We're invited to a party

My family loves birthday parties.  In fact, we’ll have a party later this afternoon to celebrate two birthdays.  I have five children and seven grandchildren with number eight on the way.  Four of my five children are married and these four all live either in Mason or Lebanon.  So, our typical birthday party has seventeen people attending.  When these parties are at our house, which they often are, we are seated at a large dining table with a smaller table at the end.  This seats sixteen with one baby in a high chair.  I don’t know what we’ll do when we need another seat at the table. 

Today, Jesus tells a parable about a party, a wedding banquet.  Twice he sent his servants out to invite guests to this party.  Some people ignored the invite and others even killed his servants.  The king was enraged by this and killed the murderers and burned their city.  But, he sent out his servants once again to invite anyone they could find. One of those attending the wedding feast didn’t wear the proper wedding garment.  So the king had him tied up and cast into the darkness. 

In this parable, God is the king; Jesus the bridegroom.  The feast is eternal life as we hear in today's first reading.  The Israelites are those first invited to the feast by God's servants, the prophets.  For refusing invitations and killing His prophets, Israel was punished, with its city conquered by foreign armies. 

Then, God sent new servants, His apostles, to call not only Israelites, but all people - the good and bad alike - to the feast of His kingdom.  Who is this God who loves us so much that he wants us to be with him in heaven for all eternity?

Several weeks’ ago I attended a retreat with some other deacons.  The leader of our retreat was Father Vincent, a wise elderly monk.  Father Vincent told us to trust in the Lord and to follow his will and not our will.  He told us we could learn more about our great and loving God by reading the psalms slowly.  Today’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 23, tells us a lot about our God.  It compares our God to a shepherd, with us as his sheep.  It reads:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.   

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff comfort me.

   You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

   you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

   Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I thought of psalm 23 as I was reading today’s Gospel.   In the Gospel, we are encouraged by the king’s willingness to seek out guests for the wedding feast.  But, then, at the end of the parable, we might be taken back when the king tells his attendants to cast out into the darkness the man who wasn’t dressed in a wedding garment.  Is this God of ours a merciful God or a just God?

As we hear in psalm 23, our God is a merciful God.  He is a shepherd who constantly seeks us.  Our God is also a just God.  Since he gave us our freedom, he honors our freedom by allowing us to choose whether we will attend and be properly dressed for his wedding feast or not. Will we follow him, our loving shepherd, or seek our own way?

I love my children and my grandchildren.  I love celebrating birthdays and other occasions with them.  I’m sure those of you who have children and grandchildren also love them.  Our love for our children and grandchildren is just a small sample of God’s unsurpassed love for each of us.  Like a loving father, our God combines mercy with justice, compassion with freedom.

We may reject God, but God doesn't give up on us. There is a party planned and God, like a shepherd, comes out to find us.  He wants to share His joy with us.  After all, the invitation comes from Jesus, who wants us at the feast so much that he offers himself as a sacrifice on the cross and on the altar today to encourage us to accept his invitation.

By coming to Mass today we accepted an invitation.  We come to the supper of the Lamb seeking help putting on our wedding garment.  For, we must dress appropriately for the heavenly banquet.

Are we properly dressed for the heavenly banquet?  The time to prepare is now and the best place to prepare is here at this Eucharistic celebration. Let us rejoice and continue the celebration.