The Lord has told us, let our yes be yes and our no be no. Why should we bargain with the Lord, instead of seeking discernment for His word and will for us? In today’s first reading, we hear the ridiculous bargain with the Lord, that should the people be delivered from their enemies, Jephthah would sacrifice the first person that walks through his door at home, and it happened to be his daughter. The Lord did not ask for such a travesty to be done. But both the father and daughter in this case, decided to honour the promise made. The daughter sacrificed herself to fulfil her father’s promise. While it is unthinkable to us, or we might even question, why did the father not plead to the Lord or pray that the Lord might be merciful and spare her? Was it pride?
In today’s Gospel, we hear how the Lord our God, through this parable, invites all of us to the wedding banquet. Every Sunday, at the Eucharistic celebration, is an invitation to the wedding banquet. And yet, how many of us show up, attend dutifully, putting on our wedding garment, that is a garment of righteousness. Renouncing the works of the enemy, remorseful for our failings and a shortcomings ourselves, and coming to offer our worship and thanksgiving. How many instead give excuses not to show up? Or are present, but more so out of obligation! Not caring enough to dress up as we should for the glory of our Lord and God.
In His great mercy and love, the invitation even goes out to all those who were not initially invitedv or called we are. Therefore, the blind, the lame, anyone willing is invited to partake of this wedding banquet. Let us all come worthily, so that we may partake of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ through the Holy Eucharist. Amen.
Saint Pius X, Pope pray for us…
First reading
Judges 11:29-39
Jephthah sacrifices his daughter in fulfilment of a vow
The spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, who crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through to Mizpah in Gilead, and from Mizpah in Gilead made his way to the rear of the Ammonites. And Jephthah made vow to the Lord, ‘If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, then the first person to meet me from the door of my house when I return in triumph from fighting the Ammonites shall belong to the Lord, and I will offer him up as a holocaust. Jephthah marched against the Ammonites to attack them, and the Lord delivered them into his power. He harassed them from Aroer almost to Minnith (twenty towns) and to Abel-keramim. It was a very severe defeat, and the Ammonites were humbled before the Israelites.
As Jephthah returned to his house at Mizpah, his daughter came out from it to meet him; she was dancing to the sound of timbrels. This was his only child; apart from her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and exclaimed, ‘Oh my daughter, what sorrow you are bringing me! Must it be you, the cause of my ill-fortune! I have given a promise to the Lord, and I cannot unsay what I have said.’ She answered him, ‘My father, you have given a promise to the Lord; treat me as the vow you took binds you to, since the Lord has given you vengeance on your enemies the Ammonites.’ Then she said to her father, ‘Grant me one request. Let me be free for two months. I shall go and wander in the mountains, and with my companions bewail my virginity.’ He answered, ‘Go’, and let her depart for two months. So she went away with her companions and bewailed her virginity in the mountains. When the two months were over, she returned to her father, and he treated her as the vow that he had uttered bound him. She had never known a man.
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Gospel
Matthew 22:1-14
Invite everyone you can to the wedding
Jesus began to speak to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables: ‘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. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I have my banquet 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 despatched 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 crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding.” So these servants went out on to 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 out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’
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