Readings: Isaiah 25:6-10a, Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20, Matthew 22:1-14
Today’s readings are full of joy and gratitude. God invites us to come and celebrate “a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines” (Isaiah 25:6).
God invites us to celebrate the feast of the Eucharist. The banquet is prepared. Our joy and gratitude are founded on the basis of our faith: God is good, God is generous, and God is love.
In 2003, I visited Mae-Kong-Kha refugee camp along the border of Thailand and Myanmar. After more than a 7-hour drive from Bangkok to Mae-sot, I joined a group of Karen refugees to walk through jungle and check points to the camp.
The elders and some highly respected persons greeted me. All felt excited and wanted to meet me, but I felt uneasy as they stared at me. “Why are you staring at me like that?” I asked. They replied “because to us you don’t look like Australian! . . . You don’t look ‘white’ but look like us!”
The first thing they asked of me was to celebrate Mass for them. I wasn’t sure whether people could come for Mass as it was so late in the evening.
Nonetheless, when I said ‘yes’, they became excited with joy. Children ran and shouted out to let people know. Others went back to get their families and friends. Some went to the church to prepare for Mass.
All Catholics, some Baptists and Buddhists stopped everything to come for the celebration which was so joyful and grace filled. Although the church was very primitive, covered with dried leaves and bamboo, it was overflowing with people.
They sang at the top of their voices. They prayed fervently and sincerely. They made the Mass truly a feast, a joyful celebration.
During the fellowship after Mass I asked them why they did it like that. They replied: “we wanted to thank God for all the blessings, protection and care we have received. . . The Mass is always very important to us.
It’s the time we could receive Christ’s body and grace. It’s the ‘source and summit’ of our faith. Sufferings and hardships are means of our participation in God’s plan of salvation.”
For them, God is greater than human suffering and wickedness. God bestows his love unconditionally. We experience meanness and limitation. We often act with bitterness and without thought; but God’s mercy is greater than this.
His goodness underpins the universe and stands as a beacon at the end of all human existence. His love that forgives us gathers us here at the Lord’s banquet, the Eucharist, where Christ’s real, tangible, and love-driven sacrifice on the cross is revealed.
St Paul in the second reading shares that he can endure all things through Christ who strengthens him, and God will supply every need. So, nothing bothers Paul.
Nothing bothers the Karen refugees who fully respond to God’s invitation and trust in God because God will always strengthen them with his blessings.
They were truly witnesses of God’s goodness and love. In all situations, they were ready to respond to God’s invitation to the feast. Although limited in materials and food, they made the night so meaningful to me.
Like the Karen refugees, are we ready to stop everything and come and join the feast? Are we ready to receive the Bread and Wine?
Let us pray that our hearts will always be open to hear this invitation and respond to it. Let us be ready to receive the Body of Christ, and share God’s goodness and love with the brothers and sisters in our family and our parish.
Fr Nguyen Van Cao SJ is the Parish Priest of the Holy Family Catholic Church Emerton.
