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October 11, 2026
Every Sunday, Bishop Edward Malesic writes a Scripture reflection for the faithful. Follow the bishop on Facebook and Instagram.
Click here for the readings.
We sometimes see signs outside restaurants that read, “No shirt. No shoes. No service.” In other words, proper attire is required.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the story of a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. After many invited guests refused to come, the king opened the banquet to others. One man accepted the invitation but arrived without a wedding garment.
The king asked him, “My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?” Because the man had no answer, he was cast “into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
In this parable, the wedding feast represents the union of Christ, the Bridegroom, with his bride, the Church. We have been invited to share in that joyful celebration. The Eucharist gives us a foretaste of the heavenly banquet described by Isaiah as “a feast of rich food and choice wines.”
But accepting the invitation to the banquet is not enough. Proper attire for the feast is required.
The wedding garment is not the clothing we wear on the outside when we come to church. It is something far more important. Some have said that the garment represents our good deeds—a life shaped by Christ’s command to love God and our neighbor.
St. Gregory the Great taught that the wedding garment is charity. The person without it may profess belief and belong outwardly to the Church, yet still lack love within the heart. Faith that does not transform the way we live is like arriving at the feast without the proper garment.
St. Paul describes what we should wear to the banquet: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:12–15).
Ultimately, we must put on Christ. We should strive to resemble him in what we do, in what we say, and even in how we think.
We have been invited to the wedding feast. Let us be clothed in faith, charity, and the love of Christ.
Proper attire is required.
Have a blessed week, everyone.
