Daily Bible Reading

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
142

FIRST READING
Is 25:6-10

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down in his place, as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.

PSALM
PS 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6

Response: I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.

He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.

You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.

SECOND READING
Phil 4:12-14,19-20

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

GOSPEL
Mt 22:1-14

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Daily Reflection

11th October 2026

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“I was studying late and just couldn’t wake up”; “I’ve just come back from a night shift”; “It’s the only day I get to laze around in the morning and party in the evening”; “I can’t miss my tuition classes”. These are some of the very plausible reasons that people have for not attending Sunday Mass. To be serious about our work is a good thing, but when our work keeps us away from God, then the good becomes the enemy of the best!

It’s pretty much evident that the parable that Jesus narrates in today’s Gospel is a metaphor intended to reveal to the ‘chosen people’ how they have repeatedly rejected God’s invitation for what they believed was more important. The people ‘absent’ at the wedding had not even bothered to excuse themselves. To ignore God’s invitation is the worst form of refusal. The one ‘without the wedding garment’, represents those who respond to God’s invitation with a kind of lukewarm, uncommitted attitude, which is equally unacceptable.

Perhaps one of our greatest failings is our preoccupation with what we think are the necessities of life. But real necessities would never keep us away from God.