Oct 15 Sun
In the parable, three invitations were sent forth. The first two were given to special invited guests. These “invited guests” refer especially to the people of Israel who were raised in the faith handed down from Moses and the prophets. We should also see in them those who have been raised within the Christian faith today. Those invited refused to come. After the second invitation, some who were invited reacted with indifference, while others reacted with hostility. These responses are common today.
The tone of the parable is compelling. Accepting the King's invitation is not just a private matter for the guests, who might decline the summons according to their personal preferences. It is, certainly, a personal decision, but it affects other people as well. Accepting God’s call is a duty that takes precedence over any other occupation, no matter how important it may seem.
We, as St Josemaría wrote, "must cry out, with all the strength and urgency that may be necessary, lest the scene of the parable be repeated: And they refused the invitation: someone, because he went to his own selfish pursuits, to his own comfort (Mt 22:5): some other, because he became absorbed in his professional task, without knowing how to make of it a divine path on earth – no one taught him; without knowing that work is a very principal part of our divine vocation as a Christian; without realizing that it is precisely in our profession or in our job that the Lord wants us to sanctify ourselves."
"We must teach all men that to be a Christian is something amazing, because the soul of the believer is God's holy temple (cf. 1 Cor 3:17), where the Most Blessed Trinity dwells (cf. Jn 14:23). But, if one wants to attain Christian perfection, it is necessary to fight the battles of the interior life with courage, because the kingdom of God is attained only by effort."
To refuse the King's invitation is a great mistake that will bring many misfortunes to the ungrateful guests and, by imitation, to so many other people.
Thus, this is a call to personal responsibility. "Keep in mind, my son, that you are not just a soul who joins with other souls to do a good thing."
"That is much..., but still, it is little. –You are an Apostle who fulfills an imperative command of Christ." On our fulfillment of God's Will depends our earthly and eternal happiness, and the happiness of so many other people. "On you and me behaving as God wants – don't forget – many great things depend."
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