By Msgr. Joseph Prior • Posted October 9, 2026

(See the readings for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Thanksgiving is a little over a month away but people are preparing. The annual celebration is the most traveled season in the United States. Many families are preparing for reunions with loved ones who live near and far. Traditions like local football games, parades, and parties are all being organized. The Thanksgiving meal itself full of family tradition will be prepared and readied for Thanksgiving night. So much joy surrounds this week; even the preparations are filled with anticipation and excitement. Then when all gather at table on November 27, all will feast.

The feast is a wonderful way of speaking of the Thanksgiving meal. The main ingredient isn’t the turkey or stuffing or cranberry sauce or any other food. It is the gathering of family and friends. The purpose is to gather with our loved ones and to give thanks to God for this gift and we celebrate this feast by sharing food and drink, stories and memories, joys and sorrows.

The image of a feast is prominent in the readings for today’s liturgy. Isaiah vividly describes God’s promised feast. He begins with location, on His holy mountain. The mountain is a place of encounter. God the high and almighty meets His people on the mountain. He prepares a place high above all others. He invites people to come “up” from the cares and anxieties of everyday life to encounter Him there.

On that mountain there is a feast prepared. Isaiah describes it in brilliant, vivid and enticing terms: “a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.” He notes that God will invite all peoples of all nations to this feast. No longer will political or geographic divisions separate His people, they will all be invited and welcomed.  What’s more is that in this feast death, which haunts every living being, will be destroyed. All will be given a share in His eternal life.

The responsorial psalm today is perhaps the most popular of all the psalms, Psalm 23. The psalm begins: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The Lord is not only the one who prepares the feast, He is the one who invites us and leads us to that feast. Our participation in the feast is made possible through Jesus. Through Him, who is both the “Good Shepherd,” and “the way, the truth and the life,” we find our entry.

The Gospel passage for today’s liturgy recalls another parable of Jesus. Here the Kingdom of God is likened to a feast, a wedding feast. The King sends out messengers with the invitation but many reject the offer. In this sense the parable is similar to last weeks passage. These messengers can be likened to the prophets of old whose invitation to life whether it be through encouragement, correction or counsel was, by many, rejected or ignored. Jesus’ use of this image certainly applies to himself as it did more directly last week when the landowner’s son was involved. As many of the original guests rejected the invitation, the King opens up the invitation to everyone.

The image points to the universal nature of Christ’s mission, not to the Jewish people alone but to the Gentiles as well. All now are invited.

The mention of those who enter without the proper “wedding garment” may need some clarification. What is this a reference to? By our standards there are certain events which require a generally accepted form of behavior. If we are invited to a wedding banquet today, even in our highly informal culture, we are expected to dress properly. If we come to the feast in shorts and a tank top not only will we look silly, we would most likely cause offense to the hosts who would think we are not honoring the seriousness of the occasion. It would have a similar impact in Jesus’ time.

The “wedding garment” also has a related symbolic value, it seems to represent God’s way of life as described through the law and through Jesus’ teaching and example. Entering the feast, or the Kingdom of God, entails a preparation on our behalf. Our response to the invitation is living as Jesus teaches us to live. This is, so to speak, dressing ourselves appropriately for the occasion. In other words, putting on the “wedding garment.”

So the invitation to the wedding feast entails an appropriate response. It is as if the one’s coming to the feast with inappropriate dress are trying to enter the feast on their own terms. In doing so they fail to respect that the invitation is a gift. Rather than receiving the gift, they try to take it on their own. This attitude is devastating as it fails ultimately to recognize the love that is being offered through the invitation itself.

A feast is a wonderful way to image the life that the Father offers us through Christ Jesus. In a real way we are already feasting. At Thanksgiving we offer thanks for the opportunity to gather and enjoy family and friends (as well as all the other blessings in life) but the relationships we celebrate are not just when we are together, they exist beyond a particular moment of gathering.

The same is true for our life in the Kingdom, through the Sacraments we enter into the mystery of divine life, we enter into the Kingdom. Surely there is an anticipation of that future gathering which fills us with hope in eternal life, but we already have a share now. Perhaps hearing Jesus’ parable today is a call to recognize the magnitude of the invitation, to grateful for it and to continue our response, our “yes,” by following the Good Shepherd and walking in His Way.

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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of St. Dorothy Parish in Drexel Hill and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Read more reflections by Msgr. Prior here.