As I am preparing the reflection for our website this week, I think of the weddings to take place at our churches this weekend.  The weddings will certainly be a joyful and exciting time for all of those involved.  The emotions and feelings can overwhelm some.  For such an important occasion, planning and preparation are paramount.  Even with the best of plans there is the unexpected.  How does one prepare for the unexpected?  We might respond to unexpected things, by accepting it and move on, or find the next best solution.

Any wedding planner will find our weekend Gospel reading absurd.  The host prepares the banquet well before receiving confirmation from the invitees.  A more prepared host would have the numbers confirmed prior to any preparation.  The host does not anticipate the guests declining the invitation.  After all the excuses the host makes a decision to extend the invitation to others.  We may think the host extended the invitation to those on the roads out of necessity, out of desperation.  However, this is no ordinary banquet and the host is no ordinary host.  The banquet represents communion with God.  The host does not want anyone to miss out.

Not wanting anyone to miss out, the host doesn’t just wait for the guests to arrive, but pro-actively goes out to seek them.  There is so much on offer, food for the soul, companionship for the lonely, healing for the injured, life for the lifeless.  To decline the invitation is a loss to the invitee not the host!

In a bizarre end, the host throws out a guest for not adhering to the dress code.  Not wearing a wedding garment is not internalising the spirit of the occasion.  To receive from the table of communion entails the wedding guest to be a host to others.

By Fr Hoang Dinh

Published: 13 October 2023