WORLD MISSION SUNDAY: Our annual worldwide Eucharistic celebration for the Missions and missionaries of the world, will be celebrated on October 18, 2020. The offerings that will be collected are destined for a common fund of solidarity distributed, in the pope’s name, by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith among the poor and suffering in more than 1,150 mission dioceses across the world.
Please keep the Pope’s missions in your prayers and be generous in next week’s collection for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
THANK YOU: I would like to take this as an opportunity to express my sincere thanks to you all dear Holy Spirit family especially our Pastoral Staff for your love and support. I am so pleased with all of you all playing active roles in the mission of the Church by taking active part in parish ministries and sharing your time, talent and treasure throughout the year.
Last weekend Holy Spirit organized “LIFE CHAIN”, with the support of neighboring parishes and churches. In spite of challenging weather, good number of people came out and so many people, that were standing for Life, were praying for that hour and half. Thank you to all who volunteered to come out and stand on Atlantic Blvd to let the people know that we care for life. Nice work Tom Masters!
Thank you to all who participated and volunteered to bring about a fantastic celebration of “ROSARY PROCESSION” celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Rosary. So many people with different and distinct roles came together that we could have such a beautiful and spiritual experience. Special thanks to Ray Stiles for coordinating the liturgy and Phil Militante for great sound system for the procession. Keep up the great work for God.
ACCEPT THE WEDDING INVITATION: The gospel of Matthew 22: 1-14 presents us with the shocking generosity of a king, who invited everyone to a wedding banquet for his son.
In ancient times, kings announced the approximate time for a wedding banquet, weeks in advance. The exact day of the banquet was given at a later date. To say ‘yes’ to the advance invitation and ‘no’ to the later date was an insult. This we have to keep in mind when we read the parable of the invitation to the wedding banquet.
Using the image of a wedding banquet, Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God is open to all people, everywhere – good and bad alike. Not just the people you might expect to be invited to a royal banquet – the great, the powerful, the good, the select few – but everyone deserving or not. This is not a good Sunday for you if you are on a diet. Because, God freely and generously invites all peoples to the banquet of life, as Isaiah foretold, “On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of rich food” (Isaiah 25:6). This talks about the banquet of the Lord, where there will be juicy, rich food, and the gospel talks about the wedding banquet that a king prepares for his son.
What then of the person who shows up without a wedding garment and subsequently gets thrown out? Biblical experts tell us that even the poorest guests had a wedding garment. The other person by coming without a wedding garment has refused to prepare for the banquet and is openly insulting his host.
The kingdom of God is a gift to which the Spirit awakens us. It grows within our hearts as we live by gospel values. The wedding garment is woven with strands of humility, gratitude, willingness to change, readiness to forgive and be forgiven, to love and be loved. Openness to the generosity of God is the ticket for entering the Kingdom.
Is there anything in our lives that distracts us from fully accepting the Lord’s awesome invitation to share in the life of our generous God?
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