A Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday of Pentecost

+ The heresy of universal salvation, whereby it is believed that, in the end, everyone goes to heaven, is quite rampant in our days. At times even popes have seemed to succumb to its seduction. It is a ‘nice’ thought, after all—no one wants to ponder the disturbing possibility of eternal damnation in hell, most especially when a family or friends die. The platitudinous panacea of universal salvation seeks to protect us from such a terrifying prospect.

The problem with this is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not. It confronts us—most clearly in the Gospel of this Holy Mass—with the invitation to the nuptial banquet of the King and of the consequences of both refusing that invitation and, indeed, of even accepting it but without the correct dispositions (symbolised by the wedding garment). Only those who accept the King’s invitation and who respond to it appropriately shall enjoy its riches. Others exclude themselves with a myriad of excuses or even by means of direct opposition. Others still are excluded because they have not sufficiently responded to the demands that the invitation itself requires.

Hence, being “cast out into the outer darkness” where “men will weep and gnash their teeth” is a real prospect that each of us must recognise—which is why the Church’s Sacred Liturgy confronts us with it this morning. As a wise and loving Mother, the Church does not hide this reality under a whitewash of banal obfuscations. No, she insists that we hear and attend to the saving Truth taught by Jesus Christ so that, whilst there is still time, we might convert and live. For, whilst we rightly commend our loved ones who have died to the mercy of Almighty God through our prayers and through the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for them, we cannot presume that everyone goes to heaven, for “many are called, but few are chosen.” God’s mercy does not annul His justice. His love for every human being does not annihilate our sovereign free will: rather, He respects its radical consequences.

What, then, are we to do? The Gospel teaches us that the response is twofold.

Firstly, we must accept the invitation to the nuptial banquet of the King and not be too busy to participate or even be directly opposed to so doing. In contemplating this Gospel passage the Fathers of the Church regard participation in the nuptial banquet as membership of the Church, the door to which is the Sacrament of Baptism. We must, therefore, seek Baptism in order to be saved.

This may sound strange in our times when infant baptism has been customary for centuries. We grow up with the ‘invitation already in our hands’ as it were, because the Church, in her wisdom, has wished us to profit from the graces of Baptism since our very first days—and that is all to the good. But a young adult can and often does develop other interests that lead them to set aside the invitation extended to them by Baptism. The Parable of the Sower in chapter 13 of the Gospel of St Matthew speaks of the seed sown on rocky ground—he who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the Word, immediately he falls away—or of the seed sown among thorns—he who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the Word, and it proves unfruitful.

These dangers are real, and the tragic fact is that many baptised Christians live anything and everything other than according to their baptismal dignity and vocation. This danger is also present in respect of the specifics of the invitation we receive from the Lord which call to serve Him in a particular vocation. It is all too easy to begin enthusiastically and then to give up and flee when things become difficult, or to allow other delights—even apparently good ones—to take us away from the God-given place that is truly ours.

Our second duty is to ensure that, being in our God-given place in the Church, we are appropriately attired in the required wedding garment. In a world that almost absolutises casual attire, this insistence may seem utterly superficial. But, as the Fathers of the Church make clear, the Gospel is speaking about being clothed in charity and adorned by good works—not by the finest silks or wools. That is to say that Baptism is not enough; nor is simply following the Lord’s call in the vocation of marriage or monastic or ordained or religious life. If we are to enjoy the nuptial banquet of the King in this life—the sublime foretaste of which we enjoy at every Mass—and forever in eternity, we also must clothe ourselves with the queen of all virtues, charity, and with the beautiful fruits she brings forth. The graces of Baptism must not lie dormant: they must bear fruit, “fruit that will last.” (Jn 15:16)

Multi enim sunt vocati, pauci vero electi. Many are called, but few are chosen. That we might have the grace and strength to do what is necessary that we may be counted amongst the elect, let us make the words of the Collect of this Mass our own in asking the Almighty, merciful and forgiving God to remove everything that might hinder us, so that, freed in body and soul, we may be able to we seek and do His will with full liberty and thus come to rejoice forever at the nuptial banquet of the King. +