The Heavenly Wedding Feast

New Year’s Eve is supposed to be one of the most anticipated nights of the year. Whether you're out on the town, or enjoying an intimate New Year’s party at home, people all around the world will be trying to ring in the New Year. However, you can’t have the perfect New Year’s if you can’t manage to stay awake long enough to make it to midnight. Stay awake and be ready! For you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

The Gospel is from St. Matthew 25:1-13. Our Lord described an incident that happened at a wedding festival in order to bring home to his listeners the need for being ever vigilant and ready in his service. The main lesson of the parable has to do with the need to be alert: in practice, this meaning living out our faith. The vigilance should be continuous and be persistent, because the devil is forever after us, prowling around “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Are you ready? How are you preparing yourself for the heavenly wedding feast? Are you fully aware of what is happening? These questions should be on our minds, in our hearts and on our lips. As Catholics the road to heaven starts on receiving the sacrament of baptism, and will end on our deathbed. For our souls will thirst for you O Lord.

You don’t have to wait for the New Year to change. Change must start now while we are alive, living our faith, our life and not fall asleep to sin” “Behold the bridegroom! Come to meet him.” The moment will be, first, at the hour of our death for each of us when each fate will be decided, and again on the last day of judgement of the human race. During our lifetime we are continuously invited to the heavenly wedding, and are blessed to have God’s grace in our lives. But like the foolish man waiting for the new year, many will not stay awake or make use of God’s gift, and will realize their mistakes when its too late. Sad, but true.

If we are to be followers of Jesus, we need to let him lead, accepting that he will not lead us away from suffering, pain, or difficulty. Instead of seeking our own benefit and gain, we allow every experience-even in moments of distress-to draw us closer to our heavenly banquet with Jesus who invites us to lay our burdens on his shoulders. I pray that I may never fall asleep while waiting for the Bridegroom to come.

Mary, Queen of Heaven, pray for us!

St. Bernard of Clairvaux