Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
The text of today’s entrance antiphon “…look on the face of your anointed one; one day within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” Ps 84:10-11 is a beautiful meditation on the first reading from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ez 36:23-28). In spite of the faithlessness of the chosen people, the Lord speaks to them with great tenderness and love. In words that will be echoed in the responsorial refrain, he says, “I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins” (Ez 36:25). “I will take you away from among the nations…and bring you back to your own land.” This beautiful image prefigures baptism, our cleansing of all sin that we might be the Lord’s anointed ones. “I will put my spirit within you…You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors.” It is through baptism and anointing that we become the Lord’s own people and inherit a place in the kingdom (in the courts of the Lord!). The responsory from Psalm 51 describes the attitude of readiness and openness that we must have to accept this gift: “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.”
In the gospel from St. Matthew (Mt 22:1-14), Jesus speaks these same words of love and invitation to his people by telling the parable of the king who gave a wedding feast for his son. One by one, the invited guests excused themselves in order to attend to matters which were apparently more important, and some simply ignored the invitation altogether. The king, therefore, ordered his servants to bring in “whomever they find” to fill his banquet hall. The doors of salvation are open to anyone who is contrite of heart and manifests a humble spirit (See Ps 51:19). This invitation is beautifully expressed in today’s communion antiphon: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever” (Jn 6:51-52). Let us put aside worldly concerns and accept the Lord’s invitation to dine each day at the banquet of the Eucharist, that we may one day share forever in the eternal banquet in the courts of heaven.
Prayer for Today: Lord, cleanse my heart and grant me a humble spirit, ready to accept your invitation to share in your Body and Blood that we may one day share in the fullness of life in your Kingdom.
Reflection by Br. Michael Marcotte, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections