How much time do you and I spend worrying about the future? Speaking only for myself, sometimes too much. Much of what I get thinking about and worrying about, I really have no control over and it all works out somehow. When St Paul wrote in the second reading, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.”, the word “anxiety” in this passing end in Greek means “ to be unduely concerned about the future.” One of the commentators, I read that the Scripture was translated into English, the word used meant “to strangle”. What a great way to think about all the worrying we do about the future: it strangles out our joy and our hope. St Paul doesn’t mean that to worry or to have concerns is a bad thing. Parents worry about their children. The shooting in Las Vegas needs to concern each one of us. Worry about a bad storm, worry about a health crisis, and the list continues is normal. Paul tells us these are things we bring to the Lord. Our worries and our concerns are the “stuff” of our prayer. When it becomes a problem is when we allow the worry to take over. We all can get into the mentality of, sure I’ll bring it to the Lord, but I am not really sure God is going to take care of it….and we don’t let the undue worry go….and it strangles out our joy. Our worries and concerns can become an opportunity to put our care on the Lord. A practice of prayer we all can learn is to through out the day to just say to the Lord: Here is what I am worried about, I give it you” and then allow the peace that only comes from God, to fill our hearts. A prayer like that demands trust; but it also is the root of joy. It can is active commitment to a God who is our hope and our shield. To put our trust in the Lord means we have to take active steps like prayer and refocusing ourselves so our hope and trust is not strangled by our over whelming worry. St Paul reminds us to keep our focus in the Gospel that He taught: the Good news of Jesus who conquered all and give us hope by the power of the Cross and Resurrection. I would like to end with a poem we all know:

One night I dreamed a dream. As I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, One belonging to me and one to my Lord. After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints. This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. “Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, You’d walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.” He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you Never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you.”

 

A lot of people will say that the reason they don’t come to Mass is because it is boring and they don’t get anything out of it. Today’s First reading and the Gospel give us an insight into what the Eucharist is all about. It is a promise of what is to come; it is the reality of a God who loves us so much that he died and rose and continue to be present to us and to feed us until the day the promise is fulfilled in heaven. This is the wedding feast that the Gospel is talking about. This is the mountain of Isaiah . Take a few minutes and think about that……we have been invited here by the Lord. That invitation began on the day of our baptism. On that day, Jesus invited us to his wedding feast. He gave us the garment of righteousness and faith. On that day, we were enlighten by Christ and given new vision to see the Kingdom in our midst. On that day, we were given a mandate to go the highways and by ways of our time and invite all, not just a chosen few, to the wedding feast of the Lamb. I always thought the guy at the end of the Gospel got a bum rap. The King can’t find people to the wedding feast. He invites all these people and then throws this guy out because he isn’t dressed right. My thought is he probably didn’t have any good clothes; after all he was poor. However, some of the scholars tells us that in the time of Jesus, the host would have provided a wedding garment to each guest. Now, it makes sense. The man choose to not use a precious gift. His choice was what got him kicked out. Of course, this is all symbolic. What we wear to Mass, how we look, if we have tattoos, if we are a baby crying, a teen who would rather be home in bed on a Sunday morning or a older person who walks slow, if we are dealing with depression or schizophrenia, if we are poor or rich, gay or straight, the invitation is the same. Come and eat with me. Come and I will give you life. Come and share the banquet of my Love. It is our choice to respond to this gift and promise. This is the wedding feast of the Lamb who took away our sins and died for us and who continues to be the Holy Food and Drink of the altar. It is the Jesus who died and rose who comes us, and abides with us in the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle. This is also the foretaste of what is to come. This is the promise of the heavenly wedding feast. Every Sunday we glimpse of what life will be when we die. Clothed in the glory of heaven, invited to our place at the heavenly table, we will praise God for all eternity and the angels and saints and our beloved dead who wait for us to come to the wedding feast of the Lamb This feast and promise is enough to for me to keep coming even when it might seem boring, or I get distracted (and it happens to me too), when I would rather be somewhere else….I need the Holy Food and Drink to live and I need to see the promise of what is to come. I hope you do, too.

 

 

 

 

O Divine Father, you have invited us to the wedding feast of heaven. You have clothed us with garment of salvation and grace. Help each of us to grow in love of this awesome gift. Give us the grace to see beyond our sins and failings and see your Mercy made real in this Holy Sacrament Give us the eyes of faith to see beyond what we do here and catch a glimpse of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb Lord Jesus, walk with your brothers and sisters who wear the wedding garment of the Kingdom. Amen

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