Cycle A - Year 1:  

15 October 2017:  Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Isaiah 25:6-10a

Second Reading:   Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20

Gospel:Please Read  Matthew 22:1-14

Come to the heavenly feast!

What comes to mind... when you think of a wedding feast?  I googled it and got pictures of plenty of food, a great celebration, important festivities. It's a celebration of life, a toast to friendship, a union of love. Happy festivity is the central theme.

In this Sunday's Gospel story, our Lord Jesus uses the event of a wedding feast in order for His listeners to understand better how God invites us to the heavenly home. One of the most beautiful images of heaven in the Scriptures is the banquet and wedding celebration given by the king for his son.

Here's the Gospel story in brief: The king gave a wedding feast for his son. In the first round of invitations, there is a select set of invited guests. The invitations were sent out well in advance so the guests would have plenty of time to prepare for coming to the feast. But none wanted to come.

In the second round of invitations, everyone this time is invited, the "bad and the good alike" along the main roads of the kingdom. The second round of invitation is clearly undeserved, unmerited favor and kindness from the king. But the invitation also contains a warning for those who refuse it or who approach the wedding feast improperly.

The parable story concludes with the king finding one guest who was not properly dressed in a wedding garment. He had that guest bound and "cast him into the darkness outside."

What can a royal wedding party tells us about the kingdom of God?

Well, God invites all of us to His Son's wedding banquet.  If you wish, we can say that a foretaste of this banquet is the Eucharist at Holy Mass, and the perfection of this banquet is in heaven with the Lord Himself. Many have been invited to this feast and yet many also refuse to respond to the invitation.

And those who decided to come, they must heed the warning of the parable. Just because everyone is invited to the wedding it does not mean that everyone gets to stay for the celebration. The message of the story is clear that we have to be properly disposed for the banquet, and if we are not prepared, we will not eat of the feast. As Christians, are we dressed properly for the feast, clothed in the garment of righteousness?

So then, how do we prepare ourselves for the banquet at Holy Mass and in heaven? Is our wedding garment clean, meaning to say, unstained by serious sin? Are we wearing the right kind of garment at all, that is to say, do we "clothe yourself in Christ" by keeping God's commandments (as St. Paul wrote in Galatians 3:27)?

God invites all to His banquet that we may share in His joy. The call to holiness is made to everyone. It is a call to realize that we are invited to become children of the Father, and presented with a great banquet to which all are invited.

We must be ready and willing to respond to God's invitation, but we must be in the right wedding garment, that is to say, free from the stain of sin, wearing a purity of heart as a condition to be able to appear before God, when we feast at the Lord's banquet table.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!