A Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
A priest friend of mine called me this week to ask how my new assignment is going, and I told him that I really like being at this parish and that I am learning a lot. I am especially learning a lot about construction, as I accompany Fr. Mick to the various meetings regarding the preparations to begin Phase II of our building project. One of the things that I have learned about construction is that you can only cover a certain percentage of the ground with impenetrable material. The water needs to be able to drain somewhere.
As I prayed over the Scripture readings for this weekend’s Mass the word “impenetrable” kept coming to mind. It seems to me that too often our hearts can be nearly impenetrable to God’s love for us. Instead of opening ourselves to being struck by the beautiful things in life that draw us to the face of Christ, too often we allow ourselves to remain all closed up.
It all begins with desire. What is it that we truly want? What will really satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts?
God knows that our hearts long for the infinite — infinite beauty, infinite truth, infinite love. Being finite, neither we nor any of the people in our lives can satisfy this longing for the infinite in our hearts. Only God, who is infinite, who is Love, can satisfy us.
In today’s readings we hear one of the most common metaphors for this fulfillment that we are all searching for, that of a banquet. In our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah, God promises that He “will provide for all people a feast of rich food and choice wines….” A banquet, such as the one described in Isaiah, would be an image of joy and camaraderie. No sadness, no loneliness, no tears.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus picks up on this image, but He makes it a wedding banquet. The Church describes the sacrament of marriage as a sign of Christ, the Bridegroom’s, union with His Bride, the Church. So in this parable, Jesus is telling us that the we are all invited to participate in the joy of this heavenly wedding feast.
Sadly, this is where impenetrability can become an obstacle. Like those who ignored the King’s invitation to go back to their farms and businesses, too often we allow lesser things to fill up our lives so that we think that we have no time for God. We can get so caught up with the material world, that we turn a deaf ear to the Lord’s invitation to life, life to the full. Unfortunately, for us, the material world will never be able to satisfy what we truly desire. Oh, for a while material things might distract us from our deep desires and needs, but sooner or later they will become bland and we will start looking for something new, something else. It can really become an addiction.
If you ask someone who has suffered from alcoholism or a drug addiction, they will tell you that at first they used the drug because it made them feel good, but as they became addicted, they needed to use more and more of the drug just to stop feeling bad. In their recovery, in order to break the cycle of addiction, they needed to surrender to a Higher Power. In other words, they needed to do an honest appraisal of what do they truly desire deep down, and they came to realize that only by surrendering to this Power greater than themselves could they find that which set them free and truly satisfied the needs of their hearts. As Christians we know that that Higher Power took on our human nature and is Jesus Christ. Like the Prophet Ezekiel, we often need to pray that the Lord will break open our stony, impenetrable hearts, and give us instead soft, fleshy hearts that will allow His love and grace to penetrate into.
Jesus addressed this parable to the chef priests and elders who often sneered at Him for eating with sinners. They had very stony hearts, and they thought that God issued His invitation only to the elect few. However, Jesus makes it clear that the invitation goes out to all people. God wants all of us to be saved. He wants to share His life with everyone.
If we read only the short form of the parable, we would stop there, but I think the second part of the parable is also important. At first we might it seem rather rude or even mean for the King to throw out the man who attended the wedding banquet without being properly dressed. However, this addresses another common problem among Jesus’ followers. We can become too casual with God. Yes, Jesus is our friend, but He is also our Lord and Savior. He is Christ the King! The second part of this parable warns us that while God extends His invitation to all, no one can accept the invitation casually.
There was a time in the Church’s history where there was such a strong emphasis on the need for adequate preparation in order to receive Holy Communion, that many people developed great fears about receiving the sacrament unworthily that they often did not come to receive the Eucharist. Or they saw receiving Holy Communion as a reward for making a good Confession.
Today there is a greater emphasis on the Eucharist being a medicine for the spiritually sick, the sinner. This can lead to another danger, that both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II before him has warn us against, of people receiving the Eucharist casually, with no preparation at all. St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians (11:27-31) tells us that such casualness in regards to Holy Communion can be spiritually harmful.
God does not want us to be fearful about coming to His table of the Eucharist, but He does want us to be careful. The Lord longs to fill us up with His goodness, His power, and His love.
However, God cannot fill us up unless we are empty. We must confess our need for His love, His power, and His goodness. We need to acknowledge our own unworthiness, and ask His forgiveness for our sins.
It is only in our need, in our weakness that we can sing with the Prophet Isaiah and all the Faithful as we approach the Table of the Lord’s Body and Blood, “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!”
