Cycle A - Year II:  

12 October 2014: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical color: Green)

Matthew 22:1-14

God's invitation to the heavenly feast!

I was invited very recently to a weeding feast. It was not my first time, of course, but this one was a very special event, because it was their golden wedding anniversary. The whole ceremony, from the church to the reception, was so touching and inspiring. In the church, the "bride-again" marched down the aisle in a wheelchair with her "groom-again". She has been bound in the wheelchair for over a decade and he personally is taking care of all her needs. Both are cancer survivors.

Jesus uses the event of a wedding feast in this Sunday's Gospel in order for his listeners to better understand 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.

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

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 tell us about God's kingdom?

God invites all of us to His Son's wedding banquet. 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 Him.

But we 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 super. 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.

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

God invites each one of us to his banquet that we may share in his joy. In other words, 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 are all invited.

We must be ready and willing to respond to God's invitation, and we must be in the right wedding garment, that is to say, free from the stain of win, 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!