Where Heaven Meets Earth
In This week’s Gospel, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, “ but, ”some ignored the invitation and went away…”
In speaking of the heavenly kingdom, Jesus expounds on what being invited to heaven looks like, and by extension what being invited to participate at mass should look and feel like. Jesus tells us that heaven is the greatest wedding feast imaginable, something to truly be desired. And our mass is a glimpse of that eternal party. Gathering at mass, gathering at the Eucharistic table is also supposed to be like a wedding feast.
Over and over in the Gospels, Jesus describes eternal life, describes heaven, as a great big party: a feast, a wedding feast, the greatest marriage imaginable between Jesus and his followers!
Perhaps too often we think of our eternal life as beginning with us as the defendant in front of the almighty judge who looks down to us from his bench – his throne. And that’s ok, because Jesus does make it clear in Matthew 25 that we will be judged by the way we treated and cared for the less fortunate in our world. But let’s not forget the rest of the story; let’s not forget the Good News of eternal life that Jesus tells us about 15 other times in the Gospels of how heaven, our eternal life will be a feast – a party like no other!
So, what do we do? For many of us, we attend church out of a sense of duty, and that’s good. We are supposed to go to church; that’s a good thing. But why do we do so? Do we do so just because we think we are supposed to or required to, or do we do so because we understand that this is a true celebration that we are fortunate enough to have been invited to; that we are blessed to have been invited to?
We do so because we want to be part of the party…part of the feast!
There’s a reason it’s called the Eucharistic Celebration; because it is! The mass is a celebration!
We gather, we pray the penitential act asking for forgiveness and mercy (I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters…).
Next, we sing The Gloria. Pope Benedict XVI once said, “The Church, in the Gloria, has extended this song of praise, which his angels sang in response to the event of the holy night (Jesus’ birth), into a hymn of joy at God’s glory…’We praise you for your Glory’”. In the Gloria, we are anticipating the party, the feast, we sing with a joy at the goodness of God by his sending of his only Son, our Redeemer! Sometimes I wonder why some people choose not to sing. Sometimes I wonder just how excited I am, how excited we are that we get to be at Church; that we have been invited to the party. That the Eucharistic celebration, the wedding feast of the Paschal Mystery is just before us! That’s what Jesus is talking about today. This celebration, this glimpse of heaven, this Paschal mystery that we are invited to celebrate; we are always invited to by Him! That’s a BIG deal! The Body of Christ, this greatest of wedding feast: how excited am I, how happy am I, to be invited to this party? Maybe I should take some time in reflection to ask myself that question. And then maybe I should take some time to make sure that I have my wedding garments in order. The only people who don’t get in, who don’t get to be part of the greatest wedding feast, are those who don’t really want to come. So I guess I have to ask myself, I guess we have to ask ourselves, “Do we really want to come?”
Peace be with you.
- Deacon David