Memorial of St. Pius X, Pope
I love weddings! The joy of celebrating two people coming together in love is such a wonderful occasion to share with family and friends. Today Jesus uses the story of a wedding to help share insights into the Kingdom of God. The wedding and its planning described in today’s gospel have several twists and turns, and therefore it requires deeper reflection to better understand Jesus’ message.
In today’s scripture passage, Jesus relates how a king is throwing a wedding feast for his son. He sends out invitations, but no one wants to come. A second round of invitations leads to further refusals and results in harm (death) to the messengers. Finally, the king tells his servants to invite everyone (good and bad) to join the gathering. At the wedding feast, the king finds one of his invited guests not appropriately dressed. He sends this individual into the darkness outside.
As I reflect on this parable, I wonder why these people are refusing to come to the wedding feast. Are they too busy? Do they not think they are worthy to attend this royal affair? Do they choose not to attend because they do not like the king, and they do not want to be forced to go? The king has something wonderful to share, and yet people turn their backs and refuse to come.
Like the king, we too are invited by God to a wedding feast- the Kingdom of God. Everyone is included in this invitation, but how often do we refuse to come because we are too busy, feel unworthy, or just do not want to be told what to do. Entering into the Kingdom here on earth involves aligning our lives in imitation of Jesus, so we need to “put on Christ”. This is the “wedding garment” that allows us to partake in God’s generous love. We are called to turn away from the hate, pride, and greed of the world, so we can be counted among the people of God.
Getting ready for a wedding requires preparation, and we need to get ready to attend the wedding feast of Christ our King. Our attendance requires the gifts of our time (we need to make time to grow our faith), our talents (the gifts I have to bring to share) and our surrender (recognition that we must trust in God’s grace and goodness.) We believe that the Kingdom of God is among us, so we must choose ways that allows God’s love to be the foundation for all we think, say and do.
Every day, we are invited to come and live in the Kingdom of God. Pray today and always that you will have the ears and hearts to hear the call, and then RSVP with “Yes I will joyfully attend” knowing that this gathering is one you do not want to miss!
—Marylynn Herchline