"The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way."

“The end result of your life here on earth will always be the sum total of the choices you made while you were here.”

Gospel text (Mt 22,1-14):
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables
saying, “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying,
‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests
he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?’
But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet,
and cast him into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

The parable of the wedding feast is familiar to most of us, and the final line -"Many are invited, but few are chosen" - is probably one of the most quoted from the Bible.

But why are few chosen? After all, God's love is infinite and He wants to extend us mercy, even to the point of having sacrificed his Son in the name of our sins. Many times, I feel like the man at the wedding feast but not appropriately attired. In fact, I think most of us have some version of a dream where we are suddenly at some important event and we feel terribly out of place, not appropriately dressed or in some way embarrassed to be there.

Why is that we (or at least I) have this fear? I think the reason is that we know ourselves well enough to know how many sins we have committed and deep down we (or at least I) often feel unworthy. But I don't think that's what Jesus is trying to say in the parable. We are all in many senses unworthy, but we can make ourselves worthy by coming back to God and accepting his invitation.

As a child I used to dread the sacrament of Reconciliation. But as an adult, I have grown to love it. It's a chance to wash ourselves clean, to become worthy and not be the man at the wedding feast who is inappropriately attired.