August 22, 2019 Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

2019년 8월 22일 연중 제20주간 목요일

오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp

제1독서

판관기. 11,29-39ㄱ
그 무렵 29 주님의 영이 입타에게 내렸다. 그리하여 그는 길앗과 므나쎄를 가로질렀다. 그리고 길앗 미츠파로 건너갔다가, 길앗 미츠파를 떠나 암몬 자손들이 있는 곳으로 건너갔다. 30 그때에 입타는 주님께 서원을 하였다.
“당신께서 암몬 자손들을 제 손에 넘겨만 주신다면, 31 제가 암몬 자손들을 이기고 무사히 돌아갈 때, 저를 맞으러 제 집 문을 처음 나오는 사람은 주님의 것이 될 것입니다. 그 사람을 제가 번제물로 바치겠습니다.”
32 그러고 나서 입타는 암몬 자손들에게 건너가 그들과 싸웠다. 주님께서 그들을 그의 손에 넘겨주셨으므로, 33 그는 아로에르에서 민닛 어귀까지 그들의 성읍 스무 개를, 그리고 아벨 크라밈까지 쳐부수었다. 암몬 자손들에게 그것은 대단히 큰 타격이었다. 그리하여 그들은 이스라엘 자손들 앞에서 굴복하였다.
34 입타가 미츠파에 있는 자기 집으로 돌아가는데, 그의 딸이 손북을 들고 춤을 추면서 그를 맞으러 나오는 것이었다. 그는 하나밖에 없는 자식이었다. 입타에게 그 아이 말고는 아들도 딸도 없었다. 35 자기 딸을 본 순간, 입타는 제 옷을 찢으며 말하였다. “아, 내 딸아! 네가 나를 짓눌러 버리는구나. 바로 네가 나를 비탄에 빠뜨리다니! 내가 주님께 내 입으로 약속했는데, 그것을 돌이킬 수는 없단다.”
36 그러자 딸이 입타에게 말하였다. “아버지, 아버지께서는 주님께 직접 약속하셨습니다. 주님께서 아버지의 원수인 암몬 자손들에게 복수해 주셨으니, 이미 말씀하신 대로 저에게 하십시오.”
37 그러고 나서 딸은 아버지에게 청하였다. “이 한 가지만 저에게 허락해 주십시오. 두 달 동안 말미를 주십시오. 동무들과 함께 길을 떠나 산으로 가서, 처녀로 죽는 이 몸을 두고 곡을 하렵니다.”
38 입타는 “가거라.” 하면서, 딸을 두 달 동안 떠나보냈다. 딸은 동무들과 함께 산으로 가서, 처녀로 죽는 자신을 두고 곡을 하였다. 39 두 달 뒤에 딸이 아버지에게 돌아오자, 아버지는 주님께 서원한 대로 딸을 바쳤다.

 

복음

마태오. 22,1-14
그때에 1 예수님께서는 또 여러 가지 비유로 수석 사제들과 백성의 원로들에게 말씀하셨다.
2 “하늘 나라는 자기 아들의 혼인 잔치를 베푼 어떤 임금에게 비길 수 있다. 3 그는 종들을 보내어 혼인 잔치에 초대받은 이들을 불러오게 하였다. 그러나 그들은 오려고 하지 않았다.
4 그래서 다시 다른 종들을 보내며 이렇게 일렀다. ‘초대받은 이들에게, ′내가 잔칫상을 이미 차렸소. 황소와 살진 짐승을 잡고 모든 준비를 마쳤으니, 어서 혼인 잔치에 오시오.′ 하고 말하여라.’
5 그러나 그들은 아랑곳하지 않고, 어떤 자는 밭으로 가고, 어떤 자는 장사하러 갔다. 6 그리고 나머지 사람들은 종들을 붙잡아 때리고 죽였다. 7 임금은 진노하였다. 그래서 군대를 보내어, 그 살인자들을 없애고 그들의 고을을 불살라 버렸다.
8 그러고 나서 종들에게 말하였다. ‘혼인 잔치는 준비되었는데 초대받은 자들은 마땅하지 않구나. 9 그러니 고을 어귀로 가서 아무나 만나는 대로 잔치에 불러오너라.’ 10 그래서 그 종들은 거리에 나가, 악한 사람 선한 사람 할 것 없이 만나는 대로 데려왔다. 잔칫방은 손님들로 가득 찼다.
11 임금이 손님들을 둘러보려고 들어왔다가, 혼인 예복을 입지 않은 사람 하나를 보고, 12 ‘친구여, 그대는 혼인 예복도 갖추지 않고 어떻게 여기 들어왔나?’ 하고 물으니, 그는 아무 말도 하지 못하였다.
13 그러자 임금이 하인들에게 말하였다. ‘이자의 손과 발을 묶어서 바깥 어둠 속으로 내던져 버려라. 거기에서 울며 이를 갈 것이다.’
14 사실, 부르심을 받은 이들은 많지만 선택된 이들은 적다.”

August 22, 2019

Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/

Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass

Reading 1

 Jgs 11:29-39a

The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah.
He passed through Gilead and Manasseh,
and through Mizpah-Gilead as well,
and from there he went on to the Ammonites.
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD.
“If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,” he said,
“whoever comes out of the doors of my house
to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites
shall belong to the LORD.
I shall offer him up as a burnt offering.”
Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them,
and the LORD delivered them into his power,
so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them,
from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all)
and as far as Abel-keramim.
Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection
by the children of Israel.
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah,
it was his daughter who came forth,
playing the tambourines and dancing.
She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said,
“Alas, daughter, you have struck me down
and brought calamity upon me.
For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract.”
She replied, “Father, you have made a vow to the LORD.
Do with me as you have vowed,
because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you
on your enemies the Ammonites.”
Then she said to her father, “Let me have this favor.
Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains
to mourn my virginity with my companions.”
“Go,” he replied, and sent her away for two months.
So she departed with her companions
and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
At the end of the two months she returned to her father,
who did to her as he had vowed.
 

Responsorial Psalm

 PS 40:5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

R. (8a and 9a) Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Blessed the man who makes the LORD his trust;
who turns not to idolatry
or to those who stray after falsehood.
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me. 
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Alleluia 

Ps 95:8

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
 

Gospel 

Mt 22:1-14

Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables
saying, “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying,
‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests
he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?’
But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet,
and cast him into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

http://evangeli.net/gospel/tomorrow

 «I have prepared a banquet, slaughtered my fattened calves and other animals, and now everything is ready; come then, to the wedding feast»

Fr. David AMADO i Fernández
(Barcelona, Spain)

Today, the evangelic parable speaks of the banquet of the Kingdom. It is a recurrent example in Jesus' preaching. It has to do with that wedding feast that will happen at the end of time and that will be the union of Jesus with his Church. She is Christ's spouse that walks in our world but which will finally espouse his Beloved forever and ever. God Father has prepared that feast and He wants all men to be present. This is why He says to all of us «come to the wedding feast!» (Mt 22:4).

Notwithstanding, the parable has a tragic development, as many «paid no attention and went away, some to their fields, and others to their work...» (Mt 22:5). This is why, every day, God's mercy is, more often, addressed to the most distant persons. This is like the groom going to get married and invites his family and friends. But they do not wish to go; in view of what he decides to call his acquaintances and co-workers, but they come out with excuses; so finally, he calls the first persons he meets, because he has prepared a banquet and he wants to have guests at his table. Something very similar happens with God.

But the different characters appearing in the parable may also be images of the different states of our soul. Thanks to the grace of baptism we are God's friends and inheritors along with Christ: we have a place reserved for us in this banquet. If, however, we forget our condition of sons, God proceeds to treat us as acquaintances while maintaining his invitation. If we let the grace within us to die, then we become people found in any crossroad, just passers-by without a penny in matters of the Kingdom. Yet, God keeps on calling us.

His call may reach us any time. It is by personal invitation. Nobody has any right to be there. It is God who finds us and tells us: «Come to the wedding!». And we have to receive this invitation with words and facts. This is why that guest who was not properly dressed is thrown out: «Friend, how did you get in without the wedding garment?» (Mt 22:12).

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

 

The crowning of Mary as Queen is a medieval image of completion or perfection of God’s plan celebrated a full seven days (remember the biblical number of completion) after her Assumption into the fullness of God’s reign. The feast of the Assumption of Mary – one of the most ancient feasts of the Church has long been a kind of late summer “hurrah!” for God’s plan of Salvation.  Mary is the first fruit of that plan and in her we all find out own future life in God, should we, like her, grant our fealty to God’s Will.  Mary’s profound and simple response to God’s Annunciation of Divine desire is simply “let your will be accomplished in (through) me.”  Later, Jesus will teach the perfect prayer of one who discerns God’s plan: “ May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 

In the history of the Jewish people outlined in the biblical accounts we know that the twelve tribes begged God to send them a king like the neighboring people had – a king who would make them politically and militarily strong – so that they would hold the “first place” among the nations of the Middle East.  God did not favor that request and protested that he himself (God) would be king enough for them.  But they begged and finally God responded to them by choosing judges or kings to serve in His name on their behalf.  But the temptations are too great for human leaders who simply cannot love their people enough to serve them rather than lord it over them.  Finally, of course, God himself became human and became the perfect human King – and his Mother is the perfect Queen – one who will lay down her life so that the whole creation could be redeemed.  one who would always and only seek to live the will of God. 

The first reading today describes one of those leaders of Judah who bargained with God to be given the power to defeat Israels enemies and become the greatest military power.  His bargain was a dangerous one, however, for it guaranteed the destruction of his house.  Unwittingly he pledged his own daughter’s life away before she could marry and give him grandsons to enjoy the inheritance and power he had just won.  The daughter gives her life to redeem her father’s pledge, however, and thus serves as the savior of her father’s name.

The Gospel, taken from the daily lectionary cycle continues the readings from Matthew’s final “book” of teachings that anticipate the disclosure of God’s reign in the in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Jesus tells a parable of a wedding banquet - the frequent biblical image for the Reign of God.  The Banquet is the locus of the Reign of Peace and Plenty – the time when justice will prevail, and all will enjoy the prosperity of unending mercy and love.  In the marriage that is celebrated God will take the human family as his spouse.  Such a celebration it will be – the guests are invited to receive this extravagant generosity of the only true King. 

As often as I have heard this parable, I felt a sense of shock to hear that the invited guests are too busy about many important things to drop everything and respond to this phenomenal invitation.  The second shock is the recognition that I am one of the “invited guests.”  Through Baptism I have been invited into the reality of the Reign of God – right here on earth – and my companions at the banquet are the poor and the sick, the crippled and the homeless – those long neglected and living on the margins.  My wedding gown – the guarantor of entry to the banquet – is my true “yes” to God’s will, whatever it is in my life. 

The wedding gown is stitched together through the celebration of union with God through Baptism and Eucharist in this life – and above all by my willingness to put away our own self -aggrandizement, as Mary did, and embrace God’s will.

This is what it means to truly be a member of God’s ecclesia – God’s Church, over which Mary reigns as Queen and model.  My – our – wedding garment will be the truth of our prayer: “Behold, I come!  To do your will is my desire.”  When any of us practices the real meaning of this prayer we are united with God in eternal joy and peace – here and now! And, YES, hereafter – for eternity.  This is a wedding song I want to sing and sing again!

 http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp

ONE HELL OF A DECISION

"Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the night to wail and grind his teeth." �Matthew 22:13

We can hear the word "hell" used frequently in the workplace, on TV and radio, in all types of popular music, at the ball games � everywhere, it seems, except in church, the one place where we most need to be repeatedly taught and warned about the reality of hell, the "state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1033). Not enough people in our society have a healthy fear of ending up in hell. Fewer still seem to have the fear of the Lord, the Judge of all (see Jas 5:9). If we ignore the reality that we could freely choose eternity in hell over an eternity with Jesus, we ignore the serious effects of sin. This denies the need to be saved from our sins. Thus, we make ourselves a god. We kick God off the judge's bench and sit there ourselves. We judge that we're doing OK, and that our sins are not serious (or they aren't even sins in our eyes). We judge that we'll go to heaven, because we're not in danger of going to hell. We're safe from danger, so we don't need a Savior. The original sin happened because man succumbed to the temptation to be like God and judge for himself what was good and bad (Gn 3:5). Repent of taking the place of God and judging yourself. Even St. Paul did not dare to judge himself (1 Cor 4:3). Like the tax collector, throw yourself on the mercy of God and pray, "O God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Lk 18:13). Don't delay even a moment. Repent now! Confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior (Rm 10:9). Reject sin, Satan, and hell.

Prayer: Father, may everyone who reads this page lead thousands of people to accept Jesus as Lord, Savior, and God.

Promise: "Ears open to obedience You gave me." —Ps 40:7

Praise: Mary became queen-mother, crushing the head of Satan. Mary, Queen of heaven, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

 http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/

 They would not come to the feast!

 What can a royal wedding party tell us about God's kingdom? one of the most beautiful images used in the Scriptures to depict what heaven is like is the wedding celebration and royal feast given by the King for his newly-wed son and bride. Whatever grand feast we can imagine on earth, heaven is the feast of all feasts because the Lord of heaven and earth invites us to the most important banquet of all - not simply as bystanders or guests - but as members of Christ's own body, his bride the church! The last book in the Bible ends with an invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb - the Lord Jesus who offered his life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins and who now reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come! (Revelations 22:17).  The Lord Jesus invites us to be united with himself in his heavenly kingdom of peace and righteousness.

Whose interests come first - God or mine?
Why does Jesus' parable of the marriage feast seem to focus on an angry king who ends up punishing those who refused his invitation and who mistreated his servants? Jesus' parable contains two stories. The first has to do with the original guests invited to the marriage  feast. The king had sent out invitations well in advance to his subjects, so they would have plenty of time to prepare for coming to the feast. How insulting for the invited guests to then refuse when the time for celebrating came! They made light of the King's request because they put their own interests above his. They not only insulted the King but the heir to the throne as well. The king's anger is justified because they openly refused to give the king the honor he was due. Jesus directed this warning to the Jews of his day, both to convey how much God wanted them to share in the joy of his kingdom, but also to give a warning about the consequences of refusing his Son, their Messiah and Savior.

An invitation we cannot refuse!
The second part of the story focuses on those who had no claim on the king and who would never have considered getting such an invitation. The "good and the bad" along the highways certainly referred to the Gentiles (non-Jews) and to sinners. This is certainly an invitation of grace - undeserved, unmerited favor and kindness! But this invitation also contains a warning for those who refuse it or who approach the wedding feast unworthily. God's grace is a free gift, but it is also an awesome responsibility.

Cheap grace or costly grace?
Dieterich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian in Germany who died for his faith under Hitler's Nazi rule, contrasted "cheap grace" and "costly grace".

"Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves... the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance... grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate... Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."

God invites each of us as his friends to his heavenly banquet that we may celebrate with him and share in his joy. Are you ready to feast at the Lord's banquet table?

"Lord Jesus, may I always know the joy of living in your presence and grow in the hope of seeing you face to face in your everlasting kingdom."

Psalm 40:1,4,6-9

4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods!
6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire; but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
7 Then I said, "Behold, I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me;
8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation;  behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: A guest with no wedding garment, by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD)

"But since you have already come into the house of the marriage feast, our holy church, as a result of God's generosity, be careful, my friends, lest when the King enters he find fault with some aspect of your heart's clothing. We must consider what comes next with great fear in our hearts. But the king came in to look at the guests and saw there a person not clothed in a wedding garment. What do we think is meant by the wedding garment, dearly beloved? For if we say it is baptism or faith, is there anyone who has entered this marriage feast without them? A person is outside because he has not yet come to believe. What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment, who is present in the holy church. He may have faith, but he does not have love. We are correct when we say that love is the wedding garment because this is what our Creator himself possessed when he came to the marriage feast to join the church to himself. only God's love brought it about that his only begotten Son united the hearts of his chosen to himself. John says that 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for us' (John 3:16)." (excerpt from FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 38.9)

  

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