19th Sunday after Pentecost 19.10.14 All are invited
With the Synod on the Family in recent days there is much discussion about the Catholic Church.
It is said that we are not welcoming insofar as we put restrictions on who is eligible to receive Holy Communion.
We do this because as St Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 11,29 - he who eats unworthily of the body of the Lord will bring harm on himself.
This refers to what we have come to call ‘sacrilegious Communions’, which are themselves another sin on top of the already existing sin.
As far as ‘welcoming’ or being ‘hospitable’ goes should not the host warn the guest if something he reaches out to eat would harm him?
And the Church goes further, in our concern for each person, to warn against sin of every kind. In this we follow Our Lord, who taught that if our hand should cause us to sin we should cut it off, and if our eye, then pluck it out (Mt 5,29). He did not mean it literally but He did mean us to take the lesson that sin is not something we should treat lightly.
This is just the plain Gospel, so if we are to proclaim the Gospel we cannot leave this part out.
We also proclaim the mercy and compassion of Christ. We believe He is merciful but we understand that we must make some effort to break with our sin, and not simply presume on His mercy to cover all the damage we create. He forgave the woman caught in adultery but also told her, Go and sin no more (Jn 8,11).
We exclude no one who has a serious desire to come to eternal life.
Some will have to do certain things before they can receive Holy Communion. If their lives are in a state of mortal sin they must break free from that sin. This requirement is represented in today’s parable by the wedding garment. Everyone is welcome to the banquet but only if they are prepared to keep the rules of the banquet (wear the special garment).
These days many call for full inclusion in the Church but also claim the right to hold different beliefs from the Church. This is not possible. We must be either all in or all out – just as if we were travelling on a boat - and that is an image for the Church.
Everyone is meant to be a member of the Church, which is just another way of saying ‘child of God’ or ‘disciple of Jesus Christ’. We are all called to these things. It is not as though the Church is for some and not others.
We help each other to be ready for the banquet. We are all sinners, so we all need help (cf epistle).
If we sin we do not despair but we work on it, knowing there must be a way free, because it is God’s wish to set us free.
He can help me with whatever my particular problem is. We do not have to be perfect to be here, but at least not defiantly sinful.
The Church does not hate sinners, not even the worst sinners. We wish them to be saved, and we leave the doors open for them to find their way to God.
We will help anyone who wants full communion with the Church to achieve that.
This is as inclusive as it gets. We offer not only full membership but full union with God, and a future place in Heaven.
It is not necessary to change our teaching to be compassionate to sinners; compassion is already in our teaching. The best favour we can do those outside (and inside) the Church is to live by the truth that God has revealed to us. That truth includes mercy and gentleness, so no one will come to any harm. We all stand to gain.
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