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00:00At that time, Jesus again spoke in parables to the chief priests and the elders
00:11of the people saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a banquet
00:18a wedding for his son. He sent his servants to call the guests, but they did not
00:27They wanted to go. He sent other servants again to tell them, "I have prepared a banquet for you."
00:35I've had my calves and fat animals slaughtered, everything is ready, come to the wedding.
00:44But the guests paid no attention. One went to his farm, another to his business, and the rest
00:54They attacked the servants, insulted them, and killed them.
01:01Then the king was filled with anger and sent his troops, who killed those murderers.
01:08And they set fire to the city. Then he said to his servants, "The wedding is ready, but..."
01:16Those who had been invited were not worthy. Go out therefore to the crossroads and
01:23Invite to the wedding banquet everyone you find. The servants went out to the
01:29They went out and gathered all they found, both good and bad. And the banquet hall was filled.
01:38of guests. When the king came in to greet the guests, he saw among them a man
01:44He wasn't wearing a party suit and asked him, "Friend, how did you get in here?"
01:52Without a party suit? The man remained silent. Then the king said to the servants,
02:02God, bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the darkness. There will be weeping.
02:09And despair, because many are called, but few are chosen. The Word of the Lord.
02:21This week, from the Word of God.
02:24Two Sundays ago, brothers, we began to hear in the Gospel of Saint Matthew some
02:33parables that Jesus is directing, specifically, the text tells us, to the elders of the people
02:42and to the chief priests. Two Sundays ago we had the opportunity to do one ourselves
02:49The question was, what kind of son am I? We saw that text in which a man who had two
03:00He sends his children to work; the first one answers, "Yes, I'll go," but doesn't show up for work.
03:08He regrets it, he doesn't participate in what he had committed to. And the second son tells him
03:15who doesn't want to go, but then changes his mind and participates in the work. The opportunity we had
03:23It was asking ourselves, I am one of those children who say to God, yes, I love you, yes, I will be with you,
03:32Yes, I'll do what you say, but they end up doing their own thing. Or are we among those children who,
03:38Perhaps, like the second one, we first say that we don't repel, we fight a little, but we do the
03:46God's will. What kind of child are you? Then, last Sunday, we had the opportunity to
03:54We asked ourselves another question: Am I bearing the fruit the Lord expects of me? We looked at those texts
04:04also from the vineyard, in which, for that man who had prepared all the land, had
04:12Careful, he had put up a tower, a fence, he had done everything possible to make it bear fruit, because it does not receive
04:21the fruit of those who were working on it in their time. We were also called to invite each other,
04:27Am I bearing the fruit God expects of me? And if I am bearing fruit, what is my fruit like? What
04:34Does it have any characteristics? Does it resemble the fruit God expects from us? Is it a good fruit? Is it a fruit
04:41Is it lasting? Is it a fruit that ripens in its season? Or am I bearing bitter fruit? Fruit that doesn't wait.
04:48God of each one of us. Today, brothers, the text we heard will also give us the
04:55This gives us an opportunity to ask ourselves, how is my response to God? Initially,
05:05Before we get to that point, I'd like you and me to discover what this banquet is like, the
05:12The king invites you; what is this banquet that has been prepared like, what are the characteristics of the one who invites you, and
05:21the banquet in which He wants you to participate. Because we believe that this King who has prepared
05:27The wedding feast for His Son is our good God. We believe that He has prepared that banquet.
05:36so that you and I may participate in and enjoy Him. What characteristics do we discover in this text that has been
05:43Proclaimed, brothers? The first thing I would like us to recognize is that this King is a King who invites
05:52with insistence and haste. He is a King who wants those in other places to come and participate in the
06:05wedding, come and partake of the banquet, and he does so insistently. Look, he sends some servants first, and these
06:13The servants are then abandoned and left to fend for themselves. He sends others, and they suffer practically the same fate.
06:21But after the first rejection, the King sends others. He wants us to participate in the banquet.
06:27He knows there has been a rejection before, he knows there has already been a denial, he knows there has been no interest,
06:33But the King says, "Go again, once more. I want you to participate in this banquet. This is the..."
06:41Persistence, brothers, and the urgency that God has for each one of us. This is the call that
06:50God has shaped you day by day throughout your entire existence, through different paths. He sends some,
06:58He sends others, and you will have to respond. But the King—understand this well—the King wants you to participate.
07:06He wants you to be part of this great banquet and be filled with joy. But the answer,
07:13Brothers, that depends on each one of us. He will be there. And even though He knows that sometimes we
07:22We will turn our backs on him; he will send other servants and seek out men and women willing to be with him.
07:31participate in his banquet. Second, the banquet has one characteristic. In it there is abundance. In
07:41This banquet reveals the King's generosity. There is food for everyone, there is drink for everyone. In the
07:50At the party, everyone participates. Absolutely everyone. God is like that with us too. Generous. Look,
07:58He knows that you and I give, most of the time, in a limited way. We give
08:06Measuring. The King doesn't give that way. He prepares everything generously. He slaughters his best animals.
08:16He has the drink. It doesn't matter if the other person doesn't have anything. It doesn't matter if the other person shows up with
08:24Empty hands. The King wants to give to you. This is His generosity. The Christian life, brothers, at the beginning
08:32There, proclaiming what God has done and is doing for you, not what you have to do for Him. And this
08:39The King has generously prepared a banquet for you. Let us acknowledge, brothers, that we have not lacked anything from God.
08:50Nothing. His grace is always there, continually. Generous. Abundant. In everything He gives us.
08:59One in our heart. So far, two characteristics, but there is a third. In this
09:04The banquet, brothers, all are called to participate. The text says that after those
09:11Those who had been invited, but did not wish to participate, were therefore ordered by the King to go to the
09:16Outskirts, go to the roads. And the banquet was filled with bad people, the text says, and with good people. At the banquet
09:26Everyone participated. We must understand that our faith is a proposal that is put into practice.
09:37for every man and every woman, of every people, of every race, of every nation, of every
09:46circumstance, whatever their life may be. This invitation is extended to all, brothers and sisters, and no one is left out.
09:54Excluded, except he who excludes himself. For the King absolutely invites
10:02Everyone. Never feel, brother, that there might be some behavior from some consecrated person, priest
10:11or not, from some member of the church, some attitude that we sometimes take that you
10:18Don't make me feel rejected, don't make me feel excluded, don't make me feel like I'm not part of this
10:25Christian community. Don't have that experience. Upon seeing the text, discover that the King has invited you to
10:35You are invited to participate, for He wants you to be part of this banquet. Don't exclude yourself, don't turn away. If in
10:44If you have ever had this feeling, now return to your life of faith and participate enthusiastically in this
10:52grace that the Lord wants to give you. But, brothers, to participate in this banquet, I was telling you, ask for a
11:00The man can respond in different ways. We saw how these servants first left.
11:09Once the guests return to the King, they tell him, "They didn't want to participate, they didn't want to come." What was the
11:21What was the initial response of these men? Rejection. You and I, in our freedom, can
11:30We have rejected the Lord. And many times we have done so. We have rejected Him by ignoring His word. We have
11:38Rejected by disobeying his law. We have rejected him by preferring other realities. You and I need
11:46always maintain this openness of heart and do not reject the invitations that God makes to you, the
11:54calls that He continually makes to you, to your marriage, to each one of us specifically,
12:03Do not refuse the King's invitation. But, after the second invitation, these men, the text tells us,
12:14They preferred to go to their businesses, they preferred to go to their fields. Sometimes we reject outright, and many
12:24Other times we do it in a veiled way, but we do it under excuses. These men had
12:31A good excuse: their businesses, their fields, their chores. We often run into each other.
12:40There. When we are invited to participate in a Eucharist, in a reconciliation, in a moment
12:47of prayer, in a rosary, with a neighbor, with a neighbor, it is that I have to, I must, I have another commitment.
12:57And it's true, your life and mine and everyone's, well, we have different roles, you have different activities,
13:05But one thing must always be considered: the one extending the invitation is the King.
13:12Who did these men reject? They didn't reject the servants; they rejected the King and his invitation.
13:21to the wedding banquet. We have to be aware of this; it is He who constantly
13:27He wants to lure us in by different paths. Enough with the excuses, brothers, enough with the excuses. These
13:36Men used these excuses to define their priorities. And this is what we actually do.
13:43When we say, I don't have time, I can't, I have to do this or that. This is not
13:49It's an invitation to be irresponsible and neglect your obligations. It's an invitation.
13:55so that you know how to prioritize what is most important in our lives, that
14:02It is the relationship with our Lord. The invitation He extends to us to participate in His church, to
14:08His banquet. Now, he has responded to the Lord. What was this response like? The banquet
14:18It was full, the text says. There were good and bad people there, bad and good people. Everyone participated.
14:25And we may find this attitude of the King towards the man who is particularly shocking.
14:31Poorly dressed. How did you come into the banquet dressed like that? And it might shock us because
14:39Well, he was a man, like many other guests, who were on the way and participated. Who's going?
14:45We might say, "Well dressed along the way?" Who goes there in a suit expecting...
14:51to be invited to a wedding? Some interpretations will be that whenever there was
14:59At a banquet like this, with this kind of participation, they would give you something at the party.
15:05worthy at least to wear. But there is a lesson for us as a community, as a church of
15:12Our time, as those Christians of that time also understood it. Participate
15:19In the Christian life, brothers, to be part of those who call themselves disciples of the Lord,
15:29Participating in the church requires a specific way of doing so. It does not mean participating in faith in Jesus Christ.
15:37However I please. One does not participate in faith in Jesus Christ in a way that suits me.
15:44Or however I prefer to do it. This man was invited, yes, you are invited, I am invited,
15:54But I don't share this faith the way I want. We do it the way of Christ. How do we have
16:01So what should we participate in? Clothed, brothers, says the apostle Saint Paul, clothed in the Lord.
16:08Sir, this is the way you have to do it. Because then we think out loud,
16:14Well, it's not that God loves me as I am, that's right, God loves you as you are. But accept His proposal.
16:20The Christian life asks you to change, it asks you to transform. It doesn't ask you to dress nicely,
16:27Let's not misunderstand. He's not asking you to come here in a suit and a long dress. He's asking you to check yourself.
16:35of Christ, of that beauty, brothers, which has to do with the heart and with good works.
16:41That is the requirement for each of us when participating in the banquet. Open to all,
16:49Yes, but in the way of Christ. Open to all, yes, but following what our Lord has asked of us.
16:58to live. Let us ask the Lord to give us the grace today, first, to recognize, brothers and sisters,
17:06I think this will already be a big step, recognizing that the person who invites you to participate in this
17:13The church is not just anyone; it is the King whom we call Lord, whom we call Father.
17:23to whom we owe everything we have. Recognizing that, I think we've already taken a big step. And then we ask
17:34the grace to participate in this banquet according to his will, always striving
17:41Just to please. And so be it.
17:45This service is available to you thanks to the financial contributions of our subscribers. If you wish to join
17:52As part of this great work of evangelization, we will be grateful for any contribution that may arise.
17:57from your heart. We also invite you to visit our online Evangelization Center, where you will find
18:04Free access to a variety of materials for your spiritual growth or that of your groups
18:10Apostolic. May the love of Christ and the tenderness of Mary reign forever in your heart. Until next time.