28th Sunday of the Year (a)
This Week’s Liturgy Calendar.
Ordinary Season of the Year. (a)
Weekdays – Year 2
Sunday 12th October: Twenty-Eighth Sunday of the Year. (a)
The first reading today is from the Prophet Isaiah. He uses the image of a great banquet to describe the blessings God wishes to grant, not only to Israel, but also to all nations and all peoples.
In the second reading, St. Paul thanks the Philippians for their support. He goes further and talks about how his real support is his faith in and relationship with Jesus.
The Gospel comes from St. Matthew. He shows how Isaiah’s promise of the great banquet and the blessings of God are fulfilled in the person of Jesus. Through him, all God’s people are invited to enter the Kingdom.
Monday 13th October: Monday of 28th week of the year.
Paul, writing to the Galatians, uses the two sons of Abraham, Ismael, born of a slave, and Isaac, born of a free woman, as parallels of the Jewish and Christian communities. Just as Ismael persecuted Isaac, so the Christian community, freed by Christ, must not be surprised if they are persecuted.
The demand for a sign, which Jesus attacks, was an attempt to bring him and his mission down. Ultimately, it is a lack of faith that wants God to respond to our ways of thinking.
Tuesday 14th October: Tuesday of the 28th week of the year.
St. Paul writing to the Galatians, reminds them that Jesus freed us meant us to remain free. This freedom, in faith, makes its power felt through love.
The Pharisees attack Jesus again, and he, in turn, rejects their legalism and their hypocrisy. They, above all people, should not be living lives with double standards.
Wednesday 15th October: Memorial of St. Teresa of Avila.
St. Teresa was born in 1515 and her devotion to prayer began with her childhood studies of the lives of the saints. More or less against her father’s wishes, she entered the Carmelite Convent in Avila when she was about twenty. As a result of illness she had to return home but later returned to the convent where she began to devote herself to an intense life of prayer. The convent had relaxed rules that she thought were too relaxed and so she set about reforming them. Many of the sisters did not want to change and she experienced many challenges and difficulties over the years. Despite this, she founded seventeen new convents during her lifetime. She died in 1582.
Thursday 16th October: Thursday of the 28th week of the year.
The first reading today changes to the Letter to the Ephesians. Many consider this letter to be St. Paul’s greatest. It is believed he wrote it while in prison. He focuses about God’s dealings with his people. As we work through the letter three images are used – the head and the body, the key stone (cornerstone) and the temple and the relationship of husband and wife. Paul used all these to teach about the relationship of Jesus to his people and his church.
Jesus’ teaching on hypocrisy is widened to cover all hypocrisy. It is never right. He shows, in his life, how things should be.
Friday 17th October: Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch.
St. Ignatius was bishop of Antioch in Syria. Towards the beginning of the second century, he was taken as prisoner to Rome where he suffered martyrdom in the year 107. On his journey to Rome, he visited some communities and wrote letters to the Christian communities in Asia Minor warning them to be on guard against the heretics and urging them to remain united in faith.
Saturday 18th October: Feast of St. Luke.
Luke was a gentile, a fellow worker of Paul, a medical man. He is the author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He accompanied Paul on his second and third missionary journeys and ended up in Rome where Paul was imprisoned. He died at the age of 84 and is the patron saint of doctors. He is also the patron saint of painters because it is said he painted an icon of Our Lady.
God the source and strength of all love.
May he bless our families
With happiness and faithfulness.
Amen
May he bless our communities
With unity and peace
And make us one heart and one soul.
Amen.
May he give to all of us
A love that brings out the best
In each other.
Amen.
May God bless you all
And keep his love alive
in you.
Amen.
