Mysterious Banquet
(Homily
for Sunday, October 16th 2023)
I would like to make one point about
the first reading and two points about the Gospel. My goal is to better
understand our Eucharistic celebrations, so that we may participate in them in
the best possible way.
1.
The banquet
from the first reading (cf. Isaiah 25:6-10a) can be understood as
the Lord’s passion. “On this mountain”, that is, the Calvary hill, “the
LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice
wines.” This banquet is “for all peoples,” not only for those first invited,
the Israelites, some of whom refused the invitation, but for all nations. It is
a feast of “rich food,” the body of Christ, the lamb sacrificed on the
Cross; it is a feast of “choice wines,” the blood and water from his
side.
“On this mountain he will destroy the
veil that veils all peoples” because, at Jesus’ death, “the veil of the
temple was torn in two” (Luke 23:45); and “he will destroy death
forever” because “Jesus’ death is our ransom from death” (Preface II of
Easter). “The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face,”
because, yes, the temporal tears of Jesus will produce tears of repentance and
of martyrdom on earth: but Jesus’ tears will also wipe away the eternal tears
we had deserved, by obtaining for us the eternal joys of Heaven. “On that
day,” on Calvary hill, “it will be said: ‘Behold our God, to whom we
looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be
glad that he has saved us!’” Yes, God so loved the world, that he sent his
Son to suffer and die for us on a Cross, so that we may be saved from sin and
from eternal death. But He rose from the dead, so that we may have hope to rise
with him on the last day.
2.
The Lord is
talking about the same feast in the Gospel (cf. Mt 22:1-14). “Behold, I have
prepared my banquet,” the Eucharistic banquet of Jesus’ body and blood; “my
calves and fattened cattle are killed,” that is, “Christ our Passover has
been sacrificed” (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7) on the Cross “and everything
is ready; come to the feast.” It is a feast, because it does not end in
death but in a communion of persons, in the Holy Communion of the faithful
Christian with the risen Christ, the God-man.
The banquet is both the Calvary hill
and the Holy Mass, because the Holy Mass is the very same sacrifice of the
Cross. We are invited to this Eucharistic banquet, every Sunday. Nowadays, as
in today’s Gospel, “some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his
farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated
them, and killed them.” People do not come to Mass for three reasons. Some
“go to their farm”: these are the people who are busy looking for pleasures and
fun and do not have time for God. Some “go to their business”: these are the
people who have time only for making money and they forget about God. The
others do not simply ignore the invitation but reject both the invitation and
the messengers: these are the ones who make rational excuses for not coming to Mass,
who sometimes say things against God, His Church and His ministers in order to
justify that they reject the faith and the Holy Mass. These are the ones who do
not simply ignore the Mass because they are absorbed in lust or greed, but
reject the Mass and the faith because of pride. They prefer their own judgment
to God’s judgment, and try to find excuses to justify their position. May God
deliver us from these three temptations! Even if the third temptation is worse,
these three kinds of people remain outside the banquet of salvation. And none
of us is exempt of any of these three temptations.
3.
Finally, even
among those who come to mass and participate of the banquet, there are some who
do not have the right disposition. “When the king came in to meet the
guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to
him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding
garment?'” The traditional interpretation of this wedding garment is the
state of grace. What it means for us is the following: I need to be in a state
of grace in order to receive Holy Communion at Mass, and there is a way of
receiving communion in an unworthy manner. St. Paul says to the Corinthians
(cf. 1 Corinthians 11:27-30) “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or
drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the
body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of
the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without
discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of
you are weak and ill, and some have died.”
Again, there is such a thing as
receiving communion in an unworthy manner, something which we should avoid.
Now, what is to be in a state of grace? Question for another homily, but let’s
just say that one loses the state of grace when one commits a mortal sin. In
order to recover the state of grace, one needs to repent and make the
commitment to go for sacramental reconciliation. What then is a mortal sin? Question
for still another homily! But let’s suppose you already know what a mortal sin
is and you ask, “Can I receive communion if I committed a mortal sin, I have
not gone to Confession but I mean to do so?” On principle, if I have committed
a mortal sin after my last good Reconciliation, I need to go for sacramental
Reconciliation before receiving sacramental Communion. There are exceptions to
this rule, but we will talk about all of this another time.
Comments
Post a Comment