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WEEK OF: October 15, 2023
YAM IN ACTION
office@stmarthayam.com ~ www.stmarthayam.com
Youth Office Schedule ~ Monday & Wednesday (5:30pm – 8:30pm) Tuesday (5:30pm-7:30pm) &
Friday (6:30pm-8:30pm) All other days by appointment only
Reminders
Annual Walk & Pray for the Hungry
Youth & Young Adult Ministry would like to thank you for your generous support for our Annual Walk & Pray for the Hungry! We thank our Parents and Teens for walking and praying with us plus their generous pledges. We also thank our parish family for joining us in this cause as well as our Clergies, Sisters of the Love of God, and St. Martha staff for your prayers for the success of this event.
Year 1 & Year 2 Mass + LIFE NITE + Parent Retreat Meeting
October 15, 2023 is set for both Year 1 & Year 2 Mass at 5pm. After Mass the Teens will attend a Life Nite in the hall and the parents will attend a Retreat Meeting in the church.
Parent Virtus Class
Parent Virtus Class (English) is scheduled for October 16, 2023 from 7pm to 8:30pm in the hall.
Parent Virtus Class (Spanish) is scheduled for October 24, 2023 from 7pm to 8:30pm in the hall.
All parents of Year 1 and Year 2 must attend this class.
Faith Sharing Class for Confirmation Year 1 and Year 2 is October 23, 2023, from 7pm to 8:30pm. Please bring your Bibles, Notebooks and Pens.
CHALLENGE
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A – Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast.
Background on the Gospel Reading
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.
Matthew 22:1-14
If you can attend Mass in person and you are longing for Him in the Eucharist, then Jesus wants to see you. Come to Mass this Sunday and be transformed by His Word and by the Eucharist.
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7