Homily for the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today we are given the fourth installation in a series of Parables over these past few Sundays in which the Lord speaks of the consequences of misjudging God’s intentions, and being misguided in our response to God’s loving and personal invitation to live in His Kingdom in the present moment.

In this story about the would-be wedding guest who shows up improperly dressed, the Lord warns us that if we don’t take God’s invitations seriously, we, too, could be left out in the cold. This being “left out” is not an act of caprice on God’s part,
because, as we’ve been hearing over these weeks, God is persistent in His active pursuit of us; it’s our response that causes the problem.

The Prophet Isaiah gives us the set-up for understanding God’s involvement in our lives as shown to us by Christ in this Parable of the King’s invitation to a Wedding Banquet. In the space of four sentences he uses the phrase “on this mountain” three times, suggesting an immediacy, even an urgency, on God’s part to get through to us.

In using the phrase “on this mountain,” he is basically saying, “here and now”: not merely in some distant future, but here and now, God wishes to be active in our lives. And then Isaiah points out three ways in which God does this:

1) God will provide for us not just sustenance, but “rich food and choice wines.” (far better than we might have expected)

2) God will destroy death and remove the reproach we might have coming for our sin (far better than we might have deserved)

3) God’s own hand will save us (the fulfillment of all we could have hoped for)

Who would say “No” to such an offer?  Well, according to Jesus, many have, and many more will. The man in our story did not say “No” as others had previously, but he didn’t give an unconditional “Yes” either; his response was something of a “Maybe.”

When the King kicks him out, Jesus is teaching us that God can put certain conditions on discipleship, but we cannot, as He warns us: “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

Taken at face value, some Pastors might seize the opportunity to use this Parable to chastise parishioners for the way they dress for Church. A legitimate gripe, but there is a message here that is far more profound: it concerns our attitude towards
+ what God demands of us for discipleship
+ what His Church rightfully expects for membership.

Our Lord instructs us that merely “showing up” is insufficient, but He doesn’t leave it at that: He helps us out. Our Lord Jesus Christ gives us the clothing, that is, the disposition with which we should approach Him and His Church. These would be prayer, and those Sacraments which we can receive frequently: Eucharist and Penance. To come to Mass without a prayer life, or never going to Confession is to come half-dressed.

What, then, would be the appropriate garment for membership in the Church and for entrance into the Kingdom? Saint Paul gives us the answer… it is humility. Picking up on Isaiah’s theme of God’s Providence, Saint Paul tells us that he has enjoyed wealth and has survived poverty, and is only able to accomplish what he has accomplished, even in times of poverty, because God has strengthened him (as God will do for us in the Sacraments).

Humility is a supernatural virtue by which we lovingly recognize our true value in God’s eyes, and are disposed to give Him due recognition for all the good we find in ourselves. Humility… and its shadow, meekness… are the only virtues that Our Lord pointed out in Himself for our imitation as He said: “Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.”

His own humility is best seen in His life of obedience to the Father and to His earthly parents, Mary and Joseph. We are asked to live in similar humility, conforming our will to the Holy Will of God.

Meekness, as Our Lord lives it and teaches it, is not weakness or self-abnegation; it is bridled strength. Strengthened by Grace, we, too, can bridle our willfulness, which, paradoxically, brings greater freedom because humility and meekness, which within themselves truly desire God’s Will, will eliminate from our repertoire of moral choices, all that is displeasing to God, thereby making us truly free. Conformity to the Will of God, facilitated by the Grace of prayer and the Sacraments, is the fundamental principle inherent in belonging to the Mystical Body of Christ — the Church— because every act of obedience to God’s Will is an act of communion with Christ which renews us in our discipleship and strengthens the Church.

This is what was lacking in our Wedding Guest in today’s Parable. We might have thought of him as a poor, hapless fellow, not a member of the king’s court, and, therefore, unable to afford the requisite finery for a royal Wedding, And, the invitation came out of the blue, catching him unprepared. So… what could the King expect?

But Our Lord’s initial listeners knew better, because He spoke in a cultural milieu in which they were familiar. In those days, even people of ordinary and lesser means owned more than one garment. They would have possessed:
+ work clothing
+ something to wear to market
+ something better to wear to temple/synagogue.

The fact that he didn’t bother to wash up and change his clothes shows that he either:
+ didn’t take the King’s invitation seriously — or, worse —
+ chose to demonstrate some distain for the host and the other guests by showing up dirty and smelly.

No humility… no respect for his host, the King… nor for the others present, gets him kicked out. So, it is with some humility that we should consider our membership in the Church and our approach, not to a Royal Wedding Feast, but to the Eucharistic Banquet — the Holy Mass.

As the Lord points out in His Parable, it is quite possible for us to approach the Mystical Body of Christ and the Mystery of Christ in the Eucharist improperly clad  — that is — with an improper disposition. This improper disposition can manifest itself in the way in which we
+ think about the Faith
+ relate to the Church as a whole
+ approach the Sacraments
+ share our thoughts and opinions about the Faith and the Church with others.

Without even giving it much thought, our dispositions — that is — our
+ thoughts
+ opinions
+ attitudes
+ words
+ actions

can do damage to our faith life, and our sense of belonging in the Church, and could possibly cause scandal for others whose faith might be weak or questioning, and who look not only to the hierarchy but to other Catholics present or absent in the pews for some guidance, counsel or good example.

How might our garment, our disposition be deemed inappropriate by Christ Himself? It can emerge from operating at too shallow a level of embracing God and the Faith, and looking to improper sources, such as:
+ the secular media
+ Catholic-bashers or
+ outspoken, angry ex-Catholics… to communicate the depths of Catholic Faith and Life.

We live now in what is called “The Information Age.” Many, many people carry with them constantly some hand-held electronic device, connecting them to unlimited information and communication, but often disconnecting from the person sitting next to them, or from the silence and solitude necessary for some balance in modern life.

While there is a good in the instant communication of information, we have to keep in mind a hierarchy of values that can retain our interior peace and sanity:

+ information is not as valuable as knowledge…
+ knowledge is not as valuable as wisdom
+ wisdom is not as valuable as faith.

Since we’ve already looked at the virtue of faith, we’ll now look at the value of wisdom in our lives.

Too much information could possibly overload the thinking process, hampering our ability to think for ourselves and leading us, instead, to prepared information or shallow opinions rather than to wisdom: the virtue needed to approach Mystery
and to see Christ in others, thereby strengthening His Church.

Though we have the World-Wide-Web at our fingertips, without wisdom, our own thoughts can be left incomplete, and our opinions un-enlightened. On the other hand, what our hearts, minds and souls seek is both personal and communal experiences of God in an experience of wisdom shared, within the language and the moments of silence we find in the proper celebration of the Mass.

Wisdom, a by-product of Humility, brings enlightenment to thoughts and opinions, especially thoughts and opinions that might, otherwise, be divisive or dis-integrative. But Wisdom doesn’t just come to us through the air, we have to seek it.
It will, however, come to us by way of the Grace of
+ prayer
+ the Sacraments and
+ reflected-upon life experience.

Graced Wisdom is more than mere insight into the human condition, it is a gift that enables us to look at life and humanity from a divine perspective. It infuses insight with Charity, overcoming the banality of opinion which can sometimes be: uncharitable, disintegrative or downright sinful.

I’m not suggesting here  that we put no trust in our own thoughts, as diverse as they might be from person to person, but to entrust our thoughts to prayer and the Sacraments before we give them flight in speech or action, thus clothing ourselves in a garment befitting the Eucharistic Banquet and the Mystical Body of Christ: the Church: where we seek constantly to find Christ in communion with one another.

We need each other in order to find Christ, to be a source of strength and support for one another, and then to take Christ to the world. There are very few genuine hermits in the world. So, those who attempt to “go it alone” intellectually in the areas of faith and morals often find themselves isolated, separated from God, Church, and any true Faith, because they perhaps try to re-define God not according to divine revelation, but by human thought, which so frequently leads to further isolation, and just as likely, to heresy.

Remember what we heard God say to us last week through the Prophet Isaiah: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways…” an invitation to humility in our search for Truth, whose reward will be Wisdom, as we find God 
in the manner He chooses to reveal Himself.

We, therefore, should not attempt to approach God all dirty and smelly, but dressed in the proper Wedding Garment, woven of wisdom, trust and Grace. Our weakness in any of these areas is not detrimental to the whole of our being, unless we are obstinate or defiant in opposing God’s Grace.

The Church is strengthened through the collective weakness - yet earnestness - of its members. If everyone brings a little Grace, that Grace increases exponentially and brings a holy growth and strength  to the whole body. But the Lord warns us that sin, error, and self-aggrandizement can have an opposite effect, which is why the wise and intuitive King in today’s Parable ejected the unworthy Guest: He didn’t want the unworthy, uncaring man to affect the strivings of the others.

Always remember this, however: even in 
+ our sinfulness
+ our weakness  and
+ our lack of Grace…

God seeks us out, constantly issuing renewed invitations to the Royal — make that — to the Eucharistic Banquet, the cause and the root of our deepest human joy. And, keep in mind further, the words of the Prophet Isaiah: “Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that He has saved us!”