“He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come.” Matthew 22:3
A beautiful, bountiful lavish feast all laid out. The guests were invited, but they refused. Today, Jesus alludes to the heavenly banquet. We’re all invited to this feast where God provides for our every need, everything that will satisfy our hungry hearts, but many still refuse it. Many choose to seek elsewhere for something that can only be satisfied by the banquet of the Lord. Why then the rejection? Why can’t people see past pettiness, pride, or stubbornness to see that God provides for our lost, wandering and broken hearts? God is bountiful and generous, and we see that in today’s Gospel. He wants to provide, and his meal is always set. Many though are still hesitant, maybe looking for a better bargain, one that allows them to keep their ways yet receive the benefits of God’s grace. However, we can’t have it both ways, and that’s because it’s our insistence to our ways that deepen the hunger in our hearts, and until we realize it, we will continue the search – hitting a brick wall on every turn, just like the guest in the parable who was unprepared, unwilling to surrender his ways. The banquet then is ready and bountiful; the question is: are we ready to surrender the thing that will prevent us form partaking of the banquet – that thing that will never satisfy the hunger?
This week, the church remembers Saint Margaret Mary. Her experience with suffering at a young age helped her to realize that the pain and hunger in her heart could only be satisfied by the Lord’s banquet – something that would later be revealed through her experience with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Christ used her to show the world his passionate love for humankind. His human heart was to be the symbol of his divine-human love. With her own love, Margaret Mary was to make up for the coldness and ingratitude of the world, especially by Adoration on the first Friday of each month. In this way, she not only satisfied her own hunger but showed the world how their hunger can be satisfied through the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. As we encounter Jesus’ message through Saint Margaret Mary, let us ask for her intercession … through the intercession of Saint Margaret Mary may we then be satisfied of our deepest hunger by humbly ourselves to receive from the Lord’s banquet. Saint Margaret Mary … pray for us.
In Christ
Fr Robert Marquez
Pastor of Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Community