A Homily for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost

+ The King whose marriage feast is presented in the Gospel of this Holy Mass as an image of the Kingdom of Heaven must have been a very frustrated, if not at times very angry, man. His invitations were ignored by some and refused by others with poor excuses. His servants were put to death, provoking the King’s just retribution.

In the end, having assembled a group of ‘substitute’ invitees – some good, some bad as the Gospel tells us – even then the King must expel one from the feast, casting him out bound hand and foot into the darkness where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth, because he was present without a wedding garment.

Our very modern minds might think this somewhat unjust: the poor man may have had an excuse (but he presented none when questioned). And after all, it was only a wedding garment. Today many people attend weddings casually attired.

Let us beware of the trap of reading Sacred Scripture according to our own predispositions. The teaching of this parable does not need to be changed to conform with the twenty-first century. No, we must change to conform to what Our Blessed Lord teaches us through it, this morning, in the Church’s Sacred Liturgy.
And if we can overcome our post-modern egalitarian prejudices, if we can purify ourselves from the polluting syncretism of our age which suggests that every approach to God is of equal value and that salvation is for all regardless, we can begin to understand Our Lord’s teaching that “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

This is a truly frightening teaching. It states clearly the possibility of exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven in the same manner as the guest expelled from the wedding feast. To put it bluntly, Hell and eternal damnation are realities that are the logical and just consequence of our freely chosen actions that are grave and contrary to God or His Law. (cf. CCC 1033) If we freely, knowingly and willingly choose mortal sin, our choice will be respected by God for eternity. Hence the silence of the man without the wedding garment: there was nothing he could say. There was no excuse. The King’s actions were just.

How are we to avoid such a sentence? How do we clothe ourselves in the wedding garment necessary for participation in the nuptial feast of the Kingdom of Heaven?

The first part of this parable teaches that this feast is open to all, to we Gentiles. Our invitation is our baptism into the New Covenant. Our baptismal garment, kept pure and unstained – or if necessary, “washed and made white in the Blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14) – is, surely, the wedding garment in which we must be clothed when the King comes to inspect His guests.

The Fathers of the Church, who comment extensively on this parable, insist that the baptismal garment must be adorned with charity in order to be acceptable to the King, for – in the words of Saint Augustine – “not everyone who receives baptism comes to God.” (PL 38: col. 559) That is to say, whilst baptism is necessary for salvation, a life of charity lived according to the dignity and duties we receive in baptism is necessary to be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. And if this is required of the baptised, how much more is required of those whose baptismal dignity is clothed further by the monastic habit or by the sacred vestments of the sacrament of holy orders!

This parable should give us all pause. Yes, God’s mercy is a reality. Christ shed His Blood on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, and no matter how badly we have stained or torn our baptismal garment, it can be repaired and restored if we but repent and do penance. But God will not be mocked. His justice is a reality. Let us not forget our Lord’s injunction: “Everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required.” (Lk 12:48)

At this Holy Mass let us ask for the grace of the necessary humility to do what is necessary that our wedding garment shall be acceptable in the sight of the King. Let us ask the intercession of St Therese, whose feast we commemorate today, to guide us along the path of humility of which she is so great an example.

“Many are called, but few are chosen.” May our perseverance in the life of charity not only assure us a place at the nuptial feast of the King, but also bring many others to enjoy the eternal life it which it promises, for to be cast out into the darkness, bound hand and foot, is a most terrible prospect. +