Twentieth Sunday after Trinity AD 2023

The King in today’s Gospel parable is God our Father. The son of the King is God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. We are the ones invited to His wedding feast. God has betrothed us to His Son when He accepted us as His children in baptism.

Those whom the king invited to the wedding feast in the parable did not appreciate this invitation; they had something more important to do: “They made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise…”

God wants us to consciously live in His presence day by day, but in a special way He invites us to do so once a week, on Sunday, which in the tradition of the Church is also called the Lord’s Day. On this day, He wants to feed us both with His Holy Word and the Sacrament of the Altar; that is, He offers us perfect communion with Himself. It is important that we accept this invitation and come – and it is equally important that we clearly realize what a great and wonderful gift we will thereby receive.

Unfortunately, there are many who, in their opinion, have something more important to do than meeting Him in His temple on the Lord’s Day. Yes, it is possible in this temporal life to avoid and postpone this meeting – but the final Day of the Lord will come when all of us must stand before Him as our King and Judge.

The only proper wedding garment with which we can cover ourselves so that we are not cast out of the heavenly wedding feast is the garment of divine forgiveness and grace. In order for us to have it on that last day, we must already be here and now humbly come before our heavenly King, worship Him and implore Him: Lord, have mercy upon us!