Today we hear the troubling story of Jephthah's vow from the Book of Judges and Jesus's parable of the wedding banquet, exploring our tendency to make bargains with God rather than seeking true conversion. Speaking from St. Catherine of Siena House in Grand Rapids on the memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Father Keller examines how Jephthah's tragic sacrifice of his daughter reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what God desires - God never wants human sacrifice but seeks our heart's conversion. The Gospel's wedding banquet parable reinforces this theme, showing how people reject God's invitation by prioritizing worldly concerns, and how even those who attend the banquet can be spiritually unprepared (symbolized by the man without a wedding garment). Father Keller warns that even faithful churchgoers can fall into the trap of trusting in their own works or worldly things rather than centering their lives in God.
### Chapter Timestamps:
**0:00 - Welcome and Introduction**
- Thursday Word of Hope for 20th week ordinary time
- Memorial of Pope St. Pius X
- Father Bob Keller from St. Catherine of Siena House, Grand Rapids
**0:22 - Jephthah's Tragic Vow**
- The strange story from the Book of Judges
- Jephthah's solemn vow to God for military victory
- The tragic consequence: his daughter becomes the sacrifice
**0:52 - God Never Wants Human Sacrifice**
- Abraham's interrupted sacrifice of Isaac as the lesson
- God's true desires vs. human misunderstanding
- The fundamental error in Jephthah's thinking
**1:07 - Our Bargains with God**
- How we sometimes make deals with God
- God is not seeking bargains from us
- Moving beyond transactional spirituality
**1:17 - The Wedding Banquet Parable**
- The king's sumptuous feast and open invitation
- Those who refuse to come despite the generous offer
- Prioritizing worldly concerns over God's invitation
**1:31 - Hedging Our Bets**
- How people bargain that life will supply their needs
- Business, family life, and other good things
- When good things take the place of God's invitation
**1:48 - What God Really Seeks: Conversion**
- Moving beyond bargains to heart transformation
- The man without wedding garment as symbol
- Being present but not truly converted
**2:08 - The Danger for Church Members**
- How even faithful churchgoers can fall into this trap
- Doing everything right but trusting in wrong things
- Putting confidence in our works rather than God
**2:33 - True Centeredness in God**
- Discovering how God-centeredness answers our needs
- Receiving Him as the ultimate solution
- Moving from self-reliance to divine dependence
**2:41 - Pope St. Pius X and the Eucharist**
- His unique contribution to Church life
- Recognizing the Eucharist as central spiritual food
- Making First Communion accessible to younger children
**3:04 - The Eucharist as Life's Answer**
- Eucharist as healing and strengthening
- Personal testimony: receiving at age seven
- God as the center who answers all needs