Oct 13, 20236 min read

Oct 14/15, 2023 - Sunday Bulletin

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Week in the Church

To prepare for All Souls Day and November, the month of the Holy Souls, offertory envelopes are available at the Church entrance & on table in front of Our Lady's Altar.

Important Updates

THE MONTHLY FILIPINO MASS – is on the 2nd Sunday of each month at 6pm.
Announcing the Knights 62nd Annual Charity Appeal - there are great prizes
2023/2024 Sunday Missals are in and available at parish office - Cost $5 each
SPECIAL OFFER – go to the Knights of Columbus notices for important information.
Project Advance : Every gift, regardless of its size, makes a difference. Every gift, regardless of its size, makes a difference. All pledge forms were mailed out; if you receive it and already have given; please disregard and we thank you for your donation.
- Please look over information on your pledge form before sending in and make sure it is up to date, make any corrections as needed.
- You may also make a donation online here: https://support.rcav.org/project-advance-2023/ Be sure to select St. Edmund's in the parish drop down menu to ensure the excess funds come back to our community.
PREP 2023-2024 INFORMATION
- PREP Registration is now open and forms are available in the Parish office.
- PREP classes will be held every Wednesday 6:00 - 7:00 pm at St Edmund’s School and begin on September 27, 2023

Reflections

God Wants Our Full Conversion

Immediately after criticizing the religious leaders through the parable of the tenants in last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus proceeded to tell another parable, again directed at the religious leaders. We hear this parable in today’s Gospel.

In the parable of the wedding feast, Jesus offers an image of the kingdom of heaven using the symbol of a wedding banquet. In today’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah and in today’s psalm, the Lord’s goodness is evident in the symbol of a feast of good food and wine. Jesus’ listeners would have been familiar with the image of a wedding feast as a symbol for God’s salvation. They would consider themselves to be the invited guests. Keeping this in mind helps us to understand the critique Jesus makes with this parable. The context for this parable is the growing tension between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem. This has been the case for the past two Sundays and will continue to be true for the next several weeks.

The parable Jesus tells is straightforward. The king dispatches his servants to invite the guests to the wedding feast that he is planning for his son. The listeners would have been surprised to learn that the first guests refused the invitation. Who would refuse the king’s invitation? A second dispatch of servants follows. Again, to the listeners’ great surprise, some guests ignore the invitation. Some of the invited guests even go so far as to mistreat and kill the servants. The king invokes his retribution against these murderers by destroying them and burning their city.

We might stop here for a moment. Why would some guests kill the servants sent to invite them to the king’s wedding feast? It might be possible that the king was a tyrant, evidenced by the destruction of the city of those who refused his invitation. But if we follow this idea, then the allegory seems to be about something other than the kingdom of heaven. It is more likely that the destruction of the city would have been a powerful image corresponding to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70, which would have been an important event for Matthew’s audience.

With the invited guests now deemed unworthy to attend the king’s wedding feast, the servants are sent to invite whomever they can find. The guests arrive, but it appears that accepting the king’s invitation brings certain obligations. The guest who failed to dress in the appropriate wedding attire is cast out of the feast. We are reminded that while many are invited to the kingdom of heaven, not all are able to meet its requirements. God invites us to his feast, giving us his salvation. Yet he asks us to repent for our sins.

Jesus’ message in the parable cautions against exclusive beliefs about the kingdom of heaven. The parable also teaches about humility. Those who assume that they are the invited guests may find that they have refused the invitation, and so others are invited in their place. To accept the invitation is also to accept its obligations. God wants our full conversion in complete acceptance of his mercy.

- Loyola Press

Mass Intentions

Sunday, October 15