Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary time A
October 9, 2011
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. Isaiah 25:6-8a
I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress. My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:13-14, 19
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. Matthew 22:10-12
Piety
Our piety is our wedding garment of the Feast. We are given an invitation to the celebration every moment of our life. Because God is love and his love is forever, there is never a moment the invitation is missing. Each moment of our life has the fullness of God’s love waiting to be accepted by us. God has given us a destiny in his Word made flesh and we have the freedom to accept God’s love in all the ways we bring Christ into our lives and become the living embodiment of who Christ would be in us. It is simplistic to say we are created in the image and likeness of Christ. Our freedom allows us to forever be becoming in Christ. Christogenesis is the reality of our putting on the mind and heart of Christ. We are called by our destiny in Christ to become what we see about ourselves in him. The journey of life has its happiness in all the ways we discover to be Christ to each other. The paradox of Christ in our lives is found in the Last Judgment scene where whatever is done for the least one of us is done for Christ. Christ becomes us in our need of him and of each other. Our needs make us Christ to each other. The perfection of our piety will be found in the ways we have emptied ourselves out for each other. Our wedding garment for the feast of Christ is the need we have of each other. We study Christ to discover how to dress for the feast.
Study
The invitation to the feast of Christ is simply put. “If you would be my disciple, take up your cross and come follow me.” We cannot afford to be too busy for the invitation of Christ. We need to be always ready for the call of Christ in our lives. We know neither the hour nor the way that he will call us. Discernment is the study of the possible ways that Christ is calling us in the moment we are in. There are a thousand ways the love of God surrounds us. Our freedom is seen in the one choice out of the thousand that we make to respond to his love. Each moment he is calling. We are following the voice of Christ that speaks out in the needs of our world that we are capable of meeting. Christ loves us as we are. We love God in the ways we are more like Christ in what we are doing. Christ died for us so that we are free even in the mistakes of our lives. He loves us even as we improve. Because we are loved by Christ as we are, we can give our freedom to him moment by moment.
Action
Christ is pleasantly surprised when we make changes in our lives out of love for him. He is the forgiveness of our mistakes. We are the love of the changes we make in ourselves in order that we can go to the wedding feast. Our good actions make us more Christ like each moment of our lives. Each way we choose in our lives to die for Christ allows us to live in Christ. The happiness of the wedding feast we are invited to by Christ makes us more Christ as he lives in us more than we live in him. Our room to improve is all the ways we can be more Christ like. Our wedding garment for the feast is our Christ life.
