Homily for October 12, 2008

Father Tom’s Homily
28th Sunday
October 12, 2008

One of my favorite spiritual quotes is from St. Augustine. He said, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.”
In reflecting on today’s scripture readings, I want to take Augustine’s words and change them a bit without changing their meaning.
I say, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are hungry until they feed on thee.” Today’s first reading from Isaiah and the gospel tell of banquets that the Lord prepares for us.

We have been created with a hunger for more than food and passing pleasures. We have been given a great hunger for union with God.
In the Scriptures God is presented as the bridegroom and we as the bride. In this image both God and we yearn for a lover’s union.
To speak of this divine hunger, today’s readings are about banquets. In the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah, God invites us to a sumptuous feast, a feast of rich food and choice wine. The gospel is a parable about a wedding banquet.

These banquets are available for all. The gospel says that the king sent his servants “out into the streets to invite all they found, bad and good alike.”
We belong at the sacred banquet as long as we hunger for the Lord.

For us, today’s banquet images from Isaiah and Jesus give meaning to our celebration of the Eucharist. We are here because we are hungry for God.
Here we are nourished on the sacred readings and the sacred Eucharist. In Isaiah’s words today, this is “a feast of juicy, rich food and choice wine.”
Today’s rich menu includes words of consolation, encouragement and hope. Consolation: “The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every eye” (1st reading). Encouragement: “I fear no evil, for you are at my side” (psalm 23). And hope: “God will supply whatever you need” (2nd reading).
And in case you’re not sure you belong at this Eucharistic banquet, note that the gospel invitation leaves no one out. It says, “Go out, and invite to the feast whomever you find.”

When we are attentive to our Divine Lover, we find many invitations to feast on special blessings.
If we are not distracted by life’s busyness as were those who excused themselves from the feast in today’s gospel, we shall find God’s many gifts.
The love and hope and joys of our lives are gifts bestowed on us by God. because God wants us to be content and happy in the midst of life’s many difficulties. We have been created for joy.
In the 15th century a mystic spoke of the great joy God finds in us. The mystic was a woman hermit whom we know only through her book, Revelations of Divine Love. She lived in a small hermitage attached to the Church of St. Julian in Norwich, England. Accordingly this holy woman is known as Julian of Norwich.
When Julian became extremely sick at the age of thirty, she gazed at a crucifix and experienced a deep understanding of Christ’s love. At that moment she was healed of her sickness.

Her revelations have been a source of consolation to many who have read her writings.
She writes, “God endlessly delights in us.” She also writes, “We are his bliss.”

For many people, religion can be dreary and burdensome. We often feel that God is not easy to please. We may be more afraid of God than in love with him.
To those who have grown weary of religion, Julian’s revelations tell us that God wants us to be happy.

Julian heard Christ’s message at a time when the world around her was filled with despair. It was a time of terrible upheaval (the late 14th century). There was the Black Plague, the Hundred Years War, the crisis of church authority occasioned by the papal schism and other trials.
She offered these consoling words of Christ to the world in turmoil. “All will be well.”

The rich menu of today’s scripture offers us the same kind of hopeful message. “I fear no evil, for you are at my side.” “The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.”
Our hearts yearn for a kind and merciful God, someone approachable who desires our company. A Lover who is genuinely fond of each one of us.
In the first reading Isaiah presents us with a God who feeds us with a grand banquet, who wipes away our tears.
Julian says, “God wants us to have true delight in him.”
Isaiah sums everything up, “This is the Lord that we have been looking for.”