Most of us like to receive invitations: to parties, to
graduations, grand openings. To receive
an invitation to anything is a bit of an honor.
Someone enjoys our presence enough to invite us to be with them. Another nice thing about an invitation is that
we are free to accept or decline it. A
family birthday party might seem more of a duty than an option, but we are
still free to accept the invitation or not.
Throughout Scripture, God is encountered as one who
invites. God invites us to friendship with
Him. God invites us to trust Him. God invites us to eternal life in
heaven. God issues invitations par
excellence. His only Son, our Beloved
Lord Jesus Christ, is sent as a sort of living incarnate invitation, inviting
us to follow Him in all things.
Jesus often speaks of the invitations coming from God his
Father. In the Gospel today, Jesus tells a parable comparing
his Father to a king sending an invitation to a lavish wedding party. Yesterday, I was able to celebrate a wedding
for a cousin at St. Peter’s Parish in Cleveland, and afterwards there was a
beautiful wedding party.
The lavish wedding banquet: rich food, sweet wines, song,
music, and dance. What a wonderful
image, that Jesus uses to describe heaven. Some of these elements are even part
of the Holy Mass, which is to be a foretaste of heaven.
What an honor to think that we have received an invitation
from God our Father, what an honor that God wants us, God invites us to be in
his Holy Presence and to experience the eternal joys of the wedding banquet of
heaven.
In Jesus’ parable, it is pretty clear that some reject the
invitation, some accept the invitation.
Firstly, what a sense of awe, that we have the freedom, we have the
choice, to say “yes” or “no” to God’s invitation.
And it truly is a choice.
For God does not force Himself on anyone. He does not force salvation on anyone. He does not force His commandments on
anyone. And he doesn’t even force Heaven
on anyone. He invites. And it is us up to us to accept his
invitation, on his terms, or not.
God’s invitation was a theme that ran throughout the papacy
of Pope Saint John Paul II. God invites
us, the Pope said to draw water “with joy at the fountain of salvation…”. God invites us, the Pope said, to change our
sinful habits, to become the people God made us to be. God invites us, into a loving and intimate
relationship with Himself through prayer, to “spend time in spiritual conversation,
in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy
Sacrament” of the Eucharist.
God does not force, but invites because the one thing God
wants for us is Love. And Love is a free
choice. You cannot force someone to love
you. Love can only be freely given.
Now, I don’t know about you, but sometimes I wish God was a
little more direct. If he wants the 80%
of Catholics who don’t go to Mass every week to return to Church, why doesn’t
he appear to them, and tell them directly.
Or when I’m having a heated conversation with an Atheist,
why doesn’t God show himself in an undeniable way?
We have a gentle, inviting God who prefers whispering to
yelling. He’s into nudges, not
pushes. He invites. Faith is a choice, love is a choice. Heaven, is a gift that we have a choice to
accept, or not.
For, let us be under no delusion. If we have received the invitation, and we
reject it, there will be eternal consequences.
For God will respect the decision to reject his invitation
definitively.
So what do we do about those family members who appear to be
rejecting the invitation? Family members
who are in adulterous situations, or who aren’t coming to Mass. We cannot change them. We cannot force them to be here. So what can we do?
For one, we can nudge, we can gently remind them of God’s
invitation. Though our society tells us
never to discuss religion, Our Lord urges us to go out to all nations, to share
the Gospel, to invite. So we can gently
remind family members of God’s invitations in our conversations.
Secondly, every one of us should be praying on a daily basis
for family members who appear to be rejecting God’s invitation. For prayer is so powerful. There are miracles God wishes to perform as
answers to our prayers.
Also, mortification, fasting. Fasting, has been a powerful spiritual
instrument in the history of the Church, practiced by the saints, as a means of
bringing about conversion. To fast,
perhaps, on bread and water, once a week, for the conversion of a family member,
has incomparable power.
But, perhaps the greatest thing that we can do, to be filled
with the Joy of the Gospel. The witness
of one who is filled joy because of their love of Christ and His Church is so
powerful in spreading the Gospel. I
never met Mother Theresa, but I met some of the sister who met her and emulated
her care of the poor. They were brimming
over with joy, they are like super magnets drawing others to Christ.
In a recent document, Pope Francis warned Christians about
having “una cara de vinagre” a face of vinegar.
Meaning, don’t be a sourpuss because it does not attract people to the
Gospel. Or in Italian we have a word, “scostumato”,
a Christian who is “scostumad” as my grandmother would say, betrays an ugliness
by their actions, not an attractive attitude for a Christian.
The Pope offers a real challenge here, because the
pilgrimage of the Christian is hard. We
are pilgrims on a hard journey. And sometimes
our own crosses feel terribly heavy. In
those times, we are called to turn to prayer and trust all the more, so that we
can be refreshed by God, and witness to his saving help.
As we recognize that we are to be the instruments of God’s
invitations, we at the same time recognize God inviting us to be people of
greater peace, hospitality, gentleness, and Christian joy. Every Christian is invited to be a
saint. You, are invited to be a saint,
how will you respond?
As we come forward to receive the most Holy Sacrament today,
professing all the Catholic Church teaches, may our hearts be open to all the
gifts God invites us to receive for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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