Concio LXII Sancti Augustini

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today’s Gospel reading in the Holy Mass is Luke 14:15-24, the Parable of the Large Banquet. A person dining with Jesus says, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.” Jesus then gives the story of a great dinner to which a man invited many. But when the time came for people to attend the banquet, excuse after excuse was given.

The first said to him,

'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it;

I ask you, consider me excused.'

And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen

and am on my way to evaluate them;

I ask you, consider me excused.'

And another said, 'I have just married a woman,

and therefore I cannot come.'

So the master of the house in a rage demanded that the poor, crippled, blind and lame be invited instead. Who however were those declining to come to the feast? St. Augustine tells us in his 62^nd sermon delivered at the Basilica Restitua:

(1) The man who had to examine a field that he had just purchased is the person subjected to the pride of life. The importance of what he does for himself supersedes the importance of attending the great feast of his master.

(2) The man who had just purchased five yoke of oxen is the person who subjected to the lust of the eyes, for the five yoke of oxen represent the five senses: (a) two eyes, (b) two ears, (c) two nostrils, (d) tongue and palate, and (e) skin inside and out.

(3) The man who had just married a woman is the person subjected to the lust of the flesh, for instead of bringing his new wife to the banquet, he must go home to satisfy his conjugal desires.

Here we see what prevents us from sitting at the Eucharistic Table of our Blessed Lord:

The Pride of Life

The Lust of the Eyes

The Lust of the Flesh.

Everyone is invited. Not everyone will however dine with our Lord and Savior.