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The Time After Pentecost
“I am the salvation of the people.” We place our complete trust in the salvific will of the
Savior for all sinners, for He will give us salvation. In this we place our confidence in spite of our
many infidelities, in spite of our half-heartedness, in spite of our frequent misuse and neglect of
grace. Great as is our sinfulness and our need, greater still is His mercy, His love, and His will
to save. For this reason we approach the Holy Sacrifice with great courage and confidence. “If
I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, Thou wilt quicken me, O Lord; and Thou wilt stretch
forth Thy hand against the wrath of my enemies; and Thy right hand shall save me” (Offertory).
Prayer
May the healing power of Thy grace, O Lord, mercifully rid of us all perverseness of heart and
make us ever cleave to Thy commandments. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday
“The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king who made a marriage for his son” (Gospel). He
has invited many guests and called them to his banquet, but they do not come. He calls them
a second time, and still they do not appear. They even kill some of the servants whom the king
has sent to them. Then the king sends his servants into the streets to invite whomsoever they
find. “The marriage indeed is ready, but they that were invited were not worthy.”
“Come ye to the marriage.” The king calls the nobles, the great, the officials of the city; but they
do not accept the invitation. One goes to his farm, another to his merchandise. Now the poor
and lowly are invited. They are allowed to enter the banquet hall and sit at the royal table. This
is a figure of our call to the faith. Those first invited are the people of Israel, to whom God sent
the patriarchs and the prophets and finally His own Son. But Israel will have nothing to do with
the Messias sent by God; nor will it enter the kingdom of grace founded by the Messias. Because
Israel will not enter the banquet hall, the Church founded by Christ, God now invites the poor
who have wandered in the darkness of heathendom, and the Gentiles who erred without the
light of revelation, to partake of His banquet: “Come ye to the marriage,” to the good things of
Christ and the Church: grace, the sacraments, the Holy Eucharist. “For many are called, but few
are chosen.” We are called and admitted to the wedding feast in the kingdom of God, the Church.
Baptism has been for us the entrance into the Church, but the Church also invites us to
the wedding feast of eternal life in heaven. “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Not all
who are admitted to membership in the Church are certain of being admitted to the eternal
wedding feast. God has called us to the Church without any merit of ours, but He does not bless
us without our cooperation and effort. The warning that “many are called, but few are chosen”
is explained by the Epistle: “Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man.”
We are called to eternal life; there is no lack of good will on the part of God, and the assistance
of His grace is assured us. But it is our task to cooperate with grace and to put on the new man
through a firm faith in the light and inspiration of grace. We must fulfill the commandments of
God and of Christ under the leadership and guidance of the Church. If we fail to do our part
by neglecting or abusing the grace of God, we belong to the number of those who are called
but are not chosen. We are like the foolish virgins who were indeed chosen by the bridegroom,
but who had no oil in their lamps and were not ready when the gates of the banquet hall were
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