Everyone loves a wedding and especially the special party afterwards, which is a joyful feast. For the second weekend running, we celebrated weddings on Saturday mornings. We wish these two young couples truly blessed, long and fruitful married lives together. This weekend, we’ll celebrate four baptisms!

Reflecting on these Sacraments of Initiation and on the Vocation of Love, we consider what happens after we are baptized, after we become members of the bride of Christ. We are then clothed in our white baptismal garment, which represents the love of Christ, the charity of Christ, washing us of our sins.

Deacon Bob Evans in his great book, Walking the Parables of Jesus, explains how the wedding guests all wore the wedding garment as a symbol of unity of two families in love. “What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment, who is present in the holy church. He may have faith, but he does not have love. We are correct when we say that love is the wedding garment because that is what our Creator himself possessed when he came to the marriage feast to join the church to himself.” (Biblical Hermeneutics)

What did Jesus wear to His wedding feast when He came to join the Church to Himself? Jesus wore the garment of charity. If we want to participate in the eternal wedding feast of the kingdom, then we need to dress just as He dressed Himself, in divine love. We need to dress ourselves in the garment of grace and righteousness in our works of charity.

“I can do all things in Him (Jesus) who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13)

In today’s second reading, we learn that we are strengthened by God and prepared for a life of grace lived for God. After Baptism, the priest or deacon says to the newly baptized person:

“Bring this garment unstained into the eternal kingdom, into the eternal wedding.”

That is what we are called to on the day of our baptism. It is a great invitation that we are given at our baptism, just as this parable of the Wedding Feast also challenges us. Fr. Daniel Mahan, a stewardship expert, asks: How do we respond to the challenge?

“Are we grateful for the gift of faith, or do we take my faith for granted? Are we faithful in my responsibilities as a follower of Jesus, or am I negligent in my duties? Are we generous in sharing with the Church my blessings that come from the hands of our merciful and munificent God? These are the questions that a good steward must ask on a regular basis.

“Stewardship is about our response to God’s invitation. Stewardship is an attitude, a stance in life of expressing through our daily living our gratitude to the Lord for all of His blessings. Stewardship is a way of life that calls us to ongoing conversion of heart and practical, concrete changes in our lives. Stewardship is what we do after we say, ‘I Believe.’”

Thank You for your Generosity

We owe a debt of gratitude to the many good and faithful stewards in our parish, We will be the parish the Lord is calling us to be if every parishioner responds generously to the Lord’s invitation to the Wedding Feast, the Mass.

In this Month of the Rosary, join us as we pray the Holy Rosary. Thanks to our Knights of Columbus for organizing the Silver Rose Visitation this weekend.

Fr. Kilian and all of our great Parish Staff

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