Today's Gospel

The King is Calling You

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we explore the genius of the gospel. Today's reading is from Matthew 22:1-14. Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast. But they would not come. Again, he sent other servants saying, 'Tell those who are invited. Behold, I have made ready my dinner. My oxen and my fat calves are killed. And everything is ready. Come to the marriage feast.' But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm and other to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burnt their city. Then he said to those servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares and invite to the marriage feast as many as you can.' And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good, so the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?'

And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. There men will weep and gnash their teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.'" So it's an interesting reading. It's a confusing reading. We could sit here all day trying to analyze what is the real meaning of this or what is the real meaning of that and what are the real meaning of this. But that is not what we do here. There's a time and a place for that type of study of the scripture. But what we do here each day is just listen for a word, a phrase, or an idea that the Holy Spirit uses to capture our attention so that we can live the gospel more fully today, so that we can learn to hear the voice of God in our lives. So was there a word? Was there a phrase? Was there an idea that struck you? For me, the idea was welcoming. The king, he was welcoming. He was a king of vast hospitality. And he was welcoming to everybody. And the people were not necessarily responsive to the king's call. And for me, that causes me to ask myself, "Okay, the king is calling me. He's inviting me to a great feast. Am I responding to his call?" And then, of course, at the end, the guy without the wedding garment, am I responding to his call? And am I preparing the garment necessary to show up at the feast? The king is welcoming. He's calling us. Are we responding? Are we preparing ourselves for the great feast? Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.