CALLED AND CHOSEN

 A SERMON FOR THE 19TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

“Many are called, but few are chosen.”  It’s an expression we’ve heard often enough, but what exactly does it mean?   Many are called, but how many exactly?  The answer is simple enough—every single human being that ever lived or will live is called.  And what are we all called to?  What is this wedding feast to which all men receive an invitation?  It is a wedding feast that extends from this life to the next.  In this life we call this feast the reception of the Holy Eucharist, at which we unite with our God in Holy Communion.  This temporary union will eventually transform into the true wedding feast of life everlasting in which we are united completely, perfectly and forever with our God in heaven.

To this wedding feast we are called, and we are right now attending, ready and prepared to unite our bodies and souls with our Lord at Holy Communion.  To be able to do this we must first have been baptized into the Church Christ founded, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  Unless we are members of this Church we may not receive Holy Communion.  There’s another pre-requisite for receiving Holy Communion and that is to be in the state of grace.  So if we find ourselves in mortal sin we must first confess our sins to a validly ordained Catholic priest and receive absolution for our offences against God.  Once we are Catholics in the state of grace, and have reached the age of reason, there is nothing that should keep us away from Holy Communion.  This is the wedding feast to which the King has invited us and no excuse should keep us away.

If we do refuse the invitation, if we do not regularly receive the Holy Eucharist, that King who invited us, whose feast of Christ the King we will be celebrating in a couple of weeks from now, that same King will be exceeding wroth.  He has every right to be angry—he established the Church for our salvation, and died for our sins that they may be forgiven.  Who are we to refuse these gifts and throw them back in God’s face?  They were given for one reason only, that we may be worthy to receive the Holy Eucharist in this life and be happy with God forever in the next.  If we refuse Communion we are effectively refusing salvation.

This brings us to the second part of our Lord’s statement, that many are called but few are chosen.  Now we know who are called, every single human being.  But which of them are chosen?  We can start by ruling out all those who refuse the invitation, those who for one reason or another reject the call to the wedding feast.  They either refuse the first step, which is to become baptized Catholics, or they commit sins but do not repent of them—they don’t confess them and receive absolution.  They were called but they are not chosen.  They were called—in other words, redeemed by Christ.  But how do they expect to be chosen—saved—if they refuse his Church and his sacraments?  When one of those born-again evangelicals tells you they’re saved, they are doing nothing more but presuming on God’s mercy.  They think they can save their souls even though their belief in Christ and ‘love’ for him does not extend to obeying his commandments. They will not become members of the Church he founded and they will not confess their sins to a priest.  Whether they end up “saved” or not, whether they end up among the chosen, is up to the mercy of God, and it is only through this mercy that there is any hope for them.  He is the final Judge of their souls, and we leave it to him to be both infinitely merciful and infinitely just.

Now what about the rest of us, those who are here today, those who attend Mass, who keep the commandments, who are loyal to the teachings of our Church.  We are called and we came.  But are we chosen?  If we come to Mass in the state of grace and fasting, but refuse to receive Holy Communion, will we  be amongst the chosen.  Our Lord says no.  Being here is not enough.  We must be wearing the proper wedding garment.  This is the wedding garment of humble submission to Christ’s commandment that, though we are still unworthy, we must still eat his Body and drink his Blood.  Yes, O Lord, I am not worthy, that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed.  We’ve done everything we can, we’ve answered the invitation to be baptized into and remain loyal members of the Church, we’ve confessed and been absolved from our sins and are in the state of grace, but we’re still unworthy certainly.  How can we presume then to go up to the communion rail and receive Christ’s holy Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity?  Because we are commanded to do so.  And so, in that final moment before we receive Communion, we humbly submit our unworthiness to God, Domine, non sum dignus, and we ask for his mercy that he will speak the word only and heal our souls.  If we don’t, if we resolutely remain in our pew week after week, we should expect nothing more when the time comes than to be bound hand and foot, to be taken and cast into the outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  If we refuse Christ’s greatest gift, the Blessed Sacrament, we will not be chosen.  We will not save our souls.

So today, we ask ourselves am I called?  Yes.  Most definitely.  Am I chosen?  That’s a different question, which I hope you agree has now been answered.  Called and chosen.  Redeemed and saved.  We are all redeemed.  But we are not all saved.  I may very well have accepted the invitation to the wedding.  I’ve even shown up at the feast.  But am I wearing the wedding garment required for salvation?  Am I ready to receive Holy Communion as a practicing Catholic free from mortal sin?  If not, and I persist in my refusal to receive, or even if I am indifferent to whether I receive or not, either way I stand a very good chance of being singled out to be cast into the outer darkness.  If we don’t want to spend eternity weeping and gnashing our teeth, let’s make sure we do what we have to do, so that we will indeed be chosen for higher things.