We will hear once again, about the wedding feast, in which many were called to join in, but they did not. This represents the Church calling all to come in. Those who refuse will be burned. Man, why do people have to be so obtuse? St. Gregory explains these passages:
'The kingdom of heaven is the assembly of the just; for, the Lord says by Isaiah: "Heaven is My throne." Solomon says: "The soul of the just man is the throne of wisdom"; and St. Paul calls Christ the Wisdom of God. If therefore, heaven be the throne of God, and the soul of the just man is the throne of Wisdom, this soul is a heaven...The kingdom of heaven, then, is the assembly of the just...If this kingdom is said to be like to a King, Who made a marriage for His Son, your charity at once understands who is this King, who is the Father of a Son, King like Himself. It is He, of whom the psalmist says: "Give to the King Thy judgment, O God, and to the King's Son Thy justice!" God the Father made the marriage of God His Son, when He wished that He, who had been God before all ages, should become Man towards the end of ages. But we must not, on that account, suppose that there are two persons in Jesus Christ, our God and our Saviour...It is, perhaps, clearer and safer to say, that the King made a marriage for His Son, in that, by the mystery of the Incarnation, He united the Church to Him. The womb of the Virgin-Mother was the nuptial chamber of that Bridegroom, of whom the psalmist says: "He hath set His tabernacle in the sun; and He, as a Bridegroom, cometh out of His bride chamber!
In this parable the king is our Heavenly Father who has espoused His only-begotten Son to the Church, and on this occasion prepares the most sumptuous marriage-feast by giving the evangelical doctrine, the holy Sacraments, and the heavenly joys. The servants sent to invite the guests are the prophets, apostles and disciples of Christ. Those invited are the Jews who despised the honor and grace of the divine King, destined for them, abused and killed His servants, and were, therefore, cast aside and with their city Jerusalem, destroyed by the armies of their enemies, as a just punishment; in their stead the heathens and all those nations were called, who were on the broad road to destruction, and who now occupy the places of the unfortunate Jews at the marriage feast of the Church, and shall also occupy them in heaven. In the Jews to whom Christ addressed this parable, is verified that many of them, nay, all are called, but few chosen, because they would not heed the invitation.
Let us end with the prayer after the Antiphon of the Magnificat:
O almighty and merciful God, graciously keep away from us all things that are adverse: that being free in mind and body, we may, with unimpeded minds, attend to the things that are thine.
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