1st Michaelmas 2020, Wedding Gift

1^st Michaelmas

Matthew 22:1-14

And Jesus continued to speak in parables to them: 

unknown illuminator, Marriage of the Lamb

The kingdom of the heavens [arising in human hearts] is like a man, a king, who prepared a marriage feast for his son. And he sent out his servants to call the guests who had been invited to the marriage, but they would not come. 

Then he again sent out other servants, and said, “Say to those who have been invited, ‘Think, I have prepared my best for the banquet, the sacrificial oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered; everything is ready. Come quickly to the wedding.” 

But they were not interested and went off, one going to his field to be his own master, another falling into the hectic pace of his own business. The rest, however, took hold of the servants, mistreated them, and killed them. 

Then the king grew angry; he sent out his army, brought the murderers to their destruction, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, “Although the marriage feast is prepared, the invited guests have proved themselves unworthy. Go out therefore to the crossroads of destiny and invite to the wedding whoever you can find.” 

And the servants went into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 

Then the king came in to see the guests, and among them, he noticed a man who was not dressed in the wedding garment [that was offered to him]. And he said to him, “My friend, you are sharing the meal; how did you enter here not having a wedding garment?” 

But the man was speechless. 

Then the king said to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot and cast him out into the darkness, where human beings wail and gnash their teeth. For the call goes out to many, yet only a few make themselves bearers of the higher life.”

1^st Michaelmas

Oct 4, 2020

Matthew 22:1-14

 A wedding is a cause for great joy, for the couple have found each other on earth.  They are joining forces for a creative and fruitful union, for something that neither could do alone.

This gospel reading of the wedding of the king’s son is about the relationship

Burnand

between our souls, individually and collectively, and Christ. Christ is the Bridegroom. Our souls are meant to be the Bride. The divine Father invites us to wed Christ his Son.

This means that first of all, we must show up. We need to extricate ourselves from the demands of ordinary everyday life and enter the hall of prayer, the hall of the celebration meal.  In order to do so worthily, we are to clothe ourselves in the appropriate soul attire. This attire we receive as grace from the King. We are to receive and clothe ourselves in three garments: We are to attire ourselves in an open reverence and grateful awe of thought. We are to wear an open empathy of heart for all the world. We are to array ourselves in the promptings of the angels who inspire our thoughtful actions.

Thus clothed we are ready to celebrate the Great Wedding. We step into the hall of light, in the company of other such souls. There, our souls are joined with Christ, the King’s Son. We have found Him on earth. We are joining forces with Him for a creative and fruitful union, for something that neither could do alone. St. Francis said in a poem called “A Wedding Gift:”

I hear you singing, dear, inviting me to your [arm] limb.

I am coming, for all that we do is a

preparation for love.

I hear you singing, my Lord, inviting me to your throne.

We are coming, dear, for all the toil you have

blessed us with is a preparation to know and hold the

sacred.

 

I hear you singing, my soul, but how can it be that

God’s voice has now become my own?

“That’s just a wedding gift for our

Divine Union,”

my Beloved

said.*

*St. Francis of Assisi “A Wedding Gift,”  in Love Poems to God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 44.

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