Today's passage from Matthew's Gospel is always a puzzle. Two probably unrelated parables are now conjoined together because of a similar theme, a wedding feast, and their conjunction raises many questions.

Our purpose in these reflections is never to solve Biblical problems but to listen to the messages which Scripture proposes for our spiritual formation. Let us, then, try to see the main points which Jesus seems to be making.

In the first part, all the invited guests make excuses for not coming to the wedding banquet. They had been invited but they were no longer willing to accept the invitation. Through Baptism and our life of faith we have been invited to receive great graces and inspirations from God. Let us reflect whether or not we are constantly attentive to these inspirations and respond to God's gracious invitations. Let nothing ever come between us and God.

In the second part, a man received a sudden unanticipated invitation. There was no way in which he could prepare and so he forfeited the grace of that moment. By a lack of spiritual alertness and depth we may be in danger of being unprepared to respond to God's surprises and so forfeit his unanticipated graces.