Prayer for Healing and nourishment for the daily journey....

           Prayer for Healing and nourishment for the daily journey......

Month of October - Respect Life Month – this Sunday we pray for healing. If we look at the world today, we realize that we live in a world broken and need to pray a lot for healing and establishing peace. On October 18th, we celebrate the feast of St. Luke, who was a physician by profession and patron saint of healthcare   professionals. So, this Sunday we pray for healthcare professionals, caregivers, and the sick. One way or   another we all need healing. We ask the intersession of St. Luke for the healing: physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual. At the end of the Mass, there will be an opportunity to receive the Sacrament of the   Anointing of the Sick.

The Sunday reading offers us a standing invitation to the heavenly banquet. The prophetic vision of the   universality of salvation. Isaiah says, “On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will provide for all people a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.” This mountain is Jerusalem, which became a place of comfort and safety for the poor and vulnerable of the world. A banquet would be prepared of the finest food, death would be defeated, tears would be wiped away and there would be only joy in the city. God is going to call not only the “Chosen people,” but all people. The book of Revelation chapter 7 talks about “A great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes (7:9) …, for the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (7:17). On that day we will chant together, “Let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!" (Isaiah 25:9).

The first reading from the book Isaiah helps to understand Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast. The Gospel passage begins with, "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.” In this parable the king is the Lord God, and the son is Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, 2 Samuel 2, Psalm 89, and in other places, the Messiah, the king of Israel, the Davidic king, would be referred to as the son of God. That was a standard title for the king in the Old Testament. So that is the background.

The servants in the parable are the prophets, and the invited guests are the Israelites, the chosen ones. Some of them ignored the invitation and engaged in their daily business, some of them mistreated or killed the    servants, the prophets. The king destroyed the murderers and burned the city. It is the destruction of the   Jerusalem temple.

Last Sunday we looked at the Gospel of Matthew 21: 33-46 the parable of the wicked Tenants. God     transferred his kingdom from the tenants of the Old Covenant to the shepherds of the New Covenant. The kingdom of Heaven is something described as the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation19:9). Now we have to go back to the first reading again, Isaiah says the banquet is universal. In the Old Testament, there are other occasions Kings gave a feast for the people. We see 2 Samuel 6, David gave a feast to the people of  Israel. 1 Kings 8, Solomon gave a feast when the Temple was completed and dedicated. 2 Chronicle 30,   Hezekiah celebrated the Passover for all Israel at his own expense. 2 Chronicle 35, Josiah did the same. But Isaiah says the banquet is for all. This banquet is the type of the heavenly banquet and of the Eucharist.

In the parable of the Wedding Feast, the King sent other servants, the apostles, inviting everyone good and bad alike to the wedding feast. It is talking about the church. God gathered everyone from the globe. We all are invited to the wedding feast. The requirement for the wedding feast is to wear the wedding garment. What is a wedding garment? The book of Revelation 19:8 says, “She was allowed to wear a bright, clean linen  garment. The linen represents the righteous deeds of the holy ones.”

All of us are invited to the banquet, the Eucharist. The wedding guest requires to have proper attire. The attire is our good, our trust in the Lord and serving others. St. Paul says in the second reading, “My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19). He gives us nourishment in the Eucharist and other Sacraments, so we can grow in holiness and enter into the heavenly banquet with proper attire.