Dear friends,

Africans love feasts!

We love wedding feasts, ordination celebrations, anniversaries, birthdays, graduations, and memorials. Whenever there is something important to celebrate, we know how to celebrate it-and we do not like to celebrate alone!

The more prominent or wealthier the person celebrating, the bigger the feast is likely to be and it may last weeks. Invitations may have been carefully printed and distributed, but there is one thing you can almost never predict: how many people will actually show up.

I experienced this during my recent anniversary celebration in Uganda: We printed only 150 invitation cards, but more than 1000 people showed up! Nobody seemed concerned about whether they had received an invitation. They came to celebrate, eat, drink, laugh, visit, and dance, and share in the joy of the occasion. For three days we celebrated together, and everyone had a wonderful time.

That experience came to my mind as I reflected on this weekend's readings because both Isaiah and Jesus use the image of a feast to describe the kingdom of God. But this is a feast unlike any earthly feast. It is a Feast prepared by God Himself!

Isaiah gives us a beautiful vision: "On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines." Imagine that! God himself is preparing a feast not for a select few, but "for all peoples."

At this banquet, God will wipe away every tear and destroy death forever. Those who have trusted in him will finally experience the fullness of salvation. This is God's dream for humanity. How wonderful

Jesus takes this image even further in today's Gospel. He compares the kingdom of heaven to a king who prepares a wedding feast for his son. The invitations have been sent. The food is ready. Everything is prepared. Only one thing is missing: the guests.

The king sends his servants to announce that the banquet is ready. But, unlike us Africans, those who were invited refuse to come! Some ignore the invitation. Others are too busy with their farms and businesses. Still others mistreat the king's messengers. What is wrong with those people?

Finally, the king tells his servants to go into the streets and invite everyone they can find. The servants gather everyone: the good and the bad, the rich and the poor, the respected and the forgotten. The banquet hall becomes full. What a beautiful revelation about God's kingdom: God's invitation is wider than ours.

We often decide who belongs and who does not. We put people into categories and determine who is worthy of our attention. But God says: "Invite them all" because His table is bigger than ours. He invites us to the Eucharistic table.

The Eucharist reminds us that the kingdom of God is not merely something waiting for us after death. Every time we gather around the altar, we receive a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. In that sense, the Mass is more than an obligation; it is an invitation. Christ says to us: "Come. The banquet is ready."

My anniversary celebration reminded me how much people love a feast. More than 1000 people came when only 150 invitations had been printed because people wanted to be part of the celebration. But every earthly feast eventually ends. The tables are cleared, the music stops and the guests go home. However, the feast Jesus promises is different: That feast never ends.

So, as you go through this week, remember:

The invitation has already been sent.
The table is set.
The feast is coming.

Make sure you are dressed for it. Because in the end, the most important invitation we will ever receive is the one that leads us home to God. Amen!

I love you!

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