October 15^th 2017. Twenty Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Matthew 22, 1-14

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Matthew 22, 1-14

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

Kieran’s summary . . . We are all called into the joy of communion with the Lord, into living his life! The parable refers to two different ways in which we can refuse the Lord’s invitation. The first way is through our individualism, our preoccupation with our own affairs, our own egos. In the parable, those invited to the feast are too busy to respond to the Lord’s invitation. We are so engrossed in our concerns, our own projects, our individual self-gratification, that we do not know how to receive the joy that the Lord prepares for us when he invites us into life with him. The second type of person who refuses the invitation of the Lord is the one who tries to enter the feast but does not wear the proper garment. Isn’t that true for all of us? How often we try to convince ourselves that we are in union with the Lord but we refuse to change our habits, our way of life, our usual mode of behaviour! The Lord himself will provide us with the garment for his feast! We do not have to worry about our own righteousness, our own strength, our own determination. The Lord provides the garment. We just have to accept his pardon and enter into his life wearing the garment, having been changed by him. The parable also has a severe warning for all of us. Those who decline to enter the feast or who try to enter with the wrong garment are destined for death and fire. How true that is even now! Our individualism destroys society and sets it in flames. Our self-absorption leads to isolation, loneliness and darkness. It binds us hand and foot and renders us incapable of meaningful acts. Let us respond to the Lord’s invitation! All that matters is that the Lord takes us and places his garment upon us, that we detach ourselves from our own works. The Lord will give us his grace and bestow his gifts upon us, enabling us to live a life that is much more beautiful than the self-directed life of before.

Why do we refuse the invitation to enter into joy of communion with the Lord? Because we are too preoccupied with our own affairs, with our own pleasure, our own egos

This Sunday’s liturgy is really an invitation to dine with the Lord, from chapter 25 of Isaiah to chapter 22 of Matthew. The announcement of the banquet in Isaiah is a joyous one: like a couple who invite friends to dinner and wish to serve the best of food and the finest of wines. The objective of this banquet is to banish sadness and bring joy to the people. This practise of celebrating at table, from weddings to family gatherings, is a feature of all cultures. It is not merely about the physical act of satisfying one’s hunger: rather it has to do with ritual, communion, mutual friendship. It is the relational aspect of such gatherings, in fact, that is their most important feature. And this is the theme of the parable announced by Jesus. A man organises a feast and sends his servants to invite the guests, but they are too busy with their own affairs. They are less interested in joyful encounter with others than they are with their own business, their own projects, their own egos. Their refusal of the invitation is really a way of saying, “I am not interested in what you give me, even if you present it to me as a gift”. This parable points to the problem of individualism, to the inability to relate to others through the experience of eating a common meal, to the preoccupations we have with our own affairs. How often we act to look after own concerns before we turn to our relationships with other people. An authentic life is that which is shared with others. The genuine concern that we ought to have is that of relationship with the other. Only in this way can we encounter the Lord who is with us. It is no accident that the central sacrament of daily Christian life - the Eucharist - is a banquet! Here we are called to share the same bread, to be nourished and enlivened by the one blood of Jesus Christ. What is it that prevents us from having the right attitude for this feast that we are called to? We constantly seek pleasure and enjoyment. This prevents us from knowing how to enter into real joy, which involves accepting the gift that the Lord wishes to give us.

When we enter the banquet of the Lord, we must shed our old aspect and don the new garment provided by the Lord. How often we try to continue without changing our old way of doing things! But we cannot enter into the joy of the Lord if we do not put on the garment that he offers us

At this point the second type of character enters the parable. The first type of person was the one who was too engrossed in himself to accept the invitation to enter into joy. The second type is the one who enters without a wedding garment. But wait: the servants invited all the poor people off the street to the banquet, so how could he have the correct garment? It is important to be aware that in those days the host would distribute a garment – a sort of cloak – to everyone as they entered the feast. Evidently this man has entered the banquet, refusing to don the garment given to all the guests. In other words, this man does not want to change what he is wearing. The first group of people did not wish to change their routine in order to attend the feast. The banquet of the Lord is not run according to our criteria of what is important and how things should be done. When the invitation of the Lord comes, then our way of doing things, our schedule of affairs, must be interrupted. It is surprise that is the spice of life. If you want to make a child happy, prepare a surprise for him. The Lord prepares a surprise for us and says, “Leave aside what you are doing, forget your concerns,” but we do not want to set aside our routines. Then there is the call to change our garment. The psalms and the prophets speak of a change of outfits - from the garment of mourning to the garment of joy. It is not possible to enter into the feast of the Lord if we do not change garment. We cannot enter and remain as we were before! We must allow ourselves to be changed, shedding our old way of doing things and entering into the joy of God. In this sense, we are utterly changed upon entering.

The parable has a warning: if we continue with our self-absorbed lives, refusing to enter into the feast of the Lord, or if we try to enter without accepting the new life that the Lord bestows upon us, then we will wind up in death, darkness and fire.

There is a threatening aspect to this parable. Both the persons who refuse the invitation and the one who refuses to be changed are inflicted with severe punishment. This is divine revelation. Those who remain engrossed in their own concerns and refuse to enter into the feast of the Lord end up embracing death. Our projects end up in nothingness. If we live just for ourselves then we are serving a self that is an illusion, a self that seeks to be independent from the joy of the Lord. These preoccupations are in the service of a city that will one day go up in flames, as the parable foretells. The mundane world of unbridled individualism in which we live is composed of persons who do things only for themselves. They think they are living, but in reality they are dying. It is a society without solidarity that is falling to pieces, a society without the Lord’s banquet in which people remain engrossed in their own affairs and sink deeper and deeper into isolation. This is the reality that we are called to abandon. We are invited to leave our own concerns and enter into the feast of God, so that we do not burst into flames and fall into death. The second man (without the garment) is tied hands and feet and cast into the darkness. Refusing to change garment and don the garment of the mission that the Lord assigns to him, his hands and feet are tied. In other words, he no longer does anything meaningful and he remains in darkness. He who refuses the beauty that the Lord proposes to us, the garment that the Lord offers us, to partake of the feast that the Lord calls us to, ends up doing acts that are bound and fruitless. He winds up in the darkness of his own self-absorption. The Gospel invites us to enter the feast of the Lord! It doesn’t matter whether or not we are good, determined and strong. What matters is that the Lord takes us and places his garment upon us, that we detach ourselves from our own works. The Lord will give us his grace and bestow his gifts upon us, enabling us to live a life that is much more beautiful than the self-directed life of before.