Gospel : St. Matthew XXII. 2-14.
AT that time: Jesus spoke to the chief priests and Pharisees in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants to call them that were invited to the marriage: and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were invite: Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my beeves and fadings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage. But they neglected, and went their ways, one to his farm and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands on his servants, and, having treated them contumeliously, put them to death. But when the king had heard of it he was angry, and, sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city. Then he saith to his servants: The marriage indeed is ready: but they that were invited were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find call to the marriage. And his servants, going forth into the highways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good: and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he saith to him : Friend, how earnest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Q. What was the object of this parable?
A. It was to warn the Jews of the danger and of the fatal consequences of their obstinacy in refusing to recognize in Him that Messias Who came to call them in the name of His Eternal Father to partake of the kingdom of heaven.
Q. What does the kingdom of heaven signify, who is the king, and who is the bridegroom ?
A. The kingdom of heaven is the Church, in which God exercises His power over the minds and heart; the royal father who prepares the nuptial feast is the same God Who invites all mankind to enter the Church, and the bridegroom is Jesus Christ, true God and true man, Who is united to the Church by the strongest ties.
Q. What are we to understand by the nuptial feast?
A. That most bountiful feast of eternal life which is received in the Church, whether of doctrine, of grace, or of the merits of Jesus Christ.
Q. Why is such a feast said to be prepared by the royal father?
A. Because the holy Church was ordained and prepared by God from all eternity, and God sent His only begotten Son to become man to complete the great work begun by Him.
Q. Who are the invited, and who are they who did not accept the first invitation?
A. The invited are all the children of Adam, as well of the Old as of the New Dispensation, and those who refused the first invitation were principally the Gentiles, who did not believe in the Christ Who was to come, and did not profit by the example of the chosen people. They were also the Jews, who did not listen to the voice of the prophets, and refused to acknowledge the promised and expected Messias. Lastly, they are all those who did not and do not accept the truths of the gospel.
Q. Who were the servants sent out by the king to give the first invitation ?
A. They were the prophets who invited men to believe and to hope in the Messias, and who announced His coming, His sanctity, His miracles, and all the circumstances of His birth, life, passion, and death.
Q. Who were those sent to renew the invitation ?
A. They were the apostles and all their legitimate successors in the preaching of the gospel, and they are now all the ministers of the altar who announce the divine word and invite the people to drink with joy from the rich fountains of the Saviour.
Q. What do the animals that were killed for the feast signify?
A. All this food, which indicates the wealth and sumptuousness of an earthly table, signifies the abundance and the excellence of the food which God has prepared for our souls in the Church.
Q. How do we prove this abundance?
A. If we consider the promises of God made to the patriarchs, the predictions of the prophets, the figures of the sacrifices and of the legal ceremonies, and the foreshadowings in the events and in the famous personages of the Hebrew nation, we shall see with what abundance God prepared the nuptial feast of Jesus Christ ; that is, how many lights and how many means He prepared, in order that the promised Saviour might be known when in the fulness of time He should appear among men.
Q. Does this abundance stop here ?
A. Certainly not. If we consider the doctrines of Jesus Christ, His miracles, His example, His death, His merits, and His sacraments, the preaching of the apostles, the constancy of the martyrs, the prodigies which signalized the promulgation of the faith and the constant assistance of the Holy Ghost, we shall comprehend how abundantly God has provided food for our souls, for our faith, our hope, our charity, our perfection ; in a word, for the nuptials of the Church with the heavenly Spouse.
Q. Who are they who maltreated the servants?
A. First, they are the Jews, who stoned the prophets and crucified Christ. Secondly, they are the persecutors of the Church, who condemned the promulgators of the gospel to all kinds of torments ; and lastly, they are those who persecute the priests because they are the ministers of God and the teachers of religion.
Q. How was the revenge of the angry king realized in regard to the Jews?
A. You find the answer in the ruins of the city of Jerusalem, and in the Jews themselves, scattered over the face of the earth without throne or temple.
Q. Who are they who were called from all parts and partook of the marriage-feast?
A. They were the Gentiles and the people of every nation who, called by the apostles to the profession of the gospel, embraced the holy faith and filled the Church of Jesus Christ.
Q. Of whom was the man a figure who had not on a nuptial garment?
A. He was the sad image of all those who are indeed in the Church because they have been baptized, but who have not the nuptial garment; that is, who have not justice and sanctifying grace, because they are in the state of mortal sin.
Q. Why did the king call that man a friend?
A. From this we may learn that God hates sin, but not the sinner; because, although he is His enemy by sin, still he is His creature, created unto- His likeness, and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ; therefore He is inclined to treat him in a friendly manner whenever, accepting the invitation of His grace, he will ask pardon for his sins and provide himself by repentance with the nuptial garment, which he has not when in the state of sin.
Q. Why, then, did he sentence him to be punished?
A. In order to warn us that the sinner who is mute and does not confess his guilt and ask for pardon, as this man in the Gospel, will be banished from eternal joy, and will be sentenced to be cast out of the kingdom into eternal pain.
Q. What are we to learn from this parable of the Gospel ?
A. We are to learn principally three thingS: first, not to despise divine grace: second, to be sure that we have the nuptial garment, which is sanctifying grace ; and lastly, that it is not enough to be in the Church and to bear the name of Christian in order to be saved, as it was not sufficient for that man to be seated at the nuptial banquet, from which he was ignominiously banished.
Taken from Analysis of the Gospel of the Sundays of the year. From the Italian of Angelo Cagnola. By Rev. L. A. Lambert, LL.D.
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Children's sermon here
