Deacon Mike Meyer / Sunday, October 11, 2026 / Categories: Blog, Homilies The Salvation of our Souls Homily for the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary TIme, Year A Thanks be to God, our deacon candidate, Michael Piotrowski, was installed in the Ministry of Acolyte a few weeks ago, the last of three rites received before ordination that fosters a deeper connection with the Eucharist and prepares him for service at the altar. That’s why you see him with an expanded role at Mass and seated up here with us in the comfy chairs. To receive each rite, a candidate must petition the bishop for installation following a very strict protocol: the petition must adhere to a prescribed text verbatim, be written in the candidate’s own hand on plain, white, 8.5 x 11-inch paper using black ink only, and be signed in the presence of a Church notary. As I proudly witnessed Michael’s installation and again as I was preparing this homily, I remembered a particular line from the petition that struck me each time I wrote it during my own formation: “I make this request freely and sincerely motivated by . . . the salvation of my soul.” I wonder if the Church had our readings in mind when composing that line of the petition. Today’s readings prompt us to contemplate the end of time, the last things that culminate human history: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. With particular focus on heaven, our reading from Isaiah describes the fulfillment of God’s plan at the end of time as a mountaintop feast. “Along with sumptuous food and drink to satisfy bodily needs, God [will] also provide stunning emotional and spiritual grace.”[1] This metaphor continues in our Psalm and our Gospel, where we learn that if we want to be admitted to the heavenly banquet, we have to accept God’s invitation and arrive fit to sit in the presence of the King. Let’s start with the invitation. God invites us to experience the heavenly wedding feast when our time on earth is done, and at every moment of our lives. Imagine God standing before you right now, holding a silver platter piled high with invitations to do good, to serve, to love. For example, right now, God is inviting me to compliment Fr. Chester. Nah, God wouldn’t ask that much of me. In the end, all of the invitations on that platter are invitations to the heavenly banquet, invitations to the eternal joy of heaven that can never be extinguished. In the end, they’re all invitations to let God save our souls. Now on to accepting the invitation. We preach all the time that God forces nothing on us, not even heaven. God invites, but we choose whether we’ll accept the invitation or not. Why’s that? Because every invitation from God is an invitation to love, and love must be freely given, or it’s not love. Not even God can force a person to love. So, we see in our readings and in life that God’s invitations “are variously ignored or rejected by some. And sometimes the rejection proves violent.”[2] As a result, not all enter the heavenly feast, not all souls are saved, but that outcome is their choice. Jesus’ parable also reminds us that more is required than simply accepting God’s invitation to the divine banquet: we have to dress for the occasion, too. I think we can all agree that the way we show up expresses the spirit in which we come. The degree to which we prepare ourselves, gussy ourselves up, is an outward expression of our affection and esteem for our host. It’s no different with heaven. The door to heaven is open for sure, “but the door isn’t open for the sinner to come and remain a sinner, but for the sinner to come and become a saint.”[3] The heavenly banquet is an occasion we’re called to rise to. Of course, we’re not talking about Prada, Nordstroms, or Abercrombie & Fitch. We’re talking about clothing ourselves in Christ. We’re talking about “the garments of the mind and of the heart and of the soul—the garment of expectation, the garment of humble penitence, the garment of faith, the garment of reverence”, the garments without which we wouldn’t deign to approach God.[4] That’s how we ensure the salvation of our souls. We clothe ourselves in Christ every day; we live as Jesus lived; we dive headfirst into God’s silver platter of invitations and pick one, so that when our time comes, we’ll enthusiastically accept God’s open invitation to the heavenly banquet and be dressed appropriately for that most joyous occasion. Thanks be to God, Michael picked one, accepting God’s invitation to pursue ordination to the diaconate. Lord willing, he’ll be ordained in about seven months. God’s invitations come to us all the time. Some may seem small, others quite grand, but all are equally precious in the eyes of God. So, whether it’s pursuing Holy Orders or religious life, helping the proverbial old lady across the street, curing cancer, ending world hunger, or offering Father Chester a compliment, pick one. Every time we do, we clothe ourselves in Christ, expand our capacity to receive divine life, and gussy ourselves up for the salvation of our souls. Readings: Isaiah 25:6-10a; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20; Matthew 22:1-14 [1]Eric J. Wagner, “Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time,” in María Enid Barga et al., Workbook for Lectors, Gospel Readers, and Proclaimers of the Word: 2026, Year A (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2025), 259. [2] Wagner, 262. [3] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 315. [4] Ibid. The Divine-Human Knot Print 75 Please login or register to post comments.