Back in Illinois we had a next-door neighbor who belonged to our parish. I celebrated the sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony for their children and buried the husband. They invited my wife Barb and me to return to Illinois this month for a beautiful family wedding and reception. Due to my wife’s recovery from both shoulder replacement and now knee replacement surgery, we cannot attend. This is the first invitation from them we have ever declined, and we are sad about it.

As I reflected on the Gospel this weekend, I put myself into the parable as one of the original invited guests who declined the invitation. Perhaps some had legitimate reasons for not attending, as we do. Some, however, rudely ignored the invitation. Others, inexplicably, mistreated and killed the king’s servants who delivered the invitation. The king then invited common people, good and bad alike.

One way of applying this parable to our lives is to put ourselves into the story as the common people invited to the feast. The original guests, the people of Israel, rejected the invitation of God to the eternal feast and killed Jesus, who came to deliver the invitation. Then St. Paul extended the invitation to us, the gentiles. We have been invited, whether we are good or bad. God welcomes all.

If you are reading this, you have responded in some way to the invitation. The proper garment to attend is our Baptismal gown. At this great feast, the Mass, the food is Bread from Heaven, the Body and Blood of Christ. Let us never refuse this invitation.

In the parable, there is one guest improperly dressed. That is us when our Baptismal gown is soiled by sin. Let us not be found improperly dressed.

The feast of the Eucharist is never-ending. By attending Mass, we are not just guests. We are servants as well—servants who are called to deliver the invitation to others. What family members or friends have fallen away and no longer practice their faith?

If they were physically starving, we would do anything to feed them. They are spiritually malnourished and may not even know it. What are we doing to feed them? Do you know why they are absent? Maybe it is because we have not invited them back. Wouldn’t that be tragic?

Be courageous and ask. You don’t have to have all the answers to their questions. You don’t have to defend the Church. Just love them and bring them to the feast.

In Christ,
Dcn. Marty