Happy Thanksgiving Weekend.

The first reading is about the great feast on the Lord's holy mountain. A place of rich food and well-aged wines. A place where death is destroyed forever. A place where God is with his people. A place of Peace and Joy. This is what God desires for us.

The Parable in the Gospel is addressed to the Chief Priests and the Pharisees Jesus is explaining how the Prophecy of Isaiah from the first reading will be fulfilled in the great wedding banquet for the King's Son.  When those invited by God to the wedding banquet refuse, then all are invited. This is the great banquet that brings together everyone from every walk of life. 

While we will experience this in its fulness in the heavenly kingdom, as members of the kingdom of God we get a foretaste of the great feast in the celebration of the Eucharist. This is the wedding banquet of the Son, where the church is the Bride of Christ. Whereas the husband and wife become one in the sacrament of marriage, in the wedding banquet of the Son we become one with Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the intimate relationship God desires with each of us.

The word Eucharist means Thanksgiving. We give thanks for all of our blessings - family, friends, nature, beauty, love and most importantly that we have been invited to the wedding banquet where we become one with Jesus. Why? So we may go and make him present in this world. While this is an overwhelming task, with confidence we can say with St. Paul from the second reading  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  

For this we give thanks!!!