Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection August 21, 2025
Thursday – 20th Week in Ordinary Time
21st August 2025 (Thursday)
Psalter: Week 4
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Judges 11:29-39a
In those days: the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel. Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.” And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made.
Psalm 40:5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10 R.(8a and 9a)
R/. See, I have come, Lord, to do your will
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Today, harden not your hearts, but listen to the voice of the Lord
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14
At that time: 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 Gospel Reflection
Thursday – 20th Week in Ordinary Time
Main Point: God always invites us to go to him, to experience his nearness and closeness, and to share in his banquet of love. It needs a willingness to respond to his invitation
1. The scene of the wedding banquet in the gospel, Matthew 22. 1-14 represents the approach of our present society toward God. God, like the king in the story, always invites us to be sharers in the joy of the wedding feast of his Son. Through His Son Jesus, He wants to rejuvenate our life. He offers salvation to all, and salvation is nothing but sharing God’s joy.
2. If sin has cast a veil of gloom over humanity, God wants to replace it with a wedding garment of joy and recharge. In general, life itself is the biggest banquet of God’s love and mercy, and also of fraternal sharing and joy.
3. God continues to send His invitation for this celebration through various servants. These servants may be all the ways and means that channel us His grace. They may be in the form of the different spiritual and fraternal moments and activities of communion. They constantly try to motivate us, inspire us, illumine us, purify us, guide us, solidify and sanctify us.
4. Nevertheless, the Holy Eucharist is the greatest banquet that is set before us. It stands for us as the immense fount of an abundance of new life through God’s love, light, strength, and joy. And what is notable is that He invites us even though we are unworthy and do not deserve it.
5. But, sadly, the responses to this divine invitation are often varied and negative. Many do not realise the value of this banquet. They are indifferent. They take it lightly. They are preoccupied with many worldly affairs and are engrossed in them. Some not only refuse to respond and share in God’s presence and fraternal communion but also directly oppose and do harm.
6. And even with those who respond and are present also, there is no guarantee of a good disposition and heart. They may not bother to put on the wedding garment. They do not try to make themselves worthy participants.
My Practice: What is our response to God’s unceasing invitation to celebrate life and the Holy Eucharistic banquet? Are we so much carried away by worldly pleasures and pressures that we forfeit the grace and joy of this celebration of communion with God and with others?
