Dad Talk - Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)
Dad Talk guide to the Sunday Mass readingsShow Notes
It is 100% true that Jesus is loving and inclusive--something you hear from many people today. But it is equally true that Jesus wants us to repent from our sins. And if you place yourself outside the Church by violating God's commandments, Jesus will honor that choice. That's why it's so important that we, as members of the Church, call sinners to conversion. Everyone should be called to Christ; everyone should also be given the truth about the necessity of conforming their life to God's laws. This week's Sunday Mass readings emphasize that point, and so will this week's Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad
More from Dad Talk guide to the Sunday Mass readings
This Sunday's first reading is fascinating, because the Lord uses Cyrus, the king of Persia, to help fulfill the Lord's promise to his chosen people, even though Cyrus himself is not a Jew. Moreover, the first reading and the Gospel reading together remind us who we are - we're made in the image and likeness of God, and so we belong to God. That has implications for how we live, and Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians helps us understand what those implications are. We'll unravel all of that in this week's Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad
This Sunday's Gospel reading seems to describe an injustice. The king has instructed his servants to go out and invite whomever they find to the king's wedding feast. But when some guy off the street comes in without wearing a wedding garment, the king binds his hands and feet and throws him out of the celebration. And yet Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven can be likened to this parable. What are we to make of that? We'll unravel that mystery in this week's Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad
God gives us many gifts. But we're not supposed to just passively receive those gifts and enjoy life. We need to use our talent and treasure to do good works glorifying God and bringing people to Jesus. In this Sunday's Mass readings, we hear parables from Isaiah and Jesus that make that very point. We'll dig into them at length - and discuss Paul's formula for peace - in this week's Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad
Sometimes we feel like the people of Israel in this Sunday's first reading: "The Lord's way is not fair." But as Ezekiel points out, it is OUR ways that are unfair. And when we turn from our sins, repent and go to confession, and do good works, we "shall surely live" and will model the humility and self-sacrifice that Paul describes so beautifully when talking about Jesus in the second reading's Carmen Christi hymn. We'll take a deeper dive into these topics in this week's Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad
In context, this Sunday's first reading teaches us an important lesson about staying faithful to God rather than giving in to the sin of our culture. Doing so is essential to our salvation. We'll discuss that - plus the importance of holding our desire for heaven in healthy tension with doing God's work here on earth - in today's Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad