YEAR A: HOMILY FOR THE 28TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (3)

YEAR A: HOMILY FOR THE 28TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: THE WEDDING FEAST….” Go to the crossroads and invite everyone you find to the wedding feast”

BY: Fr. Julio César RAMOS González SDB

HOMILY: Today, Jesus present us with the king (the Father), inviting his guests through his “servants” (the prophets) to the banquet of the Holy Alliance of his Son with Mankind (our salvation). First he did it with Israel, «but they refused to come» (Mt 22:3). Despite the refusal the Father kept on insisting: «I have prepared a banquet, (…) and now everything is ready; come then, to the wedding feast» (v. 4). But that rebuff, seizing the servants, insulting and killing them, makes the king angry, so he sent his troops to destroy the murderers and burn “their” city, (cf. Mt 22:6-7): Jerusalem.

So, consequently, through other “servants” (the apostles) —sent to «the crossroads», (Mt 22:9): «Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…», will, our Lord Jesus, in Mt 28:19 tell them later on— we are invited, the rest of mankind, that is, «everyone they found, good and bad alike, so that the hall was filled with guests» (Mt 22:10): the Church. However, the question is not only to attend the banquet when invited, but also, and to a great extent, the dignity we may display, when at the banquet («the wedding garment», cf. v. 12). St. Jerome commented in this regard: «The marriage garment is the commandments of the Lord, and the works which are done under the Law and the Gospel, and form the clothing of the new man. That is, the deeds of Charity our faith must be accompanied of».

We know that Mother Teresa of Calcutta, used to go out every night looking for the moribund to give them, with love, a proper dying: clean, tucked in, and, if possible, baptized. Once, she said: «I’m not afraid of dying, because when I will be before the Father, there will be so many poor I gave Him with the wedding garments, that they will know how to defend me». Blessed she may be! —Let us learn that lesson, too.

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