Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 21, 2025
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.”
Whenever I read this chapter of Matthew, I immediately think of a scene in C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce. The Great Divorce depicts souls traveling to purgatory and the transformation that must happen for them to move on to heaven.
The scene I think of is when the protagonist, who at this point has witnessed countless souls (or “ghosts”) resist the transformation, starts asking questions. He, too, resists giving up earthly pleasures and concerns and asks his guide (a “solid person,” or transformed soul), “why the Solid People . . . did not go down into Hell to rescue the Ghosts?”
He has a point: why doesn’t God force us to accept salvation? I have always struggled with this question. Why has God allowed me to get so far away from love at those times I’ve thought I could do it on my own? I’ve struggled even more so since I became a criminal prosecutor. How does God allow people to do evil and go so far afield of salvation and goodness? Why isn’t God rescuing them and bringing them to the feast?
C.S. Lewis answers this for us: “Good beats upon the damned incessantly as sound waves beat on the ears of the deaf, but they cannot receive it. Their fists are clenched, their teeth are clenched, their eyes fast shut. First, they will not, in the end, they cannot, open their hands for gifts, or their mouths for food, or their eyes to see.”
God stands there with open arms and a feast on the table. God wants to be involved in every single part of our lives. But God will never force us. It is our choice to come to the feast for our salvation. Many people resist with clenched teeth, convinced they can do it on their own. The invitation is for everyone, but it is for each and every one of us to intentionally choose God.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, you have sent prophets, apostles, and your only begotten Son to proclaim the coming of your Kingdom. We have often hardened our hearts, refusing to heed your countless invitations. We have mistreated your servants, and, by our sins, we are guilty of nailing your Son to the cross. In your loving mercy, forgive our sins. Give us grace to maintain the purity of our baptism and to faithfully live out our baptismal vocation to a life of holiness so that we may one day share in the banquet of your kingdom, where you live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Any Catholic who received first communion in second grade can thank Pope St. Pius X, who extended the practice to children, saying that “Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven.”
Joseph Sarto was born in 1835, one of eight children in a poor family; his father was a shoe cobbler. He was an excellent student, and felt an early call to the priesthood. After his ordinations, he was continually given new responsibilities because of the potential his superiors saw in him. In 1884 Joseph was named bishop of a region in Italy, and he became a cardinal ten years after that. He was elected pope in 1903 and took the name Pius X.
He was a rare pope in that he had extensive experience as a pastor of a parish before his election to the papacy in 1903. He had great concern for the everyday lives of the faithful and had a desire to “renew all things in Christ.” He was known for his simple and clear, direct homilies, and he encouraged all the faithful to read the Bible, which re-energized biblical studies.
Among his lasting contributions to the lives of Catholics: he encouraged frequent reception of Communion; began the renewal of the liturgy, which would flower in the Second Vatican Council; and gathered canon law into one code for the first time. His decree on the age for first Communion allowed children aged 7 and older to receive the Eucharist; the practice had been reserved for children at least 12 to 14 years old.
He was known as a holy man and encouraged personal piety through prayerful devotion and living with humility and simplicity. He had a soft spot in his heart for children—even as pope, he would carry candy in his pockets and walk the streets of Rome to encounter and teach children there.
His will contained one sentence: “I was born poor, I have lived poor, I wish to die poor.” The reliquary chapel in the Basilica contains nearly a dozen of his relics, and the museum in the Basilica holds one of his white, papal zucchettos (the small cap worn by bishops).
Pope St. Pius X, you renewed the Church and profoundly changed Catholic life--pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Pope St. Pius X is in the public domain. Last accessed March 27, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.