There are many things that we avoid discussing nowadays, such as death\nand judgment or heaven and hell. And yet, in today\u2019s gospel, these four things\nstare us in the face and demand our attention \u2013 and although discussing such\ntopics can make us uncomfortable, the discussion is worth the discomfort. As\nthe saying goes, \u201cno pain, no gain\u201d. So what does today\u2019s gospel have to say\nabout death, judgment, heaven and hell? Quite a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe kingdom of heaven\u201d, Jesus states, \u201cmay be likened to a king who\ngave a wedding feast for his son\u201d (Mt 22:2). The invitation to this wedding\nparty was a free gift offered by the king to his subjects. This invitation could\nbe accepted or rejected. So it is with the kingdom of heaven. God freely offers\nus the gift of spending an eternity with Him, and we can either accept or\nreject this gift. Of course, we might ask ourselves, why would anyone reject\nGod\u2019s offer of heaven? Simply put, we reject God\u2019s gift of heaven because we do\nnot want it. As in Jesus\u2019 parable, we \u201cmake light of it and [go] off, one to\nhis farm, another to his business\u201d (Mt 22:5). In other words, we reject God\u2019s\ngift of heaven because we are too caught up in other lesser goods. We have a\nfarm that we must tend; we have a business that we must manage; we have appointments\nthat we must keep. We are too busy to love God. But such decisions have\nconsequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Immediately upon death, each of us will stand before God and He will\npronounce judgment over us. Everyone will hear Him say either \u201cdepart from Me,\nyou who practice lawlessness!\u201d (Mt 7:23) or \u201cwell done good and faithful\nservant\u2026enter into the joy of your lord\u201d (Mt 25:21). Such judgment, while\nsounding harsh, is simply the ratification of our decision to either love God\nor turn away from Him. The choice is entirely our own. Will we accept God\u2019s\ninvitation, or will we go our own way? May God always grant us the grace to\naccept so marvelous an invitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ian Mahood <\/strong>\u2013 St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fot. Christina Victoria\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n