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Epistle Eph 4:23-28 Douay-Rheims BRETHREN:
Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new
man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of
truth. Wherefore putting away lying, speak ye the truth every
man with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be
angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger.
Give not place to the devil. He that stole, let him now steal no
more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing
which is good, that he may have something to give to him that
suffereth need. |
Gospel Mt 22:1-14 Douay-Rheims AT that time,
Jesus spoke to the chief priests and the Pharisees in parables,
saying: The Kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who made a
marriage for his son; and he sent his servants, to call them
that were invited to the marriage, and they would not come.
Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were
invited: Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my beeves and
fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the
marriage. But they neglected: and went their ways, one to his
farm, and another to his merchandise; and the rest laid hands on
his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them
to death. But when the king had heard of it, he was angry; and
sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt
their city. Then he saith to his servants: The marriage indeed
is ready, but they that were invited were not worthy. Go ye
therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find, call
to the marriage. And his servants going forth into the ways,
gathered together all that they found, both bad and good; and
the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see
the guests; and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding
garment: and he saith to him: Friend, how comest thou in hither
not having on a wedding garment? But he was silent. Then the
king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him
into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. |
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A call to an
examination of conscience
September 2005
"Jesus spoke to the chief priests and the Pharisees ..." is the
very first phrase.
This gospel is a prophecy, not only for His time but, also for us. It
is warning and a call to repentance. It is an instruction for our souls.
I feel, it is a call to repent of our sins and change our way of life
while we still have time. It is a continuous call to an examination of
conscience. As a prophecy our Lord is telling us what the Father will do to those
who do not answer his call. The first to be call, the great ones, the
rich ones, had many excuses and things to do. They did not answer The
Fathers call. They did not have time and, not even the respect. They got
tired of being told what to do and wanted to go after the things of the
world. By desiring the physical world, they followed the lines of sin,
of greed, of avarice, of lust, etc. The Pharisees of yesterday and today
have been called and they themselves have rejected the call of the
wedding feast. The result being we, have, been gathered into the feast. If we think about it, we, are the leftovers, the poor and the miserable
and the sinful. We are the ones gathered up from the streets and byways,
both good and bad. This alone should be our vale of humility, because in
our poverty and sinfulness we realize that we need God. This need brings
us closer to God. The vale of humility makes us realize just who we are.
Did not the Man-God come for the sick? Did not Jesus live as the poor?
Because of our poverty, the Father gave us everything. He gave us all
the graces we needed to be at the wedding feast, properly clothed. He
gave us our physical and spiritual needs. That is our clothing.
And when the Father inspected the wedding feast and found one there
improperly dressed. What does this mean? Well; it means that he traded
his gift for a worldly profit. He used his gift and knowledge of it to
get more money. He squandered it on his own pleasures. Sounds like
another parable, maybe. He was able to sin better and greater with the
gifts that God gave him.
We should use this gospel to reflect and mediate on our sins. This
gospel was directed towards the religious of, the church in those days.
We should think of the gifts given to us by God and how well we used
them. Those of us called to this order of the white cross should
meditate on the last line of this reading , "For many are called, but
few are chosen." or "For many are called and few know how to keep their
vocation." As a warning, we know what will happen to undressed soul. We also have
the time to change, as the Pharisees did. When we see others we should
see God. What we do to them, we do to God. We should only reflect on the
plank in our own eyed to make progress, and we do this by examination of
our conscience. Make no excuses, take not the world as the standard, but
Love. It will not take long to realize that those who seek faults find
them. Look at the worldly and how they find fault, then, look at God and
how he finds mercy and forgiveness for repentant sinners. We live in
both worlds at the same time how will the judgment go? Did I find love
or did I find fault? |
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