OMELIE / Omelie EN

11 ott 2020

11/10/2020 – 28th Sunday in O. T. - year A 

11/10/2020 – 28^th Sunday in O. T. - year A 

Reading 1  IS 25,6-10a  Psalm  22/23  Reading 2  PHIL 4,12-14.19-20  Gospel  MT 22,1-14

Thanks be to the Lord Jesus, who every day is making possible for us to access the fullness of His mystery of love and self-sacrifice!

Thanks be to the Father, who every day is uniting us to His Son's sacrifice!

Thanks be to the Holy Spirit, who every day is filling us, through the Eucharist, with His strength and wisdom, and He is enveloping us in His light!

Today’s words are exactly talking about the Eucharist. Isaiah is giving us a prophetic description of it and then, in shape of a parable, one comes from Jesus Himself.

Isaiah is talking about a feast prepared by the Lord Himself. It will be served on “this mountain”: he meant in Jerusalem, but today we can think of the very place in which we live, a place in which God is also present. To this feast all peoples are invited, without exception, and then it will be full of peace and serene communion, because there will be no need to fear anyone. There are no better feasts than this: nothing is missing of what can give us joy and satisfy the man's heart. This feast everyone take part in, all races and languages, and it is the occasion in which God Himself is showing Himself as Father, giving everyone the true life, enough to make disappear that death frightening us with its terrifying and fearful consequences. The joy will spread, the joy that we can partly already experience when we meet someone who carries in his heart our same faith and our same love for our God and Father.

Jesus continues with the description of the feast, calling it the wedding feast of the king for his son: he is the king of the kingdom of heaven, and the son is the one who is meant to rule. The wedding is the time in which the groom is pledging all of his self to the bride. We understand then that He wants to talk about Himself and about the moment of intimacy He has started living in the Last Supper with His own people, who He has given His life to. In the cenacle it has started and today it continues here with us. It is He, Jesus, the Son, and it is He who offers His life for love of everyone. The first guests of the wedding are obviously the ones coming from the people of Israel, chosen in order to show God's love to the whole world. Unfortunately, they are not interested in the wedding: they are not interested in the Son’s love, as they are not interested in the Father’s love. They think they do not need them, because they think they deserve salvation anyway because they are very observant of the law. In addition, they have matured a negative opinion of the other peoples, like was not available to them the knowledge of God and therefore salvation. Therefore Jesus continues the parable letting them understand that the very Pagans will be invited directly to enjoy the communion with God's Son and with God Himself.

This revelation of Jesus’ is consoling for us. Nobody however have to get lazy. Salvation is not something that is automatic, and the invitation to the feast is not to be taken lightly. The conclusion of Jesus' teaching warns that the clothes of the invitee, so all his way to live, need to be those delivered by the 'king'. Do not think you are safe just because you are baptised: you should also live according to the Lord’s teachings, you will live in a way He will recognise you are truly His, in a way to show with your life His thoughts. And above all, let us live humbly. You make sure you will always remember that you are not the one to deserve to be part of the kingdom of heaven, but that this is a gift to accept with humble thankfulness. The one who had entered the room refusing to wear the wedding outfit was expelled: he was not in condition to take part in the feast, his proud and lofty heart was not allowing him to be in communion with anyone.

Saint Paul is admitting to us he had been happy in any situation, in poverty and in abundance, just because he takes everything from the Father’s hands and love. To be so much trusting in the Lord might come with some suffering, but the prize is such to make it worth it.

I will be a diner at your table, Lord Jesus! Give me your Spirit, so I might live as You desire and You might recognise me as your true friend, nay, as your brother!