Get Dressed
In Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 22: 1-14) we read a story about a wedding banquet. In it there is a man who was invited but who was not wearing the right clothes. The king didn't just giggle and ask him where he was from but threw him out. All of us are invited to the wedding banquet. If we accept the invitation, we need to make sure we are wearing the right clothes. And Jesus isn’t talking about jeans, t-shirts, shorts, or flip flops, but our wedding garment. So, what is the wedding garment?
According to St. Augustine, the wedding garment in the story is charity or love. It’s a theological virtue which is something God gives us free of charge, and just like we have a choice to respond to God's invitation to attend this wedding banquet, we must also choose to accept and practice this virtue, to put on our garment. It's as if the man in the story was given a free garment to wear, but in his case, he refused.
In first Corinthians, St. Paul tells us what our wedding garment looks like. It looks like you when you patiently listen to someone who just needs to be heard. It looks like you when you treat somebody who is having a hard day with kindness. It looks like you when you trust that God has everything under control. It looks like you when you take the time to put the needs of another before the needs of your own. It looks like you when you help to bring a sense of calm into a stressful situation. It looks like you when you forgive someone who has hurt you. Our wedding garment is patience, kindness, trust, humility, calmness, forgiveness, and selflessness. Without our garment, without this charity, without this love, Paul tells us we are nothing.
Wearing your garment, practicing this virtue, choosing a loving action toward somebody, especially when it may be difficult, shows God’s spirit in you.
It leads to your commitment to be for another. It brings you and those around you closer together and leads to living differently. You create a bright light that helps dispel the darkness in the world.
If the condition of your wedding garment is a little tattered and dirty, God offers you a new one today. It’s up to you to receive it from him and choose to put it on.