Put on the wedding garment

 

 

Welcome to my blog. Peace be with you.

God through his servants, the ministers of his Church, invites us to the heavenly banquet in honour of his Son. Words cannot describe it. All are invited regardless of any kind of distinction – good and bad alike. The only thing demanded is that we put on the wedding garment.

Sunday 11 October 2020

Put on the wedding garment

 

Gospel

Matthew 22:1-14

Invite everyone you can to the wedding

1.      Jesus began to speak to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables:

2.      ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding.

3.      He sent his servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come.

4.      Next he sent some more servants. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.”

5.      But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them.

6.      The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town.

7.      Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy, go to the crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding.”

8.      So these servants went out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

9.      When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment,

10.  and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?”

11.  And the man was silent.

12.  Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”

13.  For many are called, but few are chosen.’

 

Prayerful reflection

We only know the things of this world and so cannot describe what God has prepared for those who love him. We only know that God in his infinite goodness has prepared that which no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard and that which no person has ever imagined. Using our very limited language, Jesus talks of a banquet offered by a king on the occasion of his son’s wedding.

The first invitees were the Jews. They proved unworthy. They persecuted the prophets and their leaders rejected Jesus, even to the point of having him crucified. In the year 70 AD the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.

The banquet was thrown open to all the nations of the world. ‘Go throughout the whole world and make disciples of all nations.’ The missionaries of Jesus went throughout the world and called the gentiles.

God now through his missionaries invites the good and bad. And we have been Christians. We can share in all the promises made to Abraham. ‘We are already the children of God, but what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.’ In the banquet we will become like him – like God himself. His love can offer no more. We will share in the very nature of God and become just like he is. No human words can describe it. It is eternal bliss.

But there is a price to pay. We need to put on the wedding garment. Since God calls the good and the bad, the price to pay to share in the wedding banquet is to repent of our sins and listen to the Gospel of Jesus. This is the world proclaimed by Jesus when he first made the invitation. ‘The time has arrived. The Kingdom of God is close at hand, repent and believe the Gospel.’ We can come as we are but must not remain as we are. Through the power of the Spirit working in us, we must become like the Son to whose wedding we are going.

This is possible because as St. Paul tells us in the second reading today: I can do all things with the strength that Jesus gives me. In the Holy Eucharist we receive Jesus as our food by which he gives us this strength.

Do you daily strive to make yourself fit to share in the heavenly banquet