Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings highlight God’s providence, that is the ever-present, ever-providing divine love. The prophet Isaiah tells us that the Lord of hosts “will provide for all people.” Paul tells the Philippians, “My God will supply whatever you need.” In the gospel, Jesus speaks of a king who offers a sumptuous wedding banquet for his son. Everything is provided. Everything, except apparently, a wedding garment for the guests.
"My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' asks the king. Many have seen the wedding garment to represent the good deeds that come with Christian conversion. By his own actions, or lack thereof, this wedding guest is cut off from the kingdom, immobilized in the darkness. We can imagine the haunting sound of wailing and grinding of teeth.
The temptation is to understand our relationship with God as transactional. He provides for me and so I must do something in return. The truth is that even our desire to do good, to act with charity is provided by God. Yes, he provides the wedding garment…if we’re willing to put it on. It is also true that this life is the privileged time to unite our will with the will of God, to give ourselves in a freely-chosen act of love to God and his people. Let us act now. As St. Therese of Lisieux once said, “We have only the short moment of this life to give to God, and he is already preparing to say, “Now my turn!”