SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church Parafia Świętych Apostołów Piotra i Pawła Celebrating Catholic Tradition For 97 Years 1923 - 2020 May Jesus Christ be honored, worshipped, and glorified here and everywhere! 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 28 Niedziela Zwykła October 11, 2020 made light of the King's request because they put their own interests above his. They not only insulted the King but the heir to the throne as well. The king's anger is justified be- cause they openly refused to give the king the honor he was due. Jesus directed this warning to the Jews of his day, both to convey how much God wanted them to share in the joy of his kingdom, but also to give a warning about the consequences of refusing his Son, their Messiah and Savior. An invitation we cannot refuse! The second part of the story focuses on those who had no claim on the king and who would never have con- Meditation by Don Schwager sidered getting such an invitation. The "good and the bad" (c) 2020 Servants of the Word along the highways certainly referred to the Gentiles (non- www.dailyscripture.net Jews) and to sinners. This is certainly an invitation of grace What can a royal wedding party tell us about God's - undeserved, unmerited favor and kindness! But this invi- kingdom? One of the most beautiful images used in the tation also contains a warning for those who refuse it or Scriptures to depict what heaven is like is the wedding cel- who approach the wedding feast unworthily. God's grace is ebration and royal feast given by the King for his newly- a free gift, but it is also an awesome responsibility wed son and bride. Whatever grand feast we can imagine on earth, heaven is the feast of all feasts because the Lord Cheap grace or costly grace? of heaven and earth invites us to the most important ban- quet of all - not simply as bystanders or guests - but as Dieterich Bonhoeffer, a theologian in Germany who members of Christ's own body, his bride the church! The died for his faith under Hitler's Nazi rule, contrasted last book in the Bible ends with an invitation to the wed- "cheap grace" and "costly grace". ding feast of the Lamb - the Lord Jesus who offered his life "Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on our- as an atoning sacrifice for our sins and who now reigns as selves... the preaching of forgiveness without King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Spirit and the Bride requiring repentance... grace without disci- say, Come! (Revelations 22:17). The Lord Jesus invites us to pleship, grace without the cross, grace with- be united with himself in his heavenly kingdom of peace out Jesus Christ, living and incarnate... Costly and righteousness. grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Whose interests come first - God or mine? Such grace is costly because it calls us to fol- Why does Jesus' parable of the marriage feast seem low Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a to focus on an angry king who ends up punishing those man his life, and it is grace because it gives a who refused his invitation and who mistreated his serv- man the only true life." ants? Jesus' parable contains two stories. The first has to God invites each of us as his friends to his heavenly ban- do with the original guests invited to the marriage feast. quet that we may celebrate with him and share in his joy. The king had sent out invitations well in advance to his Are you ready to feast at the Lord's banquet table? subjects, so they would have plenty of time to prepare for coming to the feast. How insulting for the invited guests to Lord Jesus, may I always know the joy of living in then refuse when the time for celebrating came! They your presence and grow in the hope of seeing you face to face in your everlasting kingdom. Sacred Music for The Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Entrance Antiphon O Lord, if you were to take into account our iniquities, who would withstand the test? But forgiveness abides with you, O God of Israel. Jeżeli zachowasz pamięć o grzechu, Panie, Panie, któż się ostoi. Ale Ty, nasz Boże, udzielasz przebaczenia. Responsorial Psalm Ref.: The Lord remembers his covenant forever. Offertory Hymn—O Jesus, Joy of Loving Hearts (English Mass) Offertory Hymn—Gdzie Miłość Wzajemna (Polish Mass) Ref.: Gdzie miłość wzajemna i dobroć tam znajdziesz Boga żywego. Communion Antiphon Remove from me all scorn and contempt, for I have kept your commandments; for your law is the object of my meditations. Bogacze zubożeli i zaznali głodu, szukającym Pana niczego nie zabraknie. Communion Hymn—Eat this Bread (English Mass) Ref.: Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to him and never be hungry. Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in him and you will not thirst. Communion Hymn—Jezu Drogi (Polish Mass) Ref.: Jezu, Jezu przyjdź do duszy mej. Obdarz ją łaskami swymi i bądź Królem jej. Postlude Music used with permission of Onelicense #A-718627 2 Saints of the Week Bishop of Antioch around the year 70, he assumed leadership of a local church that was, according to St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church tradition, first led by Saint Peter before his move to Rome. October 15, 2020 Although St. Peter transmitted his Papal primacy to WHEN a child the bishops of Rome rather than Antioch, the city played an of seven years, Teresa important role in the life of the early Church. Located in ran away from her present-day Turkey, it was a chief city of the Roman home at Avila in Spain, Empire, and was also the location where the believers in in the hope of being Jesus' teachings and his resurrection were first called martyred by the “Christians.” Moors. Being brought Ignatius led the Christians of Antioch during the back and asked the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian, the first of the reason of her flight, emperors to proclaim his divinity by adopting the title she replied, "I want to “Lord and God.” Subjects who would not give worship to see God, and I must the emperor under this title could be punished with death. die before I can see As the leader of a major Catholic diocese during this Him." She then began period, Ignatius showed courage and worked to inspire it with her brother to build a hermitage in the garden, and in others. was often heard repeating "Forever, forever" Some years After Domitian's murder in the year 96, his later she became a Carmelite nun. Frivolous conversations successor Nerva reigned only briefly, and was soon checked her progress towards perfection, but at last, in her followed by the Emperor Trajan. Under his rule, Christians thirty-first year, she gave herself wholly to God. A vision were once again liable to death for denying the pagan state showed her the very place in hell to which her own light religion and refusing to participate in its rites. It was faults would have led her, and she lived ever after in the during his reign that Ignatius was convicted for his deepest distrust of self. She was called to reform her Order, Christian testimony and sent from Syria to Rome to be put favored with distinct commands from Our Lord, and her to death. heart was pierced with divine love; but she dreaded Escorted by a team of military guards, Ignatius nothing so much as delusion, and to the last acted only nonetheless managed to compose seven letters: six to under obedience to her confessors, which both made her various local churches throughout the empire (including strong and kept her safe. She died on October 4, 1582. the Church of Rome), and one to his fellow bishop Polycarp who would give his own life for Christ several decades St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr later. October 17, 2020 Ignatius' letters passionately stressed the On Oct. 17, the Roman Catholic Church remembers importance of Church unity, the dangers of heresy, and the the early Church Father, bishop, and martyr Saint Ignatius surpassing importance of the Eucharist as the “medicine of of Antioch, whose writings attest to the sacramental and immortality.” These writings contain the first surviving hierarchical nature of the Church from its earliest days. written description of the Church as “Catholic,” from the Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians Greek word indicating both universality and fullness. celebrate his memory on Dec. 20. One of the most striking features of Ignatius' letters, is his enthusiastic embrace of martyrdom as a In a 2007 general audience on St. Ignatius of means to union with God and eternal life. “All the pleasures Antioch, Pope Benedict XVI observed that “no Church of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit Father has expressed the longing for union with Christ and me nothing,” he wrote to the Church of Rome. “It is better for life in him with the intensity of Ignatius.” In his letters, for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the Pope said, “one feels the freshness of the faith of the the ends of the earth.” generation which had still “Now I begin to be a disciple,” the bishop declared.