The Feast of Life

There are two great pleasures in life. One of them is eating delicious food the other the emotional, physical, and spiritual communion of two lovers. So, it is no wonder that it is the Marriage Feast that is used to symbolise the superlative, spiritual experience of communion with God. It is an auspicious, euphoric time. It is so sad when communion with God is projected into a future experience, Pie in the sky by and by.  This is especially upsetting for the poor and disadvantaged of the world. So often, for the suffering and poor ‘religion’ a drug, an “opiate of the people” (Karl Marx), stopping them from questioning why is there no banquet now and causing them to accept their lot, their predestined place in the world. Thus, this most wonderful experience has become a tool of oppression. This is NOT the meaning of the parable. The wedding feast is NOW. We are being invited NOW. Unfortunately, sometimes we get distracted by what we think are the important things i.e. work and making money or even securing a nice house, which means we miss the FEAST. The FEAST is found in the sharing or God’s abundance not in things or activities but in real communion with God in creation and other humans. God is not in some faraway place called Heaven waiting for us to arrive for a heavenly banquet. God is here. God is now. The banquet is laid out before us. Bog in!