Daily Rosary at 10 p.m. and the Gospel banquet

The Rosary at 10 p.m. and the banquet nobody wanted

This Sunday's Gospel is not about rewards, it is about a refusal. A king celebrates his son's wedding, sends servants to notify the invited guests, and they do not come: one goes off to his fields, another to his business, and the rest mistreat and kill the messengers. The parable of Matthew 22:1-14 closes with a phrase repeated at every Mass that still stings: «many are called, but few are chosen». Today's liturgy, with Isaiah 25 and Psalm 22 —«I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years without end»— is joined by a call that has become routine in certain circles: the Holy Rosary at 10 p.m., with a list of intentions and promises attributed to Marian apparitions.

What this Sunday's Gospel says

The first reading, from Isaiah 25:6-10a, announces a antiestéticast of rich food and aged wines for all peoples, and promises that God «will swallow up death forever» and wipe away the tears from every face. Psalm 22 answers with the image of the shepherd who prepares a table «in the presence of my enemies» and anoints my head with oil. The second reading, Philippians 4:12-14 and 19-20, adds the least epic detail: Paul says he knows how to live in poverty and in abundance, and that «I can do all things in him who strengthens me».

The Gospel of Matthew 22:1-14 is the one that lands the blow. The king sends servants, then more servants, and the response is indifference or violence. When the hall fills with «bad and good», the king notices a guest with no wedding garment, asks how he got in and, at his silence, orders him bound hand and foot and thrown outside. The reading leaves the banquet open and the door closed at the same time.

The Rosary promises repeated every day

Alongside the Gospel circulates the list of promises attributed to Marian apparitions: protection, special graces, virtue and good works in abundance, deliverance from purgatory for those who devoutly pray it, and assistance in the needs of those who spread it. It is also claimed that the soul entrusted to the Virgin through the Rosary will not perish and that whoever prays it with faith will find «the light of God and the fullness of his grace» at the hour of death.

The text adds that devout children will merit a high degree of glory and that whoever entrusts themselves to the Virgin when praying it will have the whole heavenly court as intercessors. These are promises of faith, not verifiable facts, and that is how they are presented: as part of devotional tradition, not as measurable results.

How the Rosary is prayed and why at 10 p.m.

The call includes the method: the day's mysteries, the litanies —«they are not obligatory, but they please our Heavenly Mother»—, the Salve Regina and a sung Hail Mary. The duration is set at between 25 and 30 timed minutes. The list of intentions is long: reparation for offences against God, against the Sacred Heart of Jesus and against the Immaculate Heart of Mary; for priests and their families; for Pope Francis and Pope Leo; for the defence of life from conception to natural death; for children, young people and families; and for the protection of the Cross of the Valley of the Fallen and of all wayside crosses.

At 3 p.m. the Chaplet of Divine Mercy is added, «the hour of Mercy and the hour when Jesus gave his life for us». The day is rounded off with the Five Minutes of the Holy Spirit, which today quote Saint Augustine: «Come, sweet Consoler of the desolate, refuge in danger and protector in misery».

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The liturgical calendar sets the rhythm and popular devotion handles the logistics. The question the parable leaves unanswered remains: if the hall fills with bad and good, who decides who wears the wedding garment?