Mary Our Queen, Wedding Garment, Upcoming Trip

Saint Vigilius of Trent and his companions

A week ago we discussed how our Lady, inseparable from Christ during their pilgrim lives, remains inseparable from Him in His life of glory.

In the parable in today’s gospel at Mass, we hear the Lord describe the life of glory as a banquet. Everyone receives an invitation, the bad as well as the good. At Sunday Mass, we will hear Him use the same image: heaven is a banquet. All are invited. But not all wind up inside.

In the parable we hear today, the king expels from the banquet someone without a ‘wedding garment.’

What does He mean? To understand, let’s contrast the improperly dressed man with the one who wears the consummate wedding garment, the queen herself.

Our Lady wears the necessary wedding garment: Faith, hope, and love. Humility, prudence, courage. Patient perseverance.

The interior garment of grace.

Mary received the garment when her parents miraculously conceived her without the stain of original sin. She wore it throughout her pilgrim life, making it more and more beautiful with every act of love.

We receive the garment in Holy Baptism. We lose it when we sin gravely. But we can put it back on again, by confessing our sins to a priest.

…In ten days I will depart on a little pilgrimage to the ancient city of Trent, in northern Italy. Five centuries ago, some of the bishops of the world met there to try to reach an agreement about disputed points.

Like: Grace. Baptism and all the sacraments. Having images of our Lady, and other saints, in our churches. Many other things, too, including: the discipline of bishops and priests.

Trent lies “on the border,” so to speak, between Italy and the German-speaking world. They held the ecumenical council in Trent so the bishops could meet in a neutral place, between Rome and Martin Luther.

I will have much more to tell you about this, of course. I will pray for you at the tomb of the martyr St. Vigilius, ancient patron of Trent. Not to mention the fact that, on my trip, I will pray for you at the tombs of St. Charles Borromeo in Milan and my baptismal patron, St. Mark, in Venice. (You can hardly go all the way to Trent and not go to Venice also, after all 🙂 )

Pray for me, too, please.