28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (2026)
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 25:6-10a
Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (6cd)
Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
Matthew 22:1-14
October 11, 2026
Do you understand what God offers us in the Mass?
Jesus speaks of how the Kingdom of Heaven can be likened to a wedding feast for a king’s son. There was an exclusive list of invitees but when the time came for the wedding feast those who were invited “refused to come.”
Some of them were more interested in their businesses or other activities. Some would kill the servants who delivered the invitations.
The king responded by ordering his servants to “Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.”
The Jews were a chosen people waiting for the Messiah. When Jesus came as the Messiah, they ignored or rejected him in favor of their own ways and interests. In essence, they refused the invitation to Heaven.
How many people refuse the invitation today? Don’t they get we are talking about Heaven and the banquet that God offers there?
I think if you ask anyone who has any sense of what Heaven is, they would say they want to spend eternity in Heaven. Yet, they don’t come to church regularly, if at all, and they do not accept the invitation to Heaven given in God’s Law. They may not realize it, but in making a deliberate choice to not come to Mass, they are refusing the invitation to the heavenly banquet.
What is the heavenly banquet like?
Isaiah speaks of “a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.” This speaks to me of the Eucharist. At the Eucharist we are given the best food and choicest wines. We are given the Body and Blood of Christ. Unfortunately, there are many people who do not understand this. Do you understand that the Mass is the way we experience the heavenly banquet on earth?
When we truly understand what God offers us in Heaven and in the Mass, we will rejoice and praise God for what He gives us. Praising God is the primary purpose of Mass.
Our participation at Mass and God’s invitation to Heaven should be life changing for us.
Do we understand the Mass as the verdant pastures spoken of in Psalm 23? Do we understand that at Mass God refreshes our souls with His Word and with the Eucharist?
Do we understand that the words read from the Bible are God guiding us in “right paths“?
Do we recognize that God walks with us even in our “dark valleys“?
Do we understand what we celebrate on the table we call an “altar” as a place of sacrifice?
What do you seek from the Lord?
The first verse of the 23rd Psalm is most often remembered as the “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.”
This does not mean we get everything we want. The Lord will provide us with everything we need but that is not the same as what we want. Think of it this way. What is there that you do not need but want? Is it really important or is it simply something you desire in earthly ways? Will it really make your life better?
When the 23rd Psalm says, “there is nothing I shall want,” I think it means that the Lord will give us what we need and, if we allow the Lord to “guide us in right paths,“ we will come to stop wanting the things that we really don’t need.
Paul says, “I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry.” The secret is knowing that God will supply what we need, that we can do all things in God who strengthens us.
So, when you find you do not have everything you want, ask yourself if what you want really matters? You might even realize that you are better off without it.
Come to Mass to praise God. Come to Mass as our celebration of the heavenly banquet on earth. Come to Mass to hear God’s Word to guide you in your life and to celebrate the Eucharist as “a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines,” the Body and Blood of Jesus.
Peace,
Fr. Jeff