Ave Maria!
IHS
Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi—7
June AD 2015
(Second Sunday after Pentecost)
Mass Text Latin - Sunday within the Octave
Mass Text English - Sunday within the OctavehEnglish Mass Text - Corpus Christi
Latin Mass Text - Corpus Christi“None of these that were invited shall taste of my supper.”
We tend to think of today as being simply the second Sunday after Pentecost, but the Church traditionally refers to it as the Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi. That may help to explain why the Gospel is this one about invited guests excusing themselves from a very special supper.[1] We can ask ourselves why Catholics so often fail to make use of every opportunity to assist at Holy Mass.
Since we are but two weeks after Pentecost, the day on which the Church was born, we would do well to consider the same Gospel in terms of people excusing themselves from Holy Mother Church, founded by Jesus Christ.
We should recognize that this parable was addressed to the Jewish people of Jesus’ time, but it is nonetheless validly addressed to people of every time in human history, and especially to people of our time as today the Catholic Faith is so often attacked and abandoned even by people who call themselves Catholics.
Jesus described three major distractions that would keep His listeners from receiving the saving graces ministered by His Church and His Sacraments. The first man had purchased a farm and must go and see it. He would seem to belong to the wealthier class, concerned with properly investing his money and letting others make productive use of his investment. Quite likely, he expects the respect of those whom he hires, as well as the respect of his fellow investors when he has time to chat with them. He has no time for the Church and Its Sacraments, because “time is money” and because no one in church will single him out for the praise which he feels he richly deserves.
The second one, the man who bought the oxen, seems to be more of a “hands on” type. He is accustomed to making his living through the “sweat of his brow,” and has no illusions or expectations about being singled out and praised for doing so. But his “time is still money,” and even when he is not working, he is more prone to seeking relaxation than to seeking grace.
The third man, the one who just married a wife, represents those who seek the sensual pleasures of life. Not that marriage is a bad thing, but marriage itself should be fostered by the teachings of the Church and the graces of the Sacraments. No man should be so occupied with his romantic interests that they become sinful, or that he has no time for God, who should be his first love.
We must recognize, though, that none of these three outlooks on life is altogether bad. Capital and labor are good things, particularly if the work together so that everyone has clothing and a roof over his head, and adequate food, necessary medicines, and so forth. Those who are forced to endure privation of these necessities rarely develop a spiritual outlook about it—it is hard to be spiritual when you can’t properly feed and clothe your children. Likewise, marriage is a good thing. It has God for its author, and is the building block of families and civil societies.
So being a good Catholic is something of a “balancing act.” We must engage the duties we have in the world, while giving place to the things of God. We must be on our guard against pride, avarice, and lust, while continuing to do the things necessary to living in the world. As they say, “we must be in the world, but not of this world.” Figuratively, we must be like “the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame,” rather than being like the sophisticated and successful people of the world. Pride, avarice, and lust must be overcome with humility, generosity, and chastity. Holy Church and Holy Mass must be as much a part of our lives as our labors and our spouses and families.
Saint Matthew’s Gospel has a similar passage that ends with the host of the dinner going in and finding a man not wearing a wedding garment.[2] The host has the offender bound hands and feet, and cast out in the darkness outside. This isn’t as nasty as it might seem. The man was not being punished for being too poor to dress properly. My understanding is that the Jewish custom was for the host to provide festive over‑garments for his guests—the guest had merely to select on and put it on.
For our purposes, we can think of the wedding garment as the robe of grace that was freely given to us at Baptism—that magnificent garment which properly outfits us for all of our encounters with the Church and the Sacraments. Over the years, most of us have sullied our baptismal garments—but Holy Mother Church will make them clean again (at no charge) through sacramental Confession. Our Lord recognized the difficulties of living in this world and gave us the means to recover from our mistakes by instituting this great Sacrament. There is never a reason to assist at Holy Mass without the “wedding garment” that is sanctifying grace.
The message is clear. We must balance our lives, so that we may be in the world, but not of it. We must practice humility, generosity, and chastity. We must preserve the garment of sanctifying grace. We must be like “the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame,” Otherwise, we will find ourselves “bound hands and feet, and cast out in the darkness outside.” Otherwise, on Judgement Day we will understand our Lord to be saying of us: “None of these that were invited shall taste of my supper.”
So remember that a little humility, generosity, and chastity—coupled with frequent Confession—will go a long way. Welcome to the Supper of our Lord!
Notes:
[1] Gospel: Luke xiv: 16-24 http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=49&ch=14&l=16#x
[2] Matthew xxii: 1-14 http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=47&ch=22&l=1#x
