Come to the banquet!

A lieutenant thought he was calling the mess hall, as a sleepy voice answered the phone saying, “Yeah, whaddaya want?”

The lieutenant, a bit of a pompous man, replied, “That’s no way to answer the phone when an officer calls, now let’s start over. Pretend I just called you.”

The voice on the other end said, “Ok. This is the Captain’s cabin, and this is the Captain speaking!”

Sometimes we think we are pretty much of a big wheel, until someone else takes us down a few notches. All of our readings today invite us to a feast. Isaiah, in the first reading, gives us an image of a rich banquet, with juicy rich foods and pure, choice wines. Only the very best will be provided on the Lord’s mountain for all people. He also will remove the blindness that keeps us from recognizing and forgiving and loving all as brothers and sisters in the Lord.

In the Gospel, Jesus uses a metaphor of a wedding to express a similar banquet, given by the Prophet Isaiah. All have been invited to gather at the feast, but there have been excuses and refusals. As a result of this behavior, even more extensive invitations have canvassed the territory, and now even the outcasts of society are invited, as long as they put on the wedding garment offered them. We should not be proud or pompous, but humbled by the challenge to know there is plenty of food on this planet for all to eat.

We must be open to sharing it with those in distress and need and know it is all a gift from the Lord. We all can get pompous, have excuses and reasons not to be virtuous and caring, but we must hear the daily call of a follower of Jesus — to pray the Our Father and put it into action.

The Our Father will put the right garment on us to begin and act that day as we put on Christ, and clothed in Him become the face, hands and feet of Jesus for others. We are all called to be generous and welcoming as we are God’s ambassadors now, inviting all to the feast. As we celebrate Columbus Day and now this year called Indigenous People Day, we call and assist all to come to the banquet table of the Lord, here and in eternal life.

We put on Christ when we reach out and sacrifice our own desires and share in a loving way with others. Each day with all of the issues of our time, must have a banquet at the end to help us meet the challenges, physical, mental and spiritual that come our way.

When it seems difficult to be open to others and almost impossible to forgive, forget and love think of the story about a group of very intelligent ecologists, engineers, scientists and biologists who thought they had found the secrets to life.

They called up to God to come on down and discuss the results with them. God responded and came down. They showed God all they had done, and their great success. He acknowledged their success, but stated, “I want you to know, you still must know: I am the Creator of life from a handful of dirt.”

They all responded, “So can we!” and they bent down and began to pick up some dirt.

God responded, “Not so fast! Wait a minute and create your own dirt!”

FATHER ROBERT TUCKER