The Parable of the Wedding Banquet and Garment points to the magnitude of God’s ofer of love to us (Mathew 22:1-14). Jesus uses exaggerated language and shocking words in the parable to reveal God’s extravagant, universal love and enormous generosity. The king invited the guests to the wedding banquet of his son. Yet they refused and ignored the invitaton. They even killed the servants who were sent by the king. He was enraged, destroyed the murderers and burned their city. He sent more servants to the main roads and commanded them to invite whomever they fnd good and bad alike. Then a man not dressed in a wedding garment was thrown outside the banquet. How do we make sense of this story. The parable reveals God’s open and free invitaton to the kingdom of God. The call is urgent and the response is here and now. It is a judgment to the chief priests and elders of the Jews and also to us. We are called to make a choice and decision. Or we are for Jesus or against him. There is no middle ground, no neutrality in discipleship. We are called to give a wholehearted yes to God. He wants to be at the top of our list. Obedience to God leads to blessing and life. Disobedience to God leads to curse and death. The wedding garment is the dress code that we need to wear in the banquet of the Lord. It is not enough that we are physically present. Our being Catholic, our baptsm does not guarantee a place in the kingdom. The wedding robe is our right dispositon to learn to love generously, abundantly, freely and extravagantly. The Eucharist is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. It is a meal, fellowship and gathering. We are fed with the best food: the body and blood of Christ. We are fed by the selfess, total, radical love of Christ so that we become what we receive. And we are nourished by His Word. Therefore, to be chosen to partcipate in the banquet of the Lord, we need to put on Christ, to conform to Him and be willing to learn from Him: to live a life of love and service.
This is my third year serving in this beautful parish of St. Agnes. I have witnessed a lot of parishioners who live a life of service. In a special way, I would like to express my grattude to the following members of the Finance Council who rendered years of dedicated service to our parish: Chris Findley, Raymond Simas and David Dick. I pray that God may contnue to bless you as you contnue to serve our community.
