Sunday Reflection with Fr Terry Tastard - 9 October 2011

A wedding is a most sociable occasion. Everybody puts on their glad rags. There is an atmosphere of anticipation as they look forward to the moving moments of the ceremony, the reception with the glass that cheers, the joshing and joking of the toasts, and the dancing. A wedding, as we hear in today's parable, is one of the images that Jesus gives us of the kingdom of God. This tells us that the kingdom is something that we share with others, it draws us into a deeper communal life. So a lively church, to reflect the kingdom of God, will have to have moments of jollity, of shared enjoyment, in which neighbours in the pews get to know each other through conviviality. It is a tiny glimpse of heaven, where all will belong and all will share the joy of God's perfect love shining on them.

There is more, though, about a wedding. In a cynical world a wedding is a sign of hope. The couple may be quite realistic about each other but they still set out with high hopes. They hope to be blessed with children, to provide for them and to be the best of parents. They will create a home, and support and encourage each other, as they make their way through life.

They will share all that life brings. And so every wedding defies the doom-mongers by saying that in the end, love and commitment will win the day. In this creative love we have an image of the kingdom.

If a wedding is marred by family tensions or rivalries we count that a very sad thing indeed, because it should be an occasion when all differences are set aside. Indeed, sometimes in history divisions have been healed by a dynastic wedding. So too in the kingdom of God those who share faith should also share a deep goodwill, and a desire for reconciliation. Christians are quite realistic about the world. They know about sorrow as much as anybody else, and they know that human beings can be seriously flawed. Yet it is Christian to believe in new possibilities. While God is at work in us and among us, the story is still open to new and better endings. Just as every wedding is a new beginning, so every Christian conversion, every moment of starting out again, every Mass even, is a new beginning. The kingdom of God encourages us to seek what God is making possible.

We wonder why more people do not join us in wanting to live the kingdom. As the parable makes clear, even Jesus was surprised at this in his day. Perhaps today people are too disillusioned. They may be disappointed by the Church, disillusioned with themselves, or despairing about the state of the world. Yet every wedding reminds us that we are not alone, that there is still cause for joy, that there is hope and new beginnings. In this renewal of hope, human spirits lift once again and light shines more brightly. I have a high intolerance of clichés and I once rebuked a priest friend who quoted in a sermon the saying that 'It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.' But thinking about it, I realize that he was right. In dark times many people of faith light many candles, and in the enormous glow of their shared light the darkness is dispelled. Every Easter we celebrate Christ our light. In that light we celebrate the kingdom of God who turns the whole world into a wedding as he shows through Christ how he will always hold us in steadfast love.

Fr Terry is parish priest at St Mary's in Finchley East. Fr Terry's latest book: Ronald Knox and English Catholicism is published by Gracewing at £12.99 and is available on Amazon, on ICN's front page. To read Sr Gemma Simmonds' review on ICN see: www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16114