WEBVTT 00:00:00.430 --> 00:00:04.929 Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father, 00:00:05.089 --> 00:00:08.689 and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 00:00:15.730 --> 00:00:24.910 So as we quickly are approaching Christmas, there's 00:00:24.910 --> 00:00:28.500 so much to do. I was at the dentist the other 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:31.600 day, and the dentist asked me, am I ready for 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.979 Christmas? I said, no, I haven't done anything 00:00:34.979 --> 00:00:39.200 yet. And then she proceeded as she worked on 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:41.399 me to talk to her assistant about what they do 00:00:41.399 --> 00:00:43.479 for Christmas, which is very nice and distracting, 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:46.119 so I don't have to think about what's going on 00:00:46.119 --> 00:00:49.600 in my mouth. But I thought, well, what do I have 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:53.060 to do? This may sound over -religious, but I 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:59.880 am a priest. to prepare for this incredible parable 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:05.219 of the great supper. St. Matthew, in his account 00:01:05.219 --> 00:01:09.700 of it, calls it the wedding feast supper. And 00:01:09.700 --> 00:01:13.459 that's the sense that I'd like to think about 00:01:13.459 --> 00:01:17.780 it today. So chapter 14 of the Gospel of St. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:21.560 Luke begins with Jesus being invited to a dinner 00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:27.989 party. And it says, That the Pharisees were watching 00:01:27.989 --> 00:01:33.930 him. They wanted to see if they could trip him 00:01:33.930 --> 00:01:36.349 up. And Jesus, knowing that, says, what do you 00:01:36.349 --> 00:01:40.569 think? A man comes in. He has dropsy. It's some 00:01:40.569 --> 00:01:44.069 kind of renal liver problem, as far as I can 00:01:44.069 --> 00:01:48.189 determine. I'm not sure. And Jesus says, what 00:01:48.189 --> 00:01:52.109 do you think? Is it lawful on this Sabbath day? 00:01:52.170 --> 00:01:55.200 Because it was a Sabbath day dinner. To heal. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:58.500 And they're not going to say anything. And he 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:04.540 heals this man. And then he says. He says. Look 00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:08.039 it. When you have a dinner party. Don't invite 00:02:08.039 --> 00:02:11.520 your friends. They're going to invite you back. 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:17.240 They're going to be. Somehow. Obligated to invite 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:21.060 you back. Don't invite your friends. But invite. 00:02:21.900 --> 00:02:24.219 Because you're looking for respect and honor 00:02:24.219 --> 00:02:28.840 for them, so you invite them over. He says the 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:31.879 first shall be last, and the last shall be first. 00:02:32.740 --> 00:02:36.099 It's better, he says, when you have a dinner 00:02:36.099 --> 00:02:43.659 party, invite the poor, the maimed, the paralyzed, 00:02:44.139 --> 00:02:49.719 the blind. I'm not sure we do that. We're probably 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:53.699 not too good at that. He says, do that because 00:02:53.699 --> 00:02:56.500 then you honor God. You don't expect anything 00:02:56.500 --> 00:02:59.979 back from anybody. They can't return the favor 00:02:59.979 --> 00:03:04.599 or the invitation. And then Jesus tells this 00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:09.400 incredible parable about the great supper. A 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:11.659 certain man, of course we understand this to 00:03:11.659 --> 00:03:16.360 be God, made a great supper, invited many. Again, 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:20.039 St. Matthew calls this the wedding banquet. Invitations 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:25.379 go out to a select group of friends, of which 00:03:25.379 --> 00:03:30.580 no one comes on the day of the celebration. You 00:03:30.580 --> 00:03:34.319 heard all the excuses. They're all still currently 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:37.580 and regularly in use, and they revolve around 00:03:37.580 --> 00:03:40.419 work, family, and time off. Notice the man who 00:03:40.419 --> 00:03:43.740 says, the first man says, well, I have to do 00:03:43.740 --> 00:03:48.000 this. Pray. Have me excused. The second one says 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.099 the same thing. The last man says, oh, I just 00:03:50.099 --> 00:03:53.659 got married. He doesn't say, I'm sorry, I can't 00:03:53.659 --> 00:03:57.819 come. All these are good things in and of themselves. 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:02.900 Work and property and family. They're blessed. 00:04:03.080 --> 00:04:06.500 They're wonderful things from God. I'm not going 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:09.340 to dwell on the excuses. Let me just point out 00:04:09.340 --> 00:04:13.250 one thing about them. Not one had anything to 00:04:13.250 --> 00:04:17.810 do with anybody else for help. Perhaps if one 00:04:17.810 --> 00:04:21.509 had said, oh, I'm going to Catholic Charities. 00:04:21.509 --> 00:04:25.410 I can't be there now. That might have been different. 00:04:25.509 --> 00:04:28.769 It's all selfishness. And they're all mundane. 00:04:29.189 --> 00:04:33.689 They're all mundane. The host is miffed. He's 00:04:33.689 --> 00:04:38.629 embarrassed by his empty banquet hall. So what 00:04:38.629 --> 00:04:42.110 does he do? He does exactly what Jesus just said 00:04:42.110 --> 00:04:45.129 to his listeners, the Pharisees, those looking 00:04:45.129 --> 00:04:50.250 for honor. When you give a dinner or a supper, 00:04:50.389 --> 00:04:52.949 do not ask your friends, your brothers, your 00:04:52.949 --> 00:04:55.490 relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also 00:04:55.490 --> 00:04:58.050 invite you back and you be repaid. But when you 00:04:58.050 --> 00:05:02.509 give a feast, invite the poor, the lame and the 00:05:02.509 --> 00:05:06.310 blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot 00:05:06.310 --> 00:05:10.269 repay you. For you shall be repaid at the resurrection 00:05:10.269 --> 00:05:17.029 of the righteous. The failed banquet became a 00:05:17.029 --> 00:05:22.889 heavenly banquet. I have three hopefully brief 00:05:22.889 --> 00:05:27.050 points for you. This parable tells us that every 00:05:27.050 --> 00:05:31.410 single human being is capable of hearing the 00:05:31.410 --> 00:05:36.029 invitation from God. We're created in the image 00:05:36.029 --> 00:05:40.689 and likeness of God. We're tuned to that frequency 00:05:40.689 --> 00:05:46.310 naturally. To hear the Holy Spirit. To listen 00:05:46.310 --> 00:05:49.529 to the Holy Spirit in our heart. To pray. To 00:05:49.529 --> 00:05:52.829 hunger for God. To see God's hand in everything 00:05:52.829 --> 00:05:56.470 in all creation. To see the glory of God. The 00:05:56.470 --> 00:05:59.769 firmament proclaims the glory of God. It says 00:05:59.769 --> 00:06:04.790 in the psalm. But the capacity to see, to hear, 00:06:04.870 --> 00:06:08.379 to perceive, to know. is so broken and wounded 00:06:08.379 --> 00:06:16.500 in us. It's somehow hurt by all the distractions, 00:06:16.779 --> 00:06:23.279 the mundane distractions. So the invitation is 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:28.379 rejected. Jesus is here telling the Pharisees 00:06:28.379 --> 00:06:30.800 in a story about a banquet that the prophets, 00:06:30.899 --> 00:06:33.779 the forefathers, the foremothers have been calling 00:06:33.779 --> 00:06:38.180 out the invitation. For generations to God's 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:41.860 beloved people. His chosen people. The Jewish 00:06:41.860 --> 00:06:45.939 people. Now all is ready. Come. Come. This is 00:06:45.939 --> 00:06:48.019 what it means when Jesus says repent for the 00:06:48.019 --> 00:06:50.480 kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's a good thing. 00:06:50.540 --> 00:06:53.379 It's an invitation. The second thing. Because 00:06:53.379 --> 00:06:56.399 everybody is capable of hearing and receiving 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.579 an invitation from God. Through Christ by the 00:06:59.579 --> 00:07:05.459 Holy Spirit. The church has to continue. the 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:09.379 parish must continue offering these invitations. 00:07:10.420 --> 00:07:13.399 It's in the nature of the church to continue, 00:07:13.500 --> 00:07:17.240 to invite others, to welcome them. Not just those 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:19.819 that we think would be good additions to our 00:07:19.819 --> 00:07:25.040 parish, because they're capable, but those who 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:29.680 are in need of God's mercy and healing and love 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:37.300 and fellowship and food. And help. This is evangelism. 00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:41.379 This is what we continue to do. We must not be 00:07:41.379 --> 00:07:47.660 Scrooge like. Miserly in the way we do it. This 00:07:47.660 --> 00:07:55.660 liturgy. The agape meal. Our agape love. Aren't 00:07:55.660 --> 00:07:58.319 events for friends to come and admire the beautiful 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:05.379 place. Each and every church. Service is this 00:08:05.379 --> 00:08:09.620 invitation to come to the wedding banquet of 00:08:09.620 --> 00:08:13.839 the Savior. To enter into the kingdom of God 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:18.120 where people can experience grace and peace and 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:20.339 the burden lifted from their soul. But we have 00:08:20.339 --> 00:08:29.120 to be willing for God to do that. Thirdly, those 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:34.169 who received the invitations. Obviously did not 00:08:34.169 --> 00:08:40.970 attend. The church says, read this gospel two 00:08:40.970 --> 00:08:44.029 Sundays before Christmas to your congregation. 00:08:46.789 --> 00:08:49.450 Obviously it's not for the Pharisees. They're 00:08:49.450 --> 00:08:52.509 gone, as I like to tell you all the time. This 00:08:52.509 --> 00:08:57.019 is for us. This is for us to contemplate, to 00:08:57.019 --> 00:08:59.759 meditate, and sometimes to convict ourselves 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:03.860 that perhaps we are like those who don't really 00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:07.700 respond. Sure, we're here today, but the message 00:09:07.700 --> 00:09:12.100 is for us. Truly, this is preaching to the choir. 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:16.019 We are supposed to hear this and say, how do 00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:23.159 I fit into this? Is that me? This invitation 00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:26.879 is not like other invitations. There are those 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:29.879 who actually want to come to the banquet. Let's 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:34.200 just say the liturgy, the divine liturgy, and 00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:38.960 would come every single week. They're desperate 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:42.139 to be with God, to know God, even if they don't 00:09:42.139 --> 00:09:46.279 know that, to be here where God feeds his people. 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:49.940 Who are those people? Exactly the ones that Jesus 00:09:49.940 --> 00:09:52.899 said, the maimed, the poor, the hungry, the lonely. 00:09:53.139 --> 00:09:56.200 They're going to run to the celebration because 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:59.120 they don't have another celebration. We have 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:04.259 lots. And, you know, we kind of feel tired and 00:10:04.259 --> 00:10:09.360 full and taken up by them. I saw a news article 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:14.120 yesterday about the inevitable famine coming 00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:19.769 to Sudan. 30 million people at risk of starvation. 00:10:19.889 --> 00:10:23.370 30 million! Can you imagine? I can't. Due to 00:10:23.370 --> 00:10:26.029 war and greed of the situation, the violence 00:10:26.029 --> 00:10:29.149 there. Those in that horrible situation will 00:10:29.149 --> 00:10:31.669 have a quite different understanding of what 00:10:31.669 --> 00:10:36.769 it means to be invited to a wedding feast. I've 00:10:36.769 --> 00:10:40.309 been to, I don't know how many wedding celebrations 00:10:40.309 --> 00:10:44.470 and receptions. The ones we had this year were 00:10:44.470 --> 00:10:49.049 marvelous, beautiful. I've been to plenty where, 00:10:49.210 --> 00:10:55.330 you know, Elvis Presley starts singing I Can't 00:10:55.330 --> 00:10:57.230 Help Falling in Love and Then I Need to Leave 00:10:57.230 --> 00:11:00.690 before Journey starts with Don't Stop Believing. 00:11:00.990 --> 00:11:07.190 But this is not like that. This is not like that. 00:11:07.830 --> 00:11:12.259 What is it like? What is this like? St. John, 00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:16.919 in his vision in the book of Revelation, says 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:20.340 this. Listen carefully, brothers and sisters. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:26.220 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise 00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:29.980 God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, 00:11:30.059 --> 00:11:33.879 both small and great. And I heard, as it were, 00:11:33.899 --> 00:11:37.779 the voice of a great multitude. And as the voice 00:11:37.779 --> 00:11:40.679 of many waters and the voice of mighty thundering 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:45.120 saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:49.639 reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice. Didn't we 00:11:49.639 --> 00:11:52.440 just sing that? And give honor to him for the 00:11:52.440 --> 00:11:57.100 marriage of the Lamb of God is come. And his 00:11:57.100 --> 00:12:00.940 wife has made herself ready. That's the church. 00:12:01.659 --> 00:12:04.840 And to her it was granted that she be arrayed 00:12:04.840 --> 00:12:09.559 in fine linen. clean and white, for the fine 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:13.399 linen is the righteousness of the saints. And 00:12:13.399 --> 00:12:17.159 he saith unto me, Write, write this, Blessed 00:12:17.159 --> 00:12:19.600 are they which are called unto the marriage supper 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.340 of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are 00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:26.899 the true saints of God. He that sat upon the 00:12:26.899 --> 00:12:32.059 throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And 00:12:32.059 --> 00:12:34.360 he said unto me, Write this, for these words 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:39.960 are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:46.399 is done. All is ready. What glorious words from 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:49.960 God to St. John. The church is this marriage 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:53.299 supper of the Lamb. Christ is the Lamb of God. 00:12:53.399 --> 00:12:56.139 Each liturgy is the taste of the kingdom of heaven. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:02.279 Don't we sing on Holy Week? Behold, the bridegroom 00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:05.039 comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant. 00:13:05.470 --> 00:13:10.269 whom he shall find watching. St. Innocent, Bishop 00:13:10.269 --> 00:13:13.450 of Kherson in Russian, the 19th century says 00:13:13.450 --> 00:13:17.049 it. We hear, but we don't hearken. We hear, and 00:13:17.049 --> 00:13:19.250 instead of preparing ourselves spiritually to 00:13:19.250 --> 00:13:22.590 meet the bridegroom, we take care of the externals. 00:13:22.889 --> 00:13:26.889 We ceaselessly indulge in worldly vanities and 00:13:26.889 --> 00:13:30.070 distractions as if we will remain on earth forever. 00:13:31.149 --> 00:13:34.820 How many Christians... There are who are already 00:13:34.820 --> 00:13:37.779 ending their lives. Who don't even know that 00:13:37.779 --> 00:13:41.639 their soul has a bridegroom. And that they may 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:46.700 even live to see his coming. This parable of 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:51.139 the great supper. Invites us to Bethlehem. To 00:13:51.139 --> 00:13:53.399 the birth of Christ. But then it catapults us. 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:57.399 It takes us all the way spiritually. To see the 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:00.340 second coming. And why God became man in the 00:14:00.340 --> 00:14:03.960 first place. You see Jesus. in the arms of his 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:07.259 mother, not with the face of an infant, but one 00:14:07.259 --> 00:14:11.799 wise, the Son of God, the Word of God, the Logos. 00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:16.399 You see here, in his second coming, the Lord 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:22.799 ruling all creation in glory at the banquet of 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:27.820 the Lamb in which we are all invited. This is 00:14:27.820 --> 00:14:31.419 a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ. 00:14:32.169 --> 00:14:35.590 and the Church. To him be glory, now and ever, 00:14:35.649 --> 00:14:37.549 to ages of ages. Amen.