St. Peter Catholic Church
  • Home
  • From The Pastor
  • Online Streaming
    • Mass Archives
  • Parish Info
    • Welcome
    • Mass & Reconciliation
    • Sacramental Information
    • Register With Parish
    • RESOURCES
    • Parish Team
    • Photo Gallery
  • Education
    • OCIA
    • Guardian Angel
    • Religious Education >
      • RE Registration
      • RE Online Payment
      • Sacrament Information
    • Vacation Bible School
    • Catholic Education
    • SCRIP
  • Ministry
    • YOUTH MINISTRY
    • Ministry Schedule
    • CAMPUS MINISTRY
    • Music Ministries
  • News
    • Parishioner News
    • USCCB
    • Weekly Bulletin
    • Weekly Calendar
    • Monthly Look
    • Upcoming Events
    • St Peter Columbarium
  • Stewardship
    • Online Giving
    • Opportunities
  • New Page

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 8/28/2022

8/25/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Beloved brothers and sisters,
 
                                                          Who Do You Invite to the Banquet?
 
A leading Pharisee invited Jesus to dine at his home, and he told his host and other guests a parable about an invitation to a wedding banquet. Jesus took a moment to throw light on the virtue of humility and charity as essential to Christian living and contrary to the egoism on display by other invitees to the dinner seeking to occupy places of honor at the table. At the same time, Jesus told his host to "invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind" to his banquet (Lk 14:13). The "unworthy" ones should receive more attention than family and friends who are in a position to repay the host quickly. Inviting the "unworthy" to the banquet will invite divine reward (Lk 14:14).
 
One way of understanding the wedding banquet is to see it as symbolic of the church gathered around the Eucharistic table of the Lord. Who do we invite to the Eucharistic banquet? Who do we invite to church? Who do we ask to "approach Mount Zion and the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countess angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven" (Heb 12: 22-23)? We should invite all and any "unworthy" to the community gathered for the sacred banquet. Asking others to come to mass and church is evangelization's work. Jesus wants us to step out of our familiar comfort zone to extend an invitation to those we may consider "unclean" or "unworthy." For example, according to the old covenant law, the disabled, the lame, and the blind are considered ritually impure and unfit to fellowship at the table (Lev 21:18). However, Jesus is changing this demand of the Old Law. In the new covenant, Jesus establishes the priority of love and grace. He wants us to reach out to those outside the body, inviting them to receive nourishment and grace from the sacred table.
 
Jesus invites the spiritually lame or blind to come to join the banquet. We have to see this in light of evangelization. Have we asked someone not considered liturgically "worthy" to go with us to mass? Even if they are not yet in the proper state to share the sacred meal with us, they can sit around the table with us and still experience divine nourishment from the table of the Word.
 
I want to say a big thank you to all members of our parish who put in a significant shift at the CCW and Men's Club pavilions at the Elizabethtown Fair this past week. In some regard, you were doing the work of evangelization on behalf of our parish, and only God can reward you adequately. Let's continue to display the attitude of sacrifice and giving as we prepare for our parish picnic in September. We should invite someone, especially parish members, to attend this massive banquet of love and unity.
 
In Christ,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Parish Office Hours

Monday - Thursday

9:00am - 4:00pm

Fridays: Closed



Address

Mailing Address:  
1840 Marshall Drive
Elizabethtown, PA 17
022

GPS Address:
904 Mill Road
Elizabethtown, PA 17022

Contact Us

Phone: 717-367-1255
Fax: 717-367-1270

Email: [email protected]



© St. Peter Catholic Church. 2019. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • From The Pastor
  • Online Streaming
    • Mass Archives
  • Parish Info
    • Welcome
    • Mass & Reconciliation
    • Sacramental Information
    • Register With Parish
    • RESOURCES
    • Parish Team
    • Photo Gallery
  • Education
    • OCIA
    • Guardian Angel
    • Religious Education >
      • RE Registration
      • RE Online Payment
      • Sacrament Information
    • Vacation Bible School
    • Catholic Education
    • SCRIP
  • Ministry
    • YOUTH MINISTRY
    • Ministry Schedule
    • CAMPUS MINISTRY
    • Music Ministries
  • News
    • Parishioner News
    • USCCB
    • Weekly Bulletin
    • Weekly Calendar
    • Monthly Look
    • Upcoming Events
    • St Peter Columbarium
  • Stewardship
    • Online Giving
    • Opportunities
  • New Page