Reading 1 Ez 36:23-28
I will prove the holiness of my great name,
profaned among the nations,
in whose midst you have profaned it.
Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD,
when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.
For I will take you away from among the nations,
gather you from all the foreign lands,
and bring you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors;
you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
Alleluia Ps 95:8
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Mt 22:1-14
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.”
DOCTOR DONOR
"I will give you a new heart." –Ezekiel 36:26
Because of the effect of sin on the human race, the human heart is "beyond remedy" (Jer 17:9). It cannot be fixed, controlled, educated, or bettered sufficiently to please God or to give us the power to live a free, fully human life. We are doomed unless we can get a heart transplant. Our problem is that all possible donors have the same defective heart. They too need a heart transplant and are also looking for donors. We need to be saved from this impossible situation.
Jesus alone is the Savior. He is both the Doctor (see Mk 2:17) and the Donor. How can the Doctor be the Donor unless He could give His heart to us (see Jn 19:34) and then rise from the dead to perform the operation? How can the Doctor be the Donor unless He was a human being with a human heart, while also being God so as to rise from the dead and do the impossible? Only a God-Man can do what the human race needs done. Only the God-Man, Jesus, has the power to fulfill God's promise to give us a new heart.
Give your heart and life to Jesus. Repent of sin. Accept Him as Savior, Lord, and God. Receive His heart.
| PRAYER: | Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on me. Give me Your heart. |
| PROMISE: | "You must go out into the byroads and invite to the wedding anyone you come upon." –Mt 22:9 |
| PRAISE: | When struggling with another person, Grace asks God to give her His heart for that one; He does and her love is renewed. |
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