Thursday 22 August 2024

Today is Thursday the 22nd August, the feast of Our Lady, Queen, in the 20th week of Ordinary Time. The Kyiv Chamber Choir sings In Thy Kingdom from One Thousand Years of Ukrainian Sacred Music. How do you imagine the kingdom of heaven? (Lyrics currently unavailable) Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 22:1-14 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. ‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’ Some see this story as a warning against complacency, against taking my place in heaven for granted, or taking God for granted. Does that warning speak to me? Is it something I need to hear? Others might focus on what this parable says about the wideness of God’s invitation – God’s call – not just to a few, but to everyone (“both good and bad,” it says). If I’m very aware of my badness, my sinfulness, my shortcomings, and think that God wouldn’t want someone like me, perhaps this is what I most need to hear in this parable. When Jesus speaks in parables, it’s not always easy to know exactly what he means. But that’s the point – it’s meant to tease your mind into thinking about it, to make you wonder. As the passage is read again, notice what thoughts come to mind. What do you think it’s saying? Jesus is present here now, as you pray, so speak to him, as one friend speaks to another, about what his words say to you, and how you want to respond to his message. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.