✉️Epistle (Eph 4:23-28)
Brethren: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind: And put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth. Wherefore putting away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbour; 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 labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need.
📖Gospel (Mt 22:1-14)
At that time Jesus spoke to the chief priests and Pharisees in parables, saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my beeves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage. But they neglected, and went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death. But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city. Then he saith to his servants: The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage. And his servants going forth into the highways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good: 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. Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
🤔Reflections
🕊️The wedding garment is the virtue of charity. He who is in the Church and has faith, but does not have charity, has entered the banquet, but without the proper garment. We can say that we have faith and believe in Christ, but if we do not love God and our neighbor, we enter the feast without the wedding garment. The man who did not possess it was speechless, for on the day of judgment, there will be no excuse for the lack of love, since the Lord has given us all the means to practice it. He who does not have this garment will be cast out, because all other virtues are of no use without charity, which is the bond of perfection. (St. Gregory the Great, Homily 38 on the Gospels).
✨To be renewed in the spirit of your mind is not just to abandon old habits, but to transform the very source of thoughts and desires. The "old man" is not the substance of our nature, but the corruption of sin that deforms it. To put him off is to renounce the works of darkness. "To put on the new man" means to adorn the soul with the light of virtue, with the justice and holiness that make us like God. This is the true wedding garment, woven with golden threads of good works, which makes us fit to participate in the celestial banquet. (St. John Chrysostom, Homily on the Epistle to the Ephesians).
📜The Catechism of the Council of Trent explains that sanctifying grace, conferred in Baptism, is the wedding garment with which the soul, once stained by sin, is adorned and made beautiful in the eyes of God. This initial grace is the first effective call that brings us into the banquet of the Church. However, to remain at the feast and be counted among the elect, one must keep this garment immaculate and even make it more radiant through the practice of virtues and the observance of the commandments. Good works, especially acts of charity, are the ornaments that enrich the garment of grace, ensuring that when the King enters, we are found worthy of the eternal Kingdom.
➡️See English version of the critical articles here.
