Collect for 28th Sunday of Year A

 

COLLECT SERIES

 

COLLECT

 

The Collect for the 28th Sunday of Year reads as follows:

 

May Your grace, O Lord, we pray,

at all times go before us and follow after

and make us always determined to carry out good works.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God for ever and ever.

 

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible for during the week the following reflection questions emerged:

1.    What does God’s grace mean for me?

2.    What graces of God do ! need in my life for this coming week?

3.    How often do I pray for God’s grace?

4.    Why must God’s grace before before me and follow after?

5.    What good works will I be determined  to carry out this week?

 

GOSPEL REFLECTION

The Gospel is Matthew 22:1-14 highlights the need to listen to God and heed His warnings.  Like the Pharisees, Jesus  gives us every opportunity to turn away from sin, to turn away from a false path which pride often leads.  He offers us His embrace and mercy if we can be humble enough to say ‘Jesus I am sorry’.  We can receive His mercy and embrace through the sacrament of Reconciliation which is they way Jesus instituted.

·         Are we foolish like the Pharisees to not listen to Jesus and heed His warnings?

·         Is our pride too much that we cannot say ‘ I am sorry’ to Jesus?

·         Do we reject the invitation to the wedding or come to the wedding without our wedding garment of virtue and grace?

 

We too could make the Pharisees' mistake. We have the invitation to the wedding feast; in fact, we are already in the banquet hall, since our baptism; but are we wearing the wedding garment of virtue and grace? Will we be properly dressed in our wedding garment of virtue and grade or will the King come and cast us out?

Being a member of the Church on earth is a wonderful privilege, so if we truly wish to reach heaven, then we need to do what Jesus asks of us.  We need to know Jesus and truly love Him and by His help, we cooperate with the many graces He offers us every day.  The Psalms say ‘ He pours gifts on His beloved as He slumbers’.

The world provides the same obstacles which the Pharisees had—love of this world, its wealth and its pleasures—these can impede us too, unless we are on our guard. The world with its allurements is very close to us; heaven seems very far away.

We  must be prepared to do battle to our ordinary inclinations, to go against them whenever and wherever "the things that are Caesar's" tend to blot out or make us forget "the things that are God's."

We can carry the daily cross, engage in the daily struggle against our evil inclinations and ingrained sins.  We can truly acquire true love of God and neighbour by following the 10 Commandments, the Precepts of the Church, by regular reception of the Sacraments and of course being in relationship with Jesus.

Stop for a moment. When we hear this Gospel proclaimed this Sunday, what decisions will we make?  Will we truly listen, examine our lives and decide on at least one area of our lives that we, through the power of God’s grace change?  Do you want to know more about Grace.  You can check out my series on Grace.

For example: May we tend to have a short fuse- will I hold back that sharp retort and smile and ask a blessing on this person instead.  There are so many ways in our lives to grow in virtue and grace with God’s help.  The first step is to examine our lives, pinpoint the weaknesses and bring them to Jesus.  Yes, there will be times that we fail, but then we turn to Jesus through the sacrament of Reconciliation and say sorry.  This sacrament is not meant for twice a year but regular reception of it provides extra grace- extra fire power to resist the world’s obstacles and our evil inclinations.  If you have not received this Sacrament since the ice age, do not fear.  Make a start today. Contact your priest for an appointment, explain your situation and allow Jesus through the priest to guide and absolve you. Allow Jesus to dress you in the wedding garment again.

If you are reading this post and thinking, I cannot do that because of the restrictions of the coronavirus since the Sacrament of Reconciliation is not offered.  Fear not.  It does not stop us from making good preparation by examining our lives, our sinful inclinations, our weaknesses and asking Jesus through prayer and through live streamed Mass to forgive us when we truly say we are sorry.  Jesus understands the situation of coronavirus and the lack of the sacraments being offered.  Will the coronavirus stop the power of Jesus? No, since He truly loves us and wants to provide us with the wedding garment.  The question is do we really want to wear the wedding garment?

Do you want to be both called and chosen?  Start today with a decision and follow the path that leads to Heaven.