? 

My response with a yes to God after being called may be attending mass regularly, taking time to develop my relationship with Him, taking part in community life, receiving the sacraments, spending time with my family, accepting and embracing sufferings perhaps, to name a few. This yes allows the space for God to choose me and to help me discover my purpose, to discover how He is inviting me to be a link in the chain.  Many (in fact all) are called, but perhaps not all make themselves available to understand how He is choosing them.  Perhaps not all discover how He has chosen them to a definitive service in their lives, in their jobs, in their families and friends and in the situations and realities they find themselves. 

The other thing that struck and puzzled me when praying with this reading was the King’s (God’s) response to the man who is not dressed appropriately.  Why after dragging people in from the crossroads, perhaps at the last minute would he suddenly be upset that he is not dressed appropriately? But I think the invitation from God for us is about our disposition. Sometimes we are available but something stops us from being completely open to listening or receiving His choosing of us.  Perhaps we keep ourselves too busy, or we don’t fully trust in God ways or His will for us, our pride makes us believe we know best. A challenging question to ask God is what do you want, and then really being open to whatever He asks, it can be scary, it may mean letting God challenge me and it often means letting go of control. But when be believe in a God who is love, and we trust that not only does He want our best but that He knows what’s best for us we have different disposition and we allow ourselves to be clothed with garments of salvation (cfc Is 61:10).

Ann Marie D’Souza, FMVD