“Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast”

In the Gospel we see a king and his Son. It is important that there is a king and Son. The king is the father who loves his son. We see the king (lover) and the son (beloved); the love between the two is the shared love. The wedding feast manifests the shared love; a love is so grand, that the king and son want others to partake in it. Saint Augustine describes the mystery of the Trinity as a lover, a beloved and the shared love between lover and beloved. [1] God is the lover. Jesus is the beloved. The love shared is so great that it is its own person, the Holy Spirit. We are called into this love. This lesson is lesson 3 of 3 and is focused on the Holy Spirit and how we are called into the love of God and then out of being called into that love desire to share it with others.

The Third Step is to evangelize. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) The bride of Christ, the Church, is made up of those who having been called into the love of God and live in that love. As the bride of Christ we desire to call others into that love and live in that love. We are like the servants who by our baptism are called to “Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.” We are at the service of this love and life, even when it costs us our life. How many countless missionaries gave up their physical life to go out into the main roads and invite people to the feast? How many countless others gave up their family, friends, homeland, jobs, etc. to go out into the main roads and invite people to the feast? The “main road” is not always a nice road, but rather a new world, jungles, arenas in which they would be martyred, the streets, the marketplace, the home. We proclaim in the Nicene Creed that we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to share this life and this love with everyone that we find, the “bad and good alike.”
 
Our calling as a Christian is to be faithful to our lover, Jesus Christ and to love as He loves. Why do we love? We love because we have first been loved. “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must love his brother.” (1 John 4:19-21) Our vocation is to love God and love neighbor, but we could do neither if we were not first loved. Saint Therese the Little Flower summed it up when she said, “O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: MY VOCATION IS LOVE! Certainly I have found my place in the Church, and you gave me that very place, my God. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be ALL things! MY VOCATION IS LOVE!” [2] Our place in the Church, as the bride of Christ is to love, to love our groom, to love our brothers and sisters in the Church and to love those whom we are inviting into the Church.
 
Where does the Holy Spirit come in to a parable that has to do with a Father and a Son? The Father is the lover, and the son is the beloved. The Holy Spirit is the shared love between the lover and the beloved. The Holy Spirit guides the Church in spirit and in truth according to Jesus’ promise at the Last Supper, “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit is one with the Church and through the Sacraments dwells within each Christian. The Holy Spirit is the shared love between Father and Son that continues to be shared with the Son and His Bride the Church. It is this shared love of the Holy Spirit that the Church invites the world to partake of. The Church continues to echo the words of Saint Paul, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with all of you.” (2 Corinthians 13:13) These words summarize this whole packet. We are called to the Trinitarian life, to experience the love of God, the grace of Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
 
These words are said at the very beginning of our most important prayer, the Mass. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” [3] This love of God, grace of Jesus and communion of the Holy Spirit is shared in many ways. This sharing includes the unlimited gifts of Grace, including the Sacraments, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The greatest of these gifts is the Mass, in which we receive our Groom, Jesus Christ not just spiritually but physically in the Eucharist.

Do we believe that it is a blessing to go to Mass? Do we feel honored to be invited to Mass? The Mass is the wedding feast, which the Father gave the Son and at which the Son and bride unite. At the Mass we say, “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” [4] Do we believe this? If we do believe this we will be willing to give all in order to call other to this supper.
 
When does the wedding feast take place? The catechism says that it takes place “this day” the “this day” that we pray in the Our Father when we say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” “This day is the Day of the Lord, the day of the feast of the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the foretaste of the kingdom to come. For this reason it is fitting for the Eucharistic liturgy to be celebrated each day.” [5] It is also fitting that the feast of the kingdom is not only offered each day, but until the end of time so that the “hall” spoke of in the Gospel is open in many guests. The Mass is not only our portal into becoming the bride of Christ; it is also our portal to Heaven. A portal is a door. It is if at Mass the door is slightly opened and we peer through the crack in the door to the greatness within. We are with the Angels and Saints we experience a foretaste of heaven. This is why we pray, “And so, with the Angels and all the Saints we declare your glory, as with one voice we acclaim: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” [6]
 
How does the Mass help us to evangelize? In the following Eucharistic Prayer we say that we believe that Mass is the “saving banquet.” It is a banquet that we take seriously for the salvation of our souls and invite others to for the salvation of their soul. We also ask to be endowed with the Holy Spirit so that we will not be estranged or separated but united in communion with God and with our neighbor. It is the Mass that gives us the Grace necessary to love God and to love our neighbor. Not only is the Mass a “saving banquet” but it is also called the “unending banquet of unity.” The Mass saves and unites.
 
“Holy Father, we humbly beseech you to accept us also, together with your Son, and in this saving banquet graciously to endow us with his very Spirit, who takes away everything that estranges us from one another. May he make your Church a sign of unity and an instrument of your peace among all people and may he keep us in communion with N. our Pope and N. our Bishop and all the Bishops and your entire people. Just as you have gathered us now at the table of your Son, so also bring us together, with the glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with your blessed Apostles and all the Saints, with our brothers and sisters and those of every race and tongue who have died in your friendship. Bring us to share with them the unending banquet of unity in a new heaven and a new earth, where the fullness of your peace will shine forth in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [7]
 
Is the Mass inviting? What is it inviting us to do? The very first part of Mass is called the Introductory Rite. In this Rite there are five parts. These five parts are a template of our prayer and get us ready to properly enter into the mystery of the Mass. The Introductory Rite takes about ten minutes and many times it may fly by or we may miss it if we are “running late.” We can’t overlook the important of these first ten minutes of the Mass. We can remember the different types of prayer, by remembering the word A.C.T.S. In prayer we adore, ask for contrition, give thanksgiving and ask our needs (supplication). All of these types of prayer are introduced within the Introductory Rite.

The Sign of the Cross
We begin our prayer, with a prayer. The Sign of the Cross is an act of Adoration of the Blessed Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are already acknowledging that we are in need of the love of God, the saving grace of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It is a reminder that we need to offer to God our thoughts (hand touches our head), words (hand touches our heart) and actions (hand touches our shoulders).

Greeting - The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
The priest (standing in the person of Christ) and the people (who are the Bride of Christ) greet and affirm each other’s role. In this first exchange the groom and bride are meeting at the wedding feast. The groom says, “The Lord be with you.” Because the Lord is with us, we are called. We are called to enter into the love and mystery of God and we are called to say yes to His will. The angel Gabriel greets Mary saying, “The Lord is with you.” The bride says back to the groom, “And with your spirit.” The bride is affirming the activity and power of the Holy Spirit at work within the Sacrament of the Priesthood. It is the priest, completely robed that “puts on Christ.” This greeting affirms the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation (The Lord is with you) and Holy Orders (and with your Spirit).

Confiteor and Kyrie – Contrition
In the Confiteor, we humble our self before God and acknowledge that although we are called to this feast we are not worthy to be present. We echo the words of the Gospel, “The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come.” We are invited but not worthy. What is the difference between those at Mass and those who ignore the invitation “and went away, one to his farm, another to his business”? Both groups are invited and both groups are unworthy. Only one group however accepts the invitation and admits they are unworthy and in need of mercy. It is at the Confiteor and Kyrie that we ask for contrition, saying we are unworthy and then begging for God’s Divine Mercy.

Gloria – Adoration and Thanksgiving
After expressing our contrition and asking for God’s mercy the Church explodes with the joyous Gloria, a prayer that we exclude during the penitential season of lent and during daily Masses. This Gloria is only sung during solemnities on weekdays and on Sundays outside of Lent. We sing the Gloria with an attitude of Adoration and Thanksgiving for what God has done for us. We once again return to the Blessed Trinity, in thanksgiving for the love of the Father, the saving Grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The Gloria gives adoration and thanksgiving to each person of the Blessed Trinity a praise that we will later proclaim in the Creed, which is also Trinitarian.
 
Collect – Supplication
The Priest then says, “Let us pray.” It is this prayer, often called the “opening prayer” that is properly called the “collect” because it collects the prayers of all the people. The priest collects these prayers and offers them to the Father. The Collect addresses the first person of the Trinity, God the Father. This collect, in which the prayers of the faithful are collected and offered to the Father, will be seen again in the offertory, when the gifts of the faithful are collected and offered to the Father through the Son.

Not only does the Divine Liturgy (the Mass) open with this adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication, but also the Liturgy of the Hours opens with the same prayers. The Liturgy of the Hours begins each day with the Invitatory (Psalm 95). This Psalm gives adoration (Come let us bow down and worship, bending the knee before the Lord, our maker). It gives thanksgiving (Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving). It expresses contrition as we are reminded to “not grow stubborn, as your fathers did in the wilderness.” We also ask for the help, that our hearts don’t go astray and that we can know God’s ways and ultimately enter into His rest.

[1] See Catholicism Episode Three (Outline VII)
[2] Saint Therese the Little Flower
[3] The Order of the Mass (Introductory Rite)
[4] The Order of the Mass (Communion Rite)
[5] Catechism of the Catholic Church; Section 2837
[6] The Order of the Mass (Eucharistic Prayer II)
[7] The Order of the Mass (Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II)