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The Time After Pentecost
“The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king who made a marriage for his son. . . . And the
marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests, and He saw there a man
who had not on a wedding garment, and he saith to him: Friend, how camest thou in hither,
not having on a wedding garment? But he was silent” (Gospel). It is not sufficient that we have
come to the banquet hall of the Church; a wedding garment is also required. It is not enough
that we have received baptism and have accepted the Christian faith; we must live according
to the gospel; we must live a life of justice and holiness; we must possess sanctifying grace and
Christian virtues. “Wherefore, putting away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbor,
for we are members one of another. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon
your anger. Give not place to the devil. He that stole, let him now steal no more, but rather let
him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give
to him that suffereth need. Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth, but that which is good,
to the edification of faith, that it may administer grace to the hearers. . . . Let all bitterness, and
anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy be put away from you, with all malice. And
be ye kind one to another, merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in
Christ. . . . But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not so much as be named
among you, as becometh saints” (Eph 4:25–29, 31; 5:3).
The wedding banquet to which we are invited is Holy Communion. But the Apostle gives us a
grave warning: “Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily,
shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself, and
so let him eat of that bread and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27–29).
The wedding to which we are invited is the blessed possession of God. “That My joy may
be in you and your joy may be filled” ( Jn 15:11). We will be granted admission to the eternal
banquet only if we are clothed in the wedding garment of sanctifying grace and have overcome
every fault of our former lives, having done full penance for our sins, either in this life or in
purgatory. With the liturgy during these weeks we long for the wedding banquet of eternal life.
We put on the new man; we strive for perfect charity in all our acts.
Prayer
Almighty and merciful God, in Thy loving kindness shield us from all adversity, that being
prepared in soul and body, we may with free minds perform the works that are Thine. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Monday
The Church now looks forward to the end of time. In those days “shall many be scandalized
and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and
shall seduce many. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold”
(Mt 24:10–12). The Church will be ridiculed, derided, and persecuted. She will await in her
white garments the coming of the Lord. She looks up to Him, and He reassures her: “I am the
salvation of the people, saith the Lord; in whatever tribulation they shall cry to Me, I shall hear
them; and I will be their Lord forever” (Introit).
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