What to Wear (2011-10-09)

This is my homily for Sunday 9 October 2011. I am a Catholic chaplain in Teaneck at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) campus and for the FDU Newman Catholic Association. We celebrate Catholic Mass - during Fall and Spring semester - every Sunday Mass (7:30 p.m.) at the Interfaith Chapel, 842 River Road, Teaneck, NJ.

● Isaiah 5:1-17 ● Psalm 80 ● Philippians 4:6-9 ● Matthew 21:33-43 ●

[__01__] Aren’t the most likely to succeed are also the most likely to be photographed?

Showing up on the red carpet for the an Academy Awards presentation (the Oscars) or a presidential banquet (the White House), we see the photographers gravitate toward the most successful, the most famous, the A-list.

We use the term “A-list” don’t we describe the group “A” … not surnames and names that start with A, but the people who are first class, desirable, the cool people.

And, famous people on the red carpet not only want to be seen, they also want to be seen near each other, don’t they? The movie star with the MVP, the famous tenor with the first lady.

[__02] In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 22, we read about invitations sent to the A-list, to the elite …

The parable uses the allegory - the symbolic fictional figure – of a wedding
banquet to represent the Christian life, the reign of God.

Just as we are expected to bring ourselves, to dedicate ourselves, to pay attention… and to honor the other guests … at a real-life party …we are also expected to bring ourselves, to dedicate ourselves to the Lord, to his commandments.

In our spiritual life, we opening and re-opening the envelope, the RSVP card and considering the invitation every day.

However, sometimes, we have difficulty with those invitations, We can’t figure where we put them, what they say …we may want to stall for time before we say YES or NO.

[__03__] Jesus reminds us in this parable that God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – never stops calling, inviting, texting or sending messages. He is trying find us, inviting us to prayer, repentance, virtue, generosity.

The Lord is trying to locate us, for real, not simply to entertain us with an allegory or a fiction.

[__04] So, what is the allegory, the symbol in our lives?

In our lives, we may not relate this allegory of a royal banquet in London or Madrid or Tokyo … few of us have been invited. Few of us will be invited to the White House… and last I heard, you cannot crash parties there so easily.

But, where are we invited? We have invitations on our calendars, arriving in the mail or we may hope to be included.

And, the questions are … with any invitation:
(1) Can I afford this?
(2) Do I have time for this?
(3) What will I wear?

[__05_Can I afford this?_] For some invitations we are expected to bring a gift, and we might decline if we cannot. But, in the invitation to be a good friend, a mother/father, to be a teacher, a son/daughter, a neighbor, we are always bringing the gift of ourselves.

Setting aside our own desires, needs, keeping commitments …. These are costly, expensive at times and we need God’s help to pay for them.

There is also the gift of time which is the next question

[__05_do I have time?_] If I were to imagine myself to be on the A-list, the elite, I may easily decline or stay in RSVP no-man’s land … with the response… “I’ll get there if I have time.”

Jesus is asking us, inviting us… to consider what do we already have time for … and where can we find time?

Or, if not, how we can at least take what is already burdening us, keeping us busy…and keeping in mind that we do this to praise God, we carry out our tasks so that the burdens of others may be lightened … not so that we will be praised.

[__06-what will I wear?] After asking – can I afford this, do I have time, we also ask … what will I wear?

The right garment will gain notice at the Oscars in L.A. and the White House in D.C.
And, it is a garment which gains notice at the end of this parable. The parable concludes with someone not properly dressed. How can we relate to him?

This is an allegory, a fictional representation. The guest not properly dressed is … or could be … any one of us.

One biblical scholar observes that the kingdom of God, the reign of God includes those who behave virtuously, those who live exemplary lives and those who behave with injustice, dishonesty.

What will I wear?

St. Paul in Romans, speaks about being clothed in righteousness, in goodness. Romans 13:14)

Just as we change our clothes each day and worry about our appearances, so we are also called to examine our lives for sinfulness, to examine our priorities, to seek repentance, forgivness, to make way in our calendars for this invitation and, finally, to on God’s new A-list. [__fin_]