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“Happy are those Invited to the Banquet of the Kingdom”
Every Eucharistic celebration is not only a re-enactment of the Lord’s Last Supper, but also a foretaste of the heavenly banquet of the Kingdom. The invitation to participate in these two banquets is first and foremost a sign of the Lord’s immense love for us. It is also something far above what the greatest saints can deserve. But invited we are, courtesy of God’s goodness.
On our part, we must do our best to show our appreciation for the Lord’s generosity by participating in the Eucharistic banquet with the proper “wedding garment.” This means: a heart totally purified from any sin and adorned with all the virtues that should characterize a disciple of Christ.
As we are about to start this Eucharistic celebration, let us renew our commitment to live in the presence of the Lord and to offer him the homage of an ever-faithful heart.
In today’s parable of the wedding banquet Jesus tries to bring the Jewish leaders to reflect on the serious consequences of rejecting God’s invitation to be part of the Kingdom. He also reminds those who accept his invitation that they must live up to the moral demands of their status.
A proclamation from the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew (Mt 22:1-14). Glory to you O Lord.
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen.”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (ccc)
#545. Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father’s boundless mercy for them and the vast “joy in heaven over one sinner who repents”. The supreme proof of his love will be the sacrifice of his own life “for the forgiveness of sins”.
#546. Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything. Words are not enough, deeds are required. The parables are like mirrors for man: will he be hard soil or good earth for the word? What use has he made of the talents he has received? Jesus and the presence of the kingdom in this world are secretly at the heart of the parables. One must enter the kingdom, that is, become a disciple of Christ, in order to "know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven". For those who stay "outside", everything remains enigmatic.
True Life In God Messages
Odes Of The Holy Trinity (the Son)
February - April, 2003
…the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to the royal banquet that one king gave for his son's wedding, as in the parable I had given you,[1] I am the same One who spoke then, who speaks now; the wedding was ready, but those who were heartily invited were not interested to go; in fact many of them sneered at the king's invitation; this is a common temptation among those who believe they work for My Interests and are called, but have no time to respond to My Call; in reality their mind is far away from Me; they are absorbed in their petty things, or in their personal affairs; phlegmatic to move or lose their comfort they bring up all sorts of excuses; at least there remains the wretched and the poor in spirit and those who never knew Me or heard of Me; it is from these I will receive praise and honour for they are the chosen ones who did not reject My Call like the first guests, or the man who half-heartedly walked in without bothering to be dressed properly; the king had given orders to his servants to go to the crossroads in town and invite everyone, good and bad... these are the people that were not Mine[2] and of whom I shall now say: “you are My people;” instead of being told, “you are no people of Mine, but rejects of every kind of society,” I will name them sons and daughters of the living God, heirs to My Kingdom...
look, your King comes to you now in your dark days with a train of His angels to invite you to His wedding feast; many are called but few are chosen... anyone without a wedding garment, who never bothered to wear one for lack of enthusiasm and respect shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven;[3]
I tell you truly, unless you wear Me as your wedding garment the Father will not recognise Me in you....[4] ‘I will bring many home from foreign countries; no wall will be built across their path, but My angels, the guardians of My Threshold, will open a path for them, spreading sapphires[5] on it, to lead them to Me...’
and you, you who cry out to Me: “gravediggers are gathering for me, Lord, save me! I want to renounce to sin and be with you now in the wedding feast!” do not despair, you too will be saved since you are willing to be saved; and the gravediggers will be chased away by My angels; then My angels will lift you sublimely on a dazzling white sheet and holding it by its four corners, will soar the skies carrying you in the heights to treat your wounds[6] with heavenly balm, oil of myrrh, spices and lotions;[7] this will be done to cleanse you and purify you before they lead you to Me; this period of cleansing and wiping away is customary preparation for the bride-to-be; every bride-to-be has, for a period of time, to be cleansed before My angels deliver you into the Nuptial Chamber to meet your Bridegroom;
My angels will accompany you all the way to the Threshold, and while you will be standing outside the Nuptial Chamber, a slight memory of the past will come back to you; the time when you were formerly tainted and contemptuous towards Me; the time when you were unmoved at My Calls yet enflamed for the passions of this world; by now, at this moment a new life awaits you; dressed in full splendour, radiant in your beauty, cleansed and perfumed, you are ready to step in the Nuptial Chamber and meet your King; delighted with joy and trembling, languidly you make your approach to the Nuptial bed; your gaze suddenly falls on My Divinity; upon seeing My Holy Face although still veiled, your soul becomes light;…
Prayer in Time of Purification
Tender Father, lash not Your wrath on this generation, lest they perish altogether;
Lash not on Your flock distress and anguish,
for the waters will run dry and nature will wither;
all will succumb at Your wrath leaving no trace behind them;
The heat of Your Breath will put aflame the earth turning it into a waste!
From the horizon a star will be seen;
The night will be ravaged and ashes will fall as snow in winter, covering Your people like ghosts;
Take Mercy on us, God, and do not assess us harshly;
Remember the hearts that rejoice in You and You in them!
Remember Your faithful and let not Your Hand fall on us with force,
But, rather in Your Mercy lift us and place Your precepts in every heart. Amen”
(28 November 2009)
Ref.: Catechism of the Catholic Church • True Life In God - www.tlig.org, Euchalette, 09 October 2011, 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr A.
LEARNING TO RESPOND TO GOD’S INVITATION
God has a plan – a plan of happiness for all. He wants to gather into one single family, under His fatherly love, all those He has created in His image. Such a universal gathering in happiness is often symbolized by a banquet. It will be the completion of His Kingdom in which death will be no more and the tears of the present suffering will be wiped away for ever. (See Is 25:8 and Rv 21:4.)
That final grand celebration is preceded by a period of preparation – the period of the Kingdom-in-the-making, the period of the Church. All are invited to be part of it as guests in a banquet tendered by God in honor of His Son. (See today’s Gospel passage.)
We admire the generous King of the parable: he sends his messengers to solicit the selected guests to come – a personalized invitation, repeated twice with gentle insistence…
But it seems that the privileged guests could not care less. Their behavior shocks and saddens us. And we feel no pity for them when we learn of the harsh punishment inflicted on them by the King.
This allegory symbolizes the response of the Chosen People to God’s invitation to welcome and honor the Messiah.… It symbolizes also the response of all mankind. God is always generous and kind. Men are often ungrateful and arrogant, unmindful of the numberless blessings they have received from the Lord, and of what really matters in life.
The parable of today’s Gospel forces us to ask and answer some questions:
• How have we responded, so far, to the Lord’s invitation to honor His Son?
• Are we like the invited guests who had ‘other priorities’? (See Mt 22:5.)
• Or are we among those who are physically inside the banquet hall (the Church), but behave in a way that is a real insult to the divine Host and a scandal for our coguests? (See Mt 22:11.)
Membership in the Kingdom is always an undeserved gift. What is expected of us now is that we show our appreciation for it by living up to the dignity that God’s love has bestowed upon us.
Ref.: p.4, Euchalette, 09 October 2011, 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr A.
[2] Not the first invited guests.
[3] Our Lord also made me understand that the one who walked in not properly dressed was so that he bad-mouths the Host, and tries to influence the others to join him...
[4] At this moment Jesus spoke as though He was speaking alone, so I took this as an oracle.
[5] Represents: virtues.
[6] Represents: guilt and sin.
[7] Figurative for purification.
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