Memorial of the Queenship of the Virgin Mary FROM BEASTLY TO BEAUTY! “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”– Matthew 22:14 The movie Beastly is about Kyle, a handsome, robust, witty and filthy rich young man. In other words, he was perfect. But he was also cocky, arrogant and rude. Does it really come with the territory that the beautifully perfect are also haughty and mean? Will the outwardly beautiful always be inwardly horrible? Is there hope? There is. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we who… reflect the Lord’s glory are being transformed into His likeness from glory to glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” How will transformation happen? When we realize that “many are called, but few are chosen.” This heavenly privilege is revealed only to the humble. The “chosen” are those who humbly let God work from within them. They respond in gratitude expressed through loving service. Because when we serve, we move from selfishness to selflessness. Then we make our lives beautiful — from the inside out. Realize that you are called. Serve, for you are chosen! Obet Cabrillas (kpreacherobet@gmail) Reflection: “Do not judge from appearance or from lofty stature… Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” (1 Samuel 6:7) Lord, teach me to value internal character over external beauty. St. Andrew the Scot, pray for us. 1ST READING We should be careful not to make unreasonable commitments such as the one of Jephthah in today’s reading. There is nothing to be gained from such a ridiculous vow! God will not be any more convinced to listen to our pleas with such a promise. Let us trust that God is a reasonable God and that placing our needs before Him in faith will be sufficient for Him to pay attention to us. Judges 11:29-39 29 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. 30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. “If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,” he said, 31 “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.” 32 Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his power, 33 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-keramin. Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection by the children of Israel. 34 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. 35 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.” 36 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.” 37 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.” 38 “Go,” he replied, and sent her away for two months. So she departed with her companions and mourned her virginity on the mountains. 39 At the end of the two months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed. P S A L M Psalm 40:5, 7-8, 8-9, 10 R: Here I am, Lord; I come to do Your will. 4 [5] Blessed the man who makes the Lord his trust; who turns not to idolatry or to those who stray after falsehood. (R) 6 [7] Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not; 7 [8] then said I, “Behold I come.” (R) “In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, 8 [9] to do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!” (R) 9 [10] I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O Lord, know. (R) GOSPEL The grace of God is always at work in our lives but this does not mean that we can take it for granted, let alone abuse its presence and the power it gives us. Grace is a fragile commodity in that it can be used or responded to well only with humility. It is just like any other gift that we receive: we ought to be grateful for having received it; we ought to respect the giver; we ought to use the gift well! Furthermore, being an unmerited gift from God we also ought to try to use the gift of grace for the benefit of others as well as of ourselves. GOSPEL ACCLAMATION If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Matthew 22:1-14 1 Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priest and the elders of the people in parables, saying, 2 “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. 3 He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. 4 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.”’ 5 Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. 6 The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. 9 Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ 10 The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. 12 He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. 13 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.’ 14 Many are invited, but few are chosen.” think: God is a reasonable God and placing our needs before Him in faith will be sufficient for Him to pay attention to us. T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST Thank You Lord for: __________________ ____________________________________ God’s special verse/thought for me today_ _____________________________________ READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Isaiah 29-32 DRESS TO BE IN BLISS This parable might be a good argument to forward the need to dress properly for occasions. Heeding the invitation of the king to join in the feast, the man was later seen in the celebration but was found to be wearing the improper festal garment. As a result, the king was angry and the man was sent to be bound, hands and feet, and thrown in the dark where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. If there are people who take for granted dressing properly, the Lord Jesus, at the very least, does not. He recognizes the need to be respectful, which is the essence of being aptly clothed. When we tried to apply a dress code in Church, many objected and went as far as accusing us of discriminating against the poor and infringing on the freedom of Mass goers. The way we dress reflects our respect for the people we meet. Society even had exacted an unwritten code for it. We try to dress appropriately depending on who we will meet. We dress differently when we are meeting with relatives and meeting, for example, the president of the Philippines. And it is not about being poor or being rich. To put it bluntly, if your best available dress is a pair of short pants and an old shirt, so be it. But if you have better clothes, why not wear them? If we care about our bodies, why not our souls? And this is the real and main point of Jesus in the parable. More than dressing physically for the occasion, we should be properly dressed spiritually for the banquet in the Kingdom. And it means being a repentant sinner. God invites everyone to salvation. Jesus was sent, like the servants, to make known to everyone the feast being offered by His Father. So, Jesus extended the invitation both to those who had been in God’s favor, and to those who had gone astray but are willing to go back to His fold. But being invited is one thing, being worthy of the Kingdom is another. God calls us to His Kingdom, but we have to respond to that call and make ourselves capable of experiencing God’s graciousness. Fr. Benny Tuazon REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you dress properly when you go to meet the Lord in the Eucharist — both physically and spiritually? Instill in me a deep sense of respect for You, Lord, in the Eucharist.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 09:44:26 +0000