Today's Gospel (Mt 22:1-14):  Jesus went on speaking to the chief priests and elders in parables: «This story throws light on the kingdom of heaven. A king celebrated the wedding of his son. He sent his servants to call the invited guests to the wedding feast, but the guests refused to come. Again he sent other servants ordering them to say to the invited guests: ‘I have prepared a banquet, slaughtered my fattened calves and other animals, and now everything is ready; come then, to the wedding feast’.

»But they paid no attention and went away, some to their fields, and others to their work. While the rest seized the servants of the king, insulted them and killed them. The king became angry. He sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.

»Then he said to his servants: ‘The wedding banquet is prepared, but the invited guests were not worthy. Go, then, to the crossroads and invite everyone you find to the wedding feast’. The servants went out at once into the streets and gathered everyone they found, good and bad alike, so that the hall was filled with guests.

»The king came in to see those who were at table, and he noticed a man not wearing the festal garment. So he said to him: ‘Friend, how did you get in without the wedding garment?’. But the man remained silent. So the king said to his servants: ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the dark where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth’. Know that many are called, but few are chosen».

Today, Jesus present us with the king (the Father), inviting his guests through his “servants” (the prophets) to the banquet of the Holy Alliance of his Son with Mankind (our salvation). First he did it with Israel, «but they refused to come» (Mt 22:3). Despite the refusal the Father kept on insisting: «I have prepared a banquet, (…) and now everything is ready; come then, to the wedding feast» (v. 4). But that rebuff, seizing the servants, insulting and killing them, makes the king angry, so he sent his troops to destroy the murderers and burn “their” city, (cf. Mt 22:6-7): Jerusalem.

So, consequently, through other “servants” (the apostles) —sent to «the crossroads», (Mt 22:9): «Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…», will, our Lord Jesus, in Mt 28:19 tell them later on— we are invited, the rest of mankind, that is, «everyone they found, good and bad alike, so that the hall was filled with guests» (Mt 22:10): the Church. However, the question is not only to attend the banquet when invited, but also, and to a great extent, the dignity we may display, when at the banquet («the wedding garment», cf. v. 12). St. Jerome commented in this regard: «The marriage garment is the commandments of the Lord, and the works which are done under the Law and the Gospel, and form the clothing of the new man. That is, the deeds of Charity our faith must be accompanied of».

We know that Mother Teresa of Calcutta, used to go out every night looking for the moribund to give them, with love, a proper dying: clean, tucked in, and, if possible, baptized. Once, she said: «I'm not afraid of dying, because when I will be before the Father, there will be so many poor I gave Him with the wedding garments, that they will know how to defend me». Blessed she may be! —Let us learn that lesson, too.