Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Everything is ready; come to the feast." - Matthew 22:4

Picture the man at the back of the wedding hall. The doors were thrown open to anyone the servants could find, bad and good alike, and he came in with everyone else. He got a seat and a plate. Then the king walked through and asked him one question, and he had nothing to say.

For years I read this parable only as a warning, and it is one. It reads differently this week, with the review starting. The feast is free. Nobody earned an invitation, and the servants did not check anyone's record at the door. The garment is the one thing the guest was expected to bring. Many of the Church Fathers took it to mean love, the life of grace lived out. Here is a man who accepted everything and put on nothing.

Two of the men on the original guest list had reasons anyone would respect. One had a farm to see to and another had a business to run. Nobody in the parable is a villain about it. They were busy, and it is hard to read that without thinking about how easily a full calendar turns into a polite refusal.

Keep Isaiah's picture of the feast beside the parable. God sets the table on a mountain, wipes the tears from every face, and destroys death for good. The people only have to come. Paul, in the second reading, says he has learned how to be full and how to go hungry, and that he can do all things in the one who strengthens him.

The seat is not in question this week. The review asks a smaller thing: what do you have on, brother?

A steward who has been invited to the feast comes dressed for it.

Make the fruit card tonight. On an index card or a sheet of paper, write the nine fruits across the top: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Down the left side, write four works: daily prayer, Mass and Communion, Scripture, confession. Beside each work, leave room for one word and a fruit. Leave everything empty. You'll start filling it in tomorrow.

King of the feast, you called me in from the road and I came as I was. Show me what I have on, and clothe me with love. Amen.