As the events of the past week, culminating in the funeral and burial of Archbishop Hannan, begin to fade, I could hear him today in the Gospel. Today we heard from Matthew the parable of the king giving an elaborate wedding feast for his son. None of the invited guests came, in fact some of them mistreated and killed the kings servants. Since those invited to the banquet were not coming, the king deemed them unworthy and instructed the servants to gather anyone who would come. The Gospel tells us the good and the bad alike came. The king spots a guest at the banquet without a wedding garment. Reduced to silence when asked where is your wedding garment the guest was summarily dragged outside to not enjoy the banquet. And then we hear many are invited, the chosen are few.
So what is the wedding garment? Why is this important today? At our Mass at Most Holy Trinity Fr. Dean reminded us of Archbishop Hannan and his episcopal motto: Charity is the bond of perfection! Fr. Dean suggested that charity, and you can use the word love here, is the wedding garment we are all called to wear to the banquet. Even if we come to the banquet, by attending Mass, do we come with charity and love? Do we come prepared? Do we come to participate? Do we come to listen to God's word? Do we come to receive Him in the Eucharist worthily? Do we come to worship? Do we leave the banquet ready to show our wedding garment to our brothers and sisters we meet all week long?
Yes, we certainly want our brothers and sisters that don't come to Mass to be with us at the banquet. Afterall, many are invited, right? But this weeks Gospel clearly is for those among us who worship to do so with charity(love). We are to wear our wedding garment!
And that wedding garment must be charity; the bond of perfection!
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