October 12, 2026 Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time Gospel: Lk 11:29–32
Today is Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time. In today’s Gospel at Mass, we encounter a very frequent word: sign. We also see Jesus mention four figures from the Old Testament: the prophet Jonah, the Queen of the South, Solomon, and the people of Nineveh. Therefore, let us try to understand.
First, the sign. The word “sign” in English means a mark or signal. When we speak of signs, we often think of the signs God gives to each of us. God often grants us signs when we least expect them, reminding us of His presence, and thus enabling us to respond to His call to each of us.
For the people of Nineveh, the prophet Jonah was their sign, because they repented at his preaching (cf. Jon 3:1–10). God saw their repentance and did not bring disaster upon them. For the Jews of Jesus’ time, Jonah was a prefigurement of Jesus, because Jonah, for having rejected the will of God, was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. There, in the belly of the whale, he prayed to the Lord his God (cf. Jon 2:1–10). Likewise, to save the world, Jesus died on the cross and rested in the tomb for three days and three nights.
For the Queen of the South, Solomon was the object of her pursuit. She longed to receive Solomon’s wisdom. Who was this Queen of the South? She is the Queen of Sheba (cf. 1 Kgs 10). She came from a foreign land to Solomon, bringing abundant gifts, to seek wisdom from him. Today, this Queen of Sheba has become a model for all of us to imitate. Though she was of high rank and great authority, she came before a foreign king and humbly sought his counsel. She did not seek more world wealth for herself but sought wisdom alone.
As people of the New Covenant, what we often pursue is superficial, because in our view, so long as we have received the Sacraments of Initiation, we shall be saved. In our eyes, the Sacraments of Initiation are the mark of our salvation. Yet what can truly save us is not the Sacraments in themselves, but Jesus the Savior who gives us these Sacraments. Once we have come to see this clearly, we must also make ourselves a sign for others on their journey toward holiness. That is to say, our thoughts, words, and deeds must be conformed to Jesus Christ; we must no longer act according to the logic of this world, but according to the logic of God’s kingdom, manifesting at all times and in all places the love God has for each of us—a love so great that He was willing to lay down His own life for us.
May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after and make us always determined to carry out good works. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
October 11, 2026 Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel: Mt 22:1–14
Today is the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The passage from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew presents Jesus once again telling a parable of a wedding feast to the chief priests and the elders of the people. Let us try to understand it.
First, Matthew tells us: Jesus spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables once more, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. He sent his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused.” (cf. Mt 22:1–3)
This recalls the Eucharist in which we are now participating. We know that the Eucharist celebrates the mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, out of love for us, willingly offered Himself as a sacrifice on the cross, enduring the suffering of the crucifixion. By His sacred death on the cross, He destroyed death, and by His glorious Resurrection, He utterly conquered it. It is also a memorial of the sufferings our Lord Jesus endured for love of us. In the Eucharist, we are invited to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who invites us is none other than the merciful Father, who wills that all of us come to the banquet of His Son. Yet among us, there are always those who choose to refuse. They regard their present life and all they currently possess as more important than that of eternal life. Therefore, they refuse to come to the feast. This, precisely, is the influence of secularism on the Church.
In the parable Jesus tells us today, we also see a scene that seems rather discordant to us—that of the man who was not wearing a wedding garment. Because he had no wedding garment, the master of the feast ordered his servants to bind the man hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. (cf. Mt 22:8–14) Who is this man without a wedding garment? He is one who seeks only the outward ritual, who has not made a good Confession, who has not prepared his heart and mind, who has not been reconciled with those he has wronged. He is the man without a wedding garment, because he has not truly received the word of God, has not truly clothed himself in Jesus Christ. That man’s end is tragic.
Then, how can we dress in a fitting wedding garment? The way is simple: it requires a complete conversion, not merely an external change, but a transformation of the heart through hearing the word of God. It means bringing our hearts into harmony with the heart of Jesus Christ. Only in this way can we live out the spirit of God’s word, and only then can our actions truly conform to the teachings of Jesus.
May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after and make us always determined to carry out good works. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
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