People have different excuses when they don’t want to honour an invitation. It could be because they considered the event trivial and unimportant or because of some unforeseen circumstances. But what actually justify our absence are the things we do after pleading to be excused. As for the invitees of today’s gospel, one went to the farm, another to his business and the rest engaged in violence. These are not genuine excuses. The journey to heaven is like a mountainous journey and because of this, a lot of us find it uninteresting and give flimsy excuses why we cannot respond to God’s demands. We go about doing things that fascinate us while neglecting God’s invitation. Sadly, only a few take the Christian call seriously. Are we among those few? We cannot afford to miss the blessings of heaven. The first reading gives us a picture of the beautiful things prepared for us in heaven depicted as a mountain. St Paul encourages us that we can make it to the top. For according to him, we can do all things through him who strengthens us (Phil 4:13).

Prayer: Lord God, grant us the grace not to trivialise the demands of our journey to heaven. Amen.