St. Mary's Catholic Church of Tomahawk, WI

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

We are in the twenty eighth ordinary Sunday of year A. The first reading invites us to focus on the Lord’s plan at the end of time. It is for us to recognize that the eschaton is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s saving work and the bringing forth of the heavenly kingdom. Prophet Isaiah sees the fulfillment of God’s plan as a mountaintop feast. The image is heavenly. God extends direct divine comfort in both physical and spiritual dimensions, by doing away with the ultimate source of human sorrow, which is death.

In the second reading St. Paul portrays his apostolic life and ministry in terms similar to the Bible’s complex portrayal of the eschaton. He has known highs and lows, abundance and dearth, poverty and richness. Yet, living through such extremes has only confirmed for him that the stuff of this world is of secondary importance. This journey through extremes led him to an interior state of holy detachment, because Christ was at the core of his life.

In the Gospel, like in Isaiah, our Lord uses festive imagery to describe the kingdom of heaven at the end of time. The parable is a wedding celebration for a prince, overseen by the prince’s father. When we recognize Jesus as the prince, the story subtly conveys the bond forged between Christ and the Church. The parable narrates the invitations, which represent the heavenly kingdom, are variously ignored and rejected by some. Hence the unexpected guests are brought into the party at the king’s direct command. What is our response to this greatest invitation?

Fr. Aloysius Royan Anthony