Into the Deep

“Weddings”
 
   Six weddings in eight weeks, between August 23 and October 11, marked this year’s streak at St. Leo. A tremendous joy. The celebration of marriage in a parish is a sign of life and hope. The fact that, following the calling God has placed in our hearts, there are men and women who wish to take this step toward a commitment of unity and fidelity “until death do us part”, and who wish to do so in the presence of God, fills us all with joy. Not everything in this world is selfishness and fear. Being part of this rite, witnessing the couple’s “I do,” and the celebration that follows, is a great honor and grace. We all know the time and preparation that goes into a wedding. And among all the decisions leading up to this ceremony, there is one that is never easy: choosing the guests. On the one hand, it’s wonderful to have as many people as possible; on the other hand, you want each person’s presence to be meaningful. The size of the church, the cost of the reception, the attention the couple can give to those around them, and various family commitments among many more factors all make inviting acquaintances, friends, and family to the wedding a delicate process: a true art!
   A wedding and a wedding feast provide the backdrop for this Sunday’s Gospel. And not just any wedding, but a royal wedding! One might think that, then as now, being invited to such a grand event is an occasion reserved only for the privileged and should bring great joy. But the Gospel paints a very different picture: not only do several of the guests ignore their duties of gratitude and obedience, but some even react violently and disproportionately against the innocent servants who were carrying out their joyful mission. Resentment and envy were most certainly the motives behind their actions.
   The theme of the wedding and the banquet is not merely a powerful example, among other possible ones, used by our Lord to illustrate the ingratitude of the guests (the Jewish authorities) who reject the invitation (salvation), attack the messengers (the prophets), and cause the celebration to be opened to unexpected guests (sinners and Gentiles). There is a deeper theme: the son in the parable is Christ himself, and the wedding is a real wedding. The bride is the Church: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Eph 5:25-27)
   Here Saint Paul exhorts    the Ephesians, husbands and wives, to love each other and be subjected to one another as Christ and the Church are to each other. And concludes this passage about marriage with the words: “This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church. In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.” (vv. 32-33) Also to the Corinthians he reminded that “I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” (1 Cor 11:2) And the celebration takes place in Heaven: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding day of the Lamb has come, his bride has made herself ready. She was allowed to wear a bright, clean linen garment […] Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These words are true; they come from God.”” (Rev 19:7-9)
   All this was already foreshadowed in the Old Covenant like when the prophet Isaiah announced: “As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.” (Is 62:5). And in today’s first reading, as the promised heavenly feast takes place at the end of time, “he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples” (Is 25: 7) which reminds us of the veil that, covering the face of the bride, is removed at the wedding ceremony symbolizing the perfect communion the couple enters into. The entire plan of God for creation and redemption is no other than this: that we have a perfect intimate union with Christ like a husband and a wife are called to have.
   Herein lies the importance that both God and the Church place on the sacrament of marriage. Like every sacrament, marriage is a visible and effective sign of an invisible spiritual reality. It bestows the grace it signifies. The Catechism summarizes it: “The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life” (CCC #1661). We will explore this grace during this month.
   Blessings,
Fr. Javier Nieva, DCJM

Previous Letters:

October 4, 2026: Peacemakers With Mary!
September 27, 2026: It is Not Fair!
September 20, 2026: The Joy and Presence of the Lord
September 13, 2026: I Will Never Forget You
September 6, 2026: Mercy That Excludes
August 30, 2026: Thirst and Fire
August 23,2026: Delegation
August 16, 2026: Great is Your Faith
August 9, 2026: Why Did You Doubt?
August 2, 2026: Grace
July 26, 2026: Treasures
July 19, 2026: Weeds and the Problem of Evil
July 12, 2026: The Soil
July 5, 2026: We Hold These Truths
June 28, 2026: Eyesight
June 21, 2026: Provider
June 14, 2026: Ordinary
June 7, 2026: Salvation Has Come to This House
May 31, 2026: Why Three?
May 24, 2026: Fruits
May 17, 2026: For Greater Glory
May 10, 2026: Orphans?
May 3, 2026: A Good Shepherd II
April 26, 2026: A Good Shepherd
April, 19, 2026: Necessary
April 12, 2026: Merciful Patience!
April 5, 2026: Breaking News!
March 29, 2026: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
March 22, 2026: Lord of the Dead and the Living
March 15, 2026: Light and Darkness
March 8, 2026: Thirst and Desire
March 1, 2026: Transfigured
February 22, 2026: The Law of Freedom
February 15, 2026: In Defense of Marriage
February 8, 2026: Salt and Light
February 1, 2026: Poor Who Enrich
January 25, 2026: Catholic School Education
January 18, 2026: Humbled and Exalted
January 11, 2026: Born and Reborn
January 4, 2026: What’s the Price of a Mass?
December 28, 2025: Families Serving Families
December 21, 2025: Decisions
December 14, 2025: Make Firm
December 7, 2025: Hope and Justice
November 30, 2025: Armor of Light
November 23, 2025: Behold Your King
November 16, 2025: Remember Your Dignity
November 9, 2025: St. Leo and the Cross of Christ
November 2, 2025; Dying in Christ
October 26, 2025: Forgive Us
October 19, 2025: Pray For Us
October 12, 2025: Pillar of Faith
October, 5, 2025: Compendium of the Gospel
September 28, 2025: Failed to Do
September 21, 2025: An Enemy Did This
September 14, 2025: In Hoc Signo
September 7, 2025: My Son Carlo
August 31, 2025: Humility?
August 24, 2025: How Difficult?
August 17, 2025: Politically Incorrect
August 10, 2025: Got Faith?
August 3, 2025: Greed
July 27, 2025: Ask and You Shall Receive
July 20, 2025: The Better Part
July 13, 2025: Who is the Samaritan
July 6, 2025: Joy and Spoons
June 29, 2025: In Fire
June 22, 2025: A Beating Heart in the Tabernacle
June 15, 2025: The Mirror
June 8, 2025: Filled With the Holy Spirit
June 1, 2025: He Loved Us
May 25, 2025: Servant of Your Faith and Joy
May 18, 2025: Leo
May 11, 2025: The Deposit of Faith
May 4, 2025: Costly Mercy
April 27, 2025: Who is Peter?
April 20, 2025: I Make All Things New – Arise!
April 13, 2025: I Make All Things New – To Do My Penance
April 6, 2025: I Make All Things New – I Declared My Sin to You
March 30, 2025: I Make All Things New – I Firmly Resolve
March 23 2025: I Make All Things New –  I am Sorry for Offending You
March 16, 2025: I Make All Things New –  Examining Your Conscience
March 9, 2025: I Make All Things New
March 2, 2025: Pruning
February 23, 2025: The Anointed of the Lord
February 16, 2025: Be My Valentine
February 9, 2025: Wash Away My Guilt II
February 2, 2025: Wash Away My Guilt I
January 26, 2025: Catholic Education
January 19, 2025: Shall Marry You
January 12, 2025: Called by Name
January 5, 2025: Pilgrims of Hope
December 29, 2024: Priests for the Family
December 22, 2024: Messengers of Joy
December 15, 2024: Blessed Are the Poor
December 8, 2024: Love, Hope and Joy
December 1, 2024: Hope Does Not Disappoint
November 24, 2024: Are You King?
November 17, 2024: Seven Words
November 10, 2024: Tu es Petrus
November 3, 2024: Pray For Those Authority
October 27, 2024: These Are the Feasts
October 20, 2024: Someone Else
October 13, 2024: Be Prudent
October 6, 2024: Project and Dreams II
September 29, 2024: Projects and Dreams I
September 22, 2024: Pastor
September 15, 2024: Take Up Your Cross
September 8, 2024: Guardians of Shared Memory
September 1, 2024: From Their Hearts
August 25, 2024: The Cost of Discipleship
August 18, 2024: For Real?
August 11, 2024: Too Long For You
August 4, 2024: A New Manna
July 28, 2024: Bread of Life
July 21, 2024: Shepherds After My Own Heart
July 14, 2024: Woe to Me…
July 7, 2024: Come and Rest (II)
June 30, 2024: Come and Rest (I)
June 23, 2024: Storms
June 16, 2024: I Will be a Father to You
June 9, 2024: Burning Furnace of Love
June 2, 2024: In the Midst of Him
May 26, 2024: Forever I Will Sing the Goodness of the Lord
May 19, 2024: Through the Holy Spirit
May 12, 2024: The Ark of the Covenant
May 5, 2024: Source and Summit
April 28, 2024: Rejoice Always
April 21, 2024: I Believe in the resurrection of the body Part II
April 14, 2024: I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body Part 1
April 7, 2024: Rich in Mercy
March 31, 2024: Sine Dominico Non Possumus About Sunday
February 11, 2024: I Was Ill and You Cared For Me
February 4, 2024: Why Evil?
January 28, 2024: Catholic Schools Week
January 21, 2024: Attachments
January 14, 2024: The LORD Shines
January 7, 2024: Epiphany 2024
December 31, 2023: A Family of Families
December 25, 2023: New Beginnings
December 17, 2023: Christmas
December 3, 2023: Watch
November 26, 2023: Be Healed
November 19, 2023: Sealed
November 12, 2023: Religious?