28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Liturgy of the Hours, Week 4, alternate

The invitation to the wedding feast in Jesus’ parable reminds us of the invitation to the Eucharistic supper. Let us ask ourselves, then, whether, when we participate in Mass, we truly wear the festive garment. But let us remember that accepting the invitation is not enough; a superficial commitment is not enough. Faith must change our lives. It is not enough to call oneself Christian; a constant commitment is needed to change one’s life.

Comments on the liturgy of the day taken from the September/October 2020 edition of the booklet “Sulla Tua Parola.”

FIRST READING

From the book of the prophet Isaiah (Is 25:6-10a)
The Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples on this mountain a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of juicy, rich food and refined wines. On this mountain he will remove the veil that veils all peoples, the sheet spread over all nations. He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face; the disgrace of his people he will remove from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. On that day it will be said: «Behold our God, in whom we hoped that he might save us. This is the Lord in whom we hoped; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us, for the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain». The word of God.

Commentary on the first reading

«… does the earth perhaps now appear to mortal man uninhabitable without that new, sole, infinite happiness which his mind imagines…» so wrote Giacomo Leopardi in his poem Love and Death. He imagines a young man who feels a loving sentiment being born in his heart and surrenders himself to it so completely that the whole earth now seems uninhabitable to him without that glimpsed happiness. The prophet Isaiah knows this feeling of desolation that takes hold of a person when he feels that his love has no home in the world. Israel in exile no longer feels the loving and affectionate presence of its God. Yet this is not enough to prevent a new beginning. Israel has experienced God’s faithfulness throughout its history: when everything seems to say the opposite, then it is the right moment to exercise Memory and open oneself to hope. Ultimately, the prophet’s mission is entirely this: a look at the past, capable of reading the signs of divine action, and a look toward the future, to say that what has already happened will happen again. A-more means “without death”; God rejoices when he can eliminate it forever.

SECOND READING

From the letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Philippians (Phil 4:12-14, 19-20)
Brothers and sisters, I know how to live with little, and I know how to live with plenty; I have learned how to live in every circumstance: with abundance and hunger, with plenty and need. I can do all things in him who gives me strength. Yet it was kind of you to share in my affliction. My God will fully supply whatever you need, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. The word of God.

Commentary on the second reading

Life’s circumstances are never an obstacle to happiness. How often we make our happiness and sadness depend on the things that happen to us. By doing so, we make ourselves vulnerable. Instead of living life, we allow ourselves to be lived by it. The apostle Paul recognizes that life must be lived as protagonists; this becomes possible when, within every circumstance, we find a vanishing point. In geometric drawing, the vanishing point is that point, sometimes outside the drawing itself, that gives meaning to and guides the entire perspective. It is not a point that alienates us from life, but one that gives it the harmony of perspective, indicates its direction, and establishes the harmony of its proportions. Paul recognizes this point in Jesus of Nazareth. «I can do all things in him who gives me strength» is the formula of boundless trust in the power of Another who became human for you, who, like you, chose to live without censoring any part of human experience (disappointment, betrayal, abandonment, misunderstanding, failure), who died for you and rose again for you. What is there to fear when Someone like this is with us?

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 22:1-4)
At that time, Jesus spoke again in parables [to the chief priests and Pharisees] and said: «The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He sent his servants to summon those invited to the wedding feast, but they refused to come. Again he sent other servants with this message: Tell those who were invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet; my oxen and fattened cattle are slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast!” But they paid no attention and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. Others seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king became angry, sent his troops, destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants: “The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy; go now to the crossroads and invite to the wedding feast everyone you find.” The servants went out into the roads and gathered everyone they found, bad and good alike, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. The king came in to see the guests and there he noticed a man who was not wearing a wedding garment. He said to him: “My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?” But he was speechless. Then the king ordered the servants: “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen». The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

I believe that sooner or later each of us has experienced the disappointment of someone’s absence. When we hold a celebration that is especially important to us, we invite those who are significant in our lives, our dearest friends. Even if everyone came and only one person were missing, our celebration would suddenly become less of a celebration; a veil of melancholy would fall over it. What drives a friend to give up on a celebration? In the parable Jesus tells, he speaks of a wedding feast, the one given by the king for his son’s wedding. You are important to the king; he has thought of you for the celebration, sent you the invitation, and is waiting for you. Yet for some people, none of this seems to matter. There are other duties to attend to; one must pursue one’s own interests; there is no time to waste on a celebration. Jesus is not talking about someone else; he is talking about me and you who are listening to this Word today. The Father invites me to take part in the feast of the Son’s love (the wedding is the seal of love); not going means closing oneself off to Love. If we remove love, only death remains. That is why those invited will die miserably, because the greatest misery is precisely not desiring Love.