The Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost (2 Cor. 1:21–2:4; Mt. 22:1–14)

A king prepares a wedding feast for his son; he sends for the invited guests once, then a second time—they do not come, on account of worldly concerns: one has gone to his farm, another to his business. A new invitation is made in other circles, and the wedding hall is filled with guests. Among them one is found without a wedding garment and is therefore cast out. The meaning of the parable is clear. The wedding feast is the Kingdom of Heaven; the invitation is the preaching of the Gospel; those who refused are those who never believed; the one without a wedding garment is one who believed but did not live according to his faith. To which category does each of us belong? Let each decide for himself. That we are the invited is clear—but are we believers? For it is possible to be in the midst of believers, bearing their name, without faith. One thinks nothing at all about faith, as though it does not exist; another knows a little about it and about what it requires and is satisfied with that; another interprets faith crookedly; another is utterly hostile to it—and yet all are counted within the circle of Christians, though there is nothing Christian in them whatsoever. If you do believe—examine whether your feelings and deeds correspond to the faith, the garment of the soul by reason of which God sees you as clothed in wedding garments or not. It is possible to know the faith well and to be zealous for it, and yet in life to serve the passions—to be clothed, that is, in the shameful garment of a soul addicted to sin. For such people, one thing is on the lips and another in the heart; on the tongue: ”Lord, Lord!” — and inwardly: ”Have me excused” (Lk. 14:19). Examine yourselves, therefore: whether you are in the faith and in the wedding garment of virtues, or in the shameful rags of sins and passions.