St. Theophan the Recluse: What Do We Wear?

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Sunday, September 29 (16), 2024
14th Sunday after Pentecost
2Cor. 1:21-2:4; Mt. 22:1-14                                                     

A king has prepared a wedding feast for his son; he is calling for the guests once and twice, and they would not come because of their daily concerns: someone is busy at his farm, another one with his trade.  The kings invites other guests, and the wedding hall gets full.  But one of those invited refused to wear his wedding garment, and because of that he was cast out [Mt. 22:2-13].

The meaning of this parable is clear. The wedding means the Kingdom of Heaven; calling the guests ─ the preaching of the Gospel.  Those who refused the invitation did not believe in Christ; the one without a wedding garment believed but did not live his faith.

Let everyone find out which group he belongs to.  Obviously, we have been called, but do we believe?  Often enough an unbeliever can be found among believers, masked under their name, but without faith.  Some don’t care about the faith altogether, others are satisfied with random bits and pieces of the faith, yet others corrupt the faith by their own false reasoning, someone might be just hostile to Christ, ─ and still all of them are counted among the Christians, even though they have nothing to do with Christianity.

If you believe ─ then you have to carefully check, whether or not your mindset and your conduct are in accordance with your faith; in other words, whether or not you are wearing the wedding garment which the Lord wants you to wear.  You might have good knowledge of faith and be interested in religion ─ yet in your life remain a slave of evil passions, that is, wear shameful garment of a sinful soul.  This is duplicity: saying “O Lord, O Lord”, while in fact meaning “Have me excused!”.  So, think about yourself: do you have faith?  do you wear the wedding garment? or do you wear vile rags of sins and passions?

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