Homily originally presented October 11, 2020
by Monsignor Deering
Everyone loves a banquet … God’s is the best!
There was a Bash that took place in Tuscaloosa 8 Months ago. It was held at the Bryant Conference Center on Saturday, February 1st & many of you were there.
The Bryant Conference Center is famous for hosting lavish parties where there is fine food, plenteous drinks, beautiful music, elegant surroundings, happy times.
So, with great expectation, hundreds of Holy Spirit and St. Francis Parishioners gathered there on February 1st for our Annual Gala
to celebrate and support Holy Spirit Catholic School!
Everyone came in ... dressed in their very best clothes!
And with the Theme being: “The Roaring 20’s” ... many came wearing
beautiful suits and dresses that were popular back in the 1920’s!
In speaking of such a grand night ...
it would be inadequate to call this gathering ... just a dinner or a party.
No, something this special had to be called a Gala ... a Bash ... or a Banquet!
A banquet is defined as … an elaborate, formal meal …
held in honor of a particular person or occasion.
So, just hearing of a banquet brings up images of:
glamour and grandeur … elegance and jubilation … festivity and feasting!
Wow! It’s very special to go to a Banquet … it’s a privilege to be invited.
You may know that one of the first things Couples do when planning to get married is to make reservations at a Banquet Hall … making sure they have the place where they will go to celebrate with their family and friends on their Wedding Day.
With great excitement, engaged couples then send out invitations to
their Wedding and Banquet Reception one or two months prior to their Big Day
… having spent a good deal of time preparing their Invitation List
… and hoping that everyone will come.
Wedding Banquets are a lot of fun. Everyone’s dressed up and having a good time … eating and drinking and laughing and dancing … it’s a very happy time!
Perhaps you’re like me and can remember back to the Wedding Banquets that you went to even as a little kid … how fun and memorable they were!
Well, there’s another Wedding Banquet that is coming up sometime in the future
… but the exact date has not yet been announced.
We heard about it in two of our Scripture Readings today.
In our First Reading, God said through the Prophet Isaiah,
“on this mountain, the Lord of Hosts will provide for all peoples
a feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.”
Wow, that sounds like a Banquet
and a very big banquet too
because it will be … for all peoples.
Years later, when Jesus came to be with us here on earth,
He indicated that the Banquet was much closer,
He tells a parable of His Father saying ,
“Behold, I have prepared my banquet … everything is ready; come to the feast.”
In saying this, Jesus wanted to get The Jews to see that ...
there was going to be an upcoming Wedding and Banquet celebration …
and all of them were indeed invited to come ...
it’s just that the date of the event wasn’t announced yet!
Speaking both literally and figuratively to the Jewish leaders ...
Jesus says that a King was ready to give a Wedding feast for his Son.
If only they would have seen the King in the parable as God the Father ...
and His Son in the parable as Jesus ...
perhaps they would have accepted the invitation to come to the Banquet.
Sadly, they couldn’t see that they were the ones Jesus was referring to as ignoring the invitation and even mistreating and killing those who delivered the invitation.
The Jews, were the Chosen People of God … they were guests originally invited to the Banquet.
But they did not accept His invitation.
Instead, as Jesus foretold in His parable, many refused to come … some ignored His invitation and went away … and a few laid hold of Him and killed Him!
So … just as Jesus foretold in His parable, the King, who is God the Father, brought destruction and ruin to those people, as he allowed the Romans to burn the holy Temple and totally destroy the city of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD …
just 37 years after Jesus was crucified.
The invitation that Jesus offered to them ... is still on the table ...
it’s the very same invitation that Jesus offers to all of us today …
the invitation to come to a Banquet … a Wedding Banquet
that will be given by the Father and will be held in His house in Heaven.
Who’s getting married? The King’s Son, who is Jesus.
Who’s the Bride? We are ... the people of God.
God has been inviting people to this Banquet for a long time!
Jesus’ parable goes on with the King proclaiming, “The feast is ready, but those who were invited (meaning the Jews) were not worthy to come.” So the King says,
“Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.”
This is a clear reference to how St. Paul, and many of the other Apostles went out to the world to preach the Good News of the Banquet of the Lord to the Gentiles.
So rather than continuing to evangelize in Jerusalem, they then went out to all the surrounding Pagan communities of Greece and Rome and Galatia and Thessalonica where they gathered “all they found”.
The Gentiles weren’t the ones initially invited to the banquet,
but they were hungry just the same and many accepted the invitation.
We are the Gentile people … and we’re here in Church today because the Apostles and all the Bishops, Priests and Deacons after them, and countless Grandparents and Parents and Teachers through the past 2000 years have faithfully handed on God’s invitation to get ready to come to His Banquet.
You see, it was in the grace of Baptism that we received God’s Formal Invitation to come to the Banquet prepared for His Son”.
It’s His Eternal desire … that we accept it.
Hopefully, by experiencing Christ’s love during our life and sharing our love for one another, we will grow each day in goodness until the day comes where we arrive dressed and ready to enter the Heavenly Banquet to take full possession of the reality of life with Christ.
Now, the date of the Banquet has not been announced … but it is sure to happen!
When will it happen?
It will happen at the end of time when Jesus is fully united with His mystical Body, which is all of us believers, and we celebrate in the new Heavenly Jerusalem.
It’s called the Marriage Feast of the Lamb and it’s clearly referred to in the Book of Revelation. This Book that is filled with imagery is made very understandable by Scott Hahn in his book, “The Lamb’s Supper... The Mass as Heaven on Earth.
****Quotes highlights! ***
You hear reference to this in every Mass when, right before Holy Communion,
when the Priest elevates the Host and says, “Behold the Lamb of God,
Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world,
Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb.”
Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
The Supper of the Lamb is the Heavenly Celebration of the Marriage …
of Jesus the Bridegroom … to … His Bride, we who believe Him and love Him.
Knowing how much we look forward to a big Banquet,
And knowing that the exact date has not been announced,
Jesus gives us a glimpse of the coming feast every time we celebrate Mass.
Here we gather as Royal Wedding Guests in His Father’s Holy House on earth,
to feast on God’s word in Scripture and to feast on God’s Word made Flesh,
the Body & Blood of Jesus, the living Bread that comes down from Heaven.
If we have been properly prepared by Sacramental Confession and then receive the Eucharist here at Mass, we have washed our soul and dressed it with the holiness that is required to enter into God’s Banquet.
This is very important.
Notice how Jesus points out that a man entered the Banquet who was not properly dressed … and because he was not in a wedding garment, he was thrown out!
You see, the man was definitely invited,… he had the invitation …
but he failed to show up in the proper attire.
Jesus is saying that there’s a certain expectation of how you will show up …
if you choose to come to God’s Banquet.
This is no different than you attending a banquet here on earth.
As I said, the very word banquet denotes an occasion of elegance and majesty, of glamour and grandeur that would make you want to dress your very best for the occasion.
If you go to The Bryant Conference Center for any Banquet,
the expectation is that you will dress up for the occasion …
men in Suit Coat or Sport Coat ... and women in dresses.
You wouldn’t go there dressed in jeans & T-shirt or shorts & tank top.
You’d be thrown out … and rightfully so.
There’s a proper way to be dressed … physically & spiritually … for attending a banquet.
One affects the other. You know how special you feel when you dress up.
Which is why I gently invite you to dress up when you come to Church.
This is not just a prayer meeting … this is a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet … and the Main One here is none other than the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ,
present to us sacramentally in the Holy Eucharist.
It’s because of this most special encounter with Almighty God ...
that the Priest wears Royal Vestments to preside at Mass.
The Chasubles I wear cost $600 each and are worthy attire for this Banquet.
How inconsistent then for you the faithful to be dressed in anything less than your Sunday best.
Yet some people insist that God doesn’t care how they dress for church.
And all I can say is reread Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus says
that the man not properly dressed was thrown outside
into the darkness where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth!
The way we dress our bodies is related to the way we dress our souls
Are you dressing up your soul for this foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet at Mass?
You see, when you dress up … you think up.
For those of you who have witnessed an infant Baptism, you’ll recall that the Baptismal Rite includes presenting the baby with a White Baptismal Garment.
And the accompanying prayer says, “See in this white garment, the outward sign of your Christian dignity. With your family and friends to help you by word and
example, bring that dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven”.
In the Book of Revelation we hear a description of the redeemed in Heaven as wearing robes that have been made white in the blood of the lamb.
So you see, our souls, which are without stain at Baptism,
must remain unstained of sin in order to enter into Heaven.
We must have the proper wedding garment to attend the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.
All of us have been invited.
We need to hold on to that invitation as the most precious one we’ll ever get ...
we need to remember the address of the Banquet ... Heaven ... and ...
we need to be properly dressed ... with a Holy Heart ... for the occasion.
Yes ... God has prepared a Banquet and requests the pleasure of our presence at:
a wondrous ... splendid ... magnificent ... and irresistible feast.
How could anyone refuse such an offer?
And yet you can! You can say no … and choose not to attend!
God’s Invitation is an Offer ... not an Order!
Speaking of offers, perhaps you remember the offer made in the 1972 motion picture “The Godfather” … the Academy Award winning movie about
the activities of Mafia families in New York in the late 1940’s.
Marlon Brando, who played Don Vito Corleone, the Godfather,
had a way of getting anything he wanted.
He did it through the use of power and force.
You may recall one part in the movie where a Movie Director passed over Don Corleone’s son for a part in a movie.
So Don Corleone sent his henchmen to convince the Movie Director that he really should hire the Don’s son. But the Movie Director tells the henchmen to get lost.
So Don Corleone tells his henchmen “go and make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
Then there’s the scene of the Movie Director waking up in his bed one morning and he feels something funny down by his feet, so he pulls back the satin sheets to reveal the head of his prize horse there in the bed with him.
The scene ends with him screaming in horror ...
and we can only assume that the Don’s son got the part he wanted in the movie.
They forced the Movie director to hire Don Corleone’s son.
They made him an offer he couldn’t refuse!
But you and I know that it really wasn’t an offer at all,
because the man wasn’t free to say yes or no. To refuse again ...
would have meant further horror, possibly even the death of his family or of him.
The Godfather makes people an offer ... they can’t refuse.
But, God the Father makes people an offer … they can refuse!
The Jews did just that many years ago.
And people continue to do it today ... they continue to refuse God’s offer.
We refuse God’s Offer every time we sin.
Sin stains the wedding Garment that we received on the day of our Baptism.
Our challenge is to keep our souls pure, reflecting the love and the light of God;
That’s the way we stay properly dressed and ready to enter God’s Banquet.
Unlike the Godfather, God the Father doesn’t use power or force with His offer.
He simply invites and He allows us to choose!
We can say yes and we can say no.
We can accept the invitation to His Banquet or decline it.
Let’s realize that the Banquet is prepared and we’re all invited!
And it’s by clothing ourselves in Christ that we enter into the Banquet!
You know, that Banquet we had at the Bryant Conference Center on February 1st ... was a time of great happiness ... but it came to an end ... at 10 PM that night.
But, the Banquet that God will throw up in Heaven ...
will be a time of even greater happiness ... and it will never come to an end!
We just declared this truth in our beautiful Responsorial to Psalm 23, singing 5X:
“I shall live in the house of the Lord ... all the days of my life.”
How long is God’s Banquet? All the days of Eternal Life!
Each time you come to Mass, you receive a foretaste of the Banquet ... that should fill you with new excitement & determination to attend God’s Banquet in Heaven.
I hope you experience the Mass that way.
One person who did was my server, Steve, who after the Vigil Mass yesterday turned to me and said with a smile, “Thanks, Father, for the Banquet!”
He got it ... and I hope you did too!
By staying clothed in Christ here on earth ...
we’ll be properly attired to celebrate with Him forever in Heaven.
Yes, God’s Banquet is planned and you’re invited …
the date and time have yet to be announced ...
but if you come, it will be heavenly affair!
Comments
There are no comments yet - be the first one to comment: