The fifth parable, which is in St. Luke, makes the happiness of the blessed like to a great supper (Luke 14). And certainly not without great reason; for in a great supper — whether a wedding or a royal one — are found all things that can delight the human senses and display power, and riches, and the glory of this world. Thus Ahasuerus, who reigned over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, when he wished to display the riches of the glory of his kingdom and the greatness and boast of his power, found no more fitting and suitable means than to give a banquet most magnificent in every respect (Esth. 1). For first, at a great supper the eyes are delighted by the sumptuous array of the whole hall, by the order of the attendants clothed in comely and costly garments, and by the vessels of gold and silver in which the dishes are brought in; the ears are delighted by the hearing of various musical instruments and the voices of men and women singing; the sense of smell is delighted by the fragrance of flowers and roses, by precious ointments and perfumed waters, and by other things breathing a most sweet scent; the sense of taste is delighted by the seasonings of every kind of food and by precious wines gathered from every quarter; and finally the sense of touch is delighted by the reclining or resting upon the softest and most pleasant couches. Thus at a royal and wedding supper are gathered together nearly all the bodily goods that can be found here on earth — so that not without cause the Lord, wishing to set forth the happiness which in itself comprehends all goods, willed to compare it to a great supper — of which it is also read in the Apocalypse: Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19). Next, how great that supper of the Lord is can be known from this: that all the glory of the glorified bodies will be, as it were, the last course of the meal, at which the sweetmeats are served. And so great is the sweetness of those sweetmeats that St. Peter, once seeing the body of the Lord shining like the sun, said: It is good for us to be here (Matt. 17). And if such are the sweetmeats, what will be the substance of the supper, which consists in the fruition of the Godhead?
Finally, all the goods of this world are nothing else than, as it were, the rinds and shells of the fruits of paradise. And if the shells and rinds are such that men are driven mad with love and desire of them, what will the fruits themselves and the apples of paradise be? And if the apples and the fruits are such, what will the other foods be, more solid and more excellent? Surely they will be such that they are always eaten without satiety, and always desired. Yet we must not suppose that in heaven there will be a supper such as great princes have here when they celebrate a wedding feast; for in heaven we shall be like the Angels of God, who neither marry nor take wives (Matt. 22), nor partake of the foods necessary for sustaining mortal life. There will therefore be a supper full of riches and delights and adornments and glory, befitting the state of the blessed. For these things are said to us at this time because we do not see better and greater things; but from them we ought to learn that that supper will be so much better than our suppers, however sumptuous, as heaven is distant from the earth, and as God, who will prepare it, surpasses mortal kings in power and riches.
But why, someone will say, is the happiness of the blessed compared to a supper rather than to a dinner? The reason is this: dinner is taken at midday, and after dinner business is usually transacted until evening; but supper is taken at the end of the day, when all business has been finished, and after supper come rest and sleep. And so in the other parable, which is in Matthew, where the Incarnation of the Lord is treated (Matt. 22), a dinner is introduced on account of the wedding feast which a king made for his son. For the Incarnation of the Lord and His marriage with the Church, His bride, were begun at midday — that is, a good while before the end of the world. After that dinner many weighty affairs were accomplished, and above all the redemption of the world and the reconciliation of men with God. But the bringing of the bride to the house of the bridegroom, and the nuptial supper, will take place at the evening of the day and the end of the world, when all business shall have ceased and the sweetest sleep — that is, eternal rest — shall follow. This, then, is the reason why the consummate and perfect glory of the blessed is called a supper rather than a dinner.
But it will be worth the effort to see what must be done in order that we may be admitted to that supper. And this the Lord Himself taught plainly enough in His parable; for He says: A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. But they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it: I pray thee, hold me excused. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them: I pray thee, hold me excused. And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. A marvelous thing! Men are invited by God to a royal wedding supper, and they refuse: what would they do if they were called to the labor of military service, or to a long and dangerous journey? This surely is the blindness of man, which can hardly be brought to believe what it does not see. But what is it, after all, that mortals prefer to the divine supper — that is, to the supreme and eternal Good?
The Lord sets forth three impediments to salvation which are not evil in their own kind, and yet, through a disordered affection, hinder eternal salvation. To buy a farm, to try oxen, and to marry a wife are not sins; but to prefer these things to the kingdom of heaven is an incredible blindness: and yet many Christians are everywhere to be found who pursue those temporal things with so great eagerness — honor or dignity or power, which is noted in the purchase of the farm; gain or profit, which is signified in the cultivation of the fields and the working of oxen; and the delight and pleasure taken in a new marriage — that they consume whole days and nights in acquiring and enjoying them, wholly forgetful of the eternal and greatest rewards which God has promised to those who love Him. Nor are most mortals content to buy farms, try yokes of oxen, and marry wives; but, so as to depart as far as possible from salvation, they invade the farms of others, steal oxen, and prefer concubines or harlots; nor do they ever think — much less consider — what a loss it is, for the sake of such trifles, to forfeit the supper of the Lord. For indeed, if God did not promise us worms a supper of infinite sweetness in heaven, but promised only the crumbs falling from that table or the leavings of the food, it would still profit us to despise all temporal goods, that we might be able to enjoy those crumbs and leavings. How great a madness is it, then, to prefer fleeting worldly pleasures to the very supper of the Lord, which abounds in all good and everlasting things, and at which we shall recline in the heavenly kingdom together with the holy Angels and with the Lord of Angels Himself?
Moreover, after our Lord had shown what hinders entrance to the great supper, He added also the remedies by which those impediments may be removed; for He continues in His parable, and says: Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame. Because the rich, occupied in buying farms and oxen and in marrying wives, refused to go to the supper of the great Father of the family, He calls the poor, who have no money to buy farms and oxen and do not easily find wives, since they have not the means to support them. He calls the feeble, who can neither set out for the farm, nor try oxen by driving them, nor marry wives. He calls the blind, who can neither view a farm, nor guide oxen, nor easily find a wife. He calls the lame, who can only with the greatest difficulty go to the farm, drive oxen, and dance at the wedding feast. These, then, as being free from all the impediments by which the former were bound, and admitted to the great supper, may deservedly congratulate themselves that God willed them to be poor, feeble, blind, and lame. Many complain in this life that they were born poor, or are often sick, or are deprived of their sight, or are hindered in their feet, and seem to be most unfortunate; and they do not know what good God prepares for them in the world to come on account of this very thing which men call misfortune: but if they knew, they would surely rejoice and exult. Therefore no one ought to complain of the providence of God, but in all things give thanks to God, the best of fathers, who has care of us, and always acquiesce in His will.
But although these things are so, in this place the poor are properly understood to be those who are poor in spirit, not in wealth; the feeble, not in strength but in confidence in themselves; the blind, not in eyes but in cunning; and the lame, not in feet but in affections. I will say this more plainly. The poor who are admitted to the supper of the Lord are those who, hearing the Apostle, do not wish to become rich (1 Tim. 6), and if they have money, they have it not in order to heap it up or to spend it on vanities, but to do what the Holy Spirit says through the mouth of David: He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever and ever (Ps. 111). And the feeble are understood to be those who do not trust in their own virtue, nor glory in their own strength. And the blind are those who truly believe what they do not see, especially concerning the rewards of the just and the punishments of the wicked. For they who are firmly persuaded that the rewards of the just are truly the greatest and everlasting, and that the punishments of the wicked are likewise most bitter and will never have an end, surely do not remain fixed to the earth, nor do they think much of the things that are beneath the moon; but their hearts are fixed there where true joys are. Finally, those are well and happily lame, and may deservedly aspire to the supper of the Lord, whose right foot is much longer than the left — that is, whose affection toward God and the everlasting goods is far, far greater than the left foot — that is, the love toward their own flesh and toward earthly and temporal goods.
But let us hear the sentence of the great Father of the family against those who thoughtlessly and most foolishly despised His supper: I say to you, He says, that none of those men who were invited shall taste of My supper. For the Lord knows that in a short time those who had been invited and, clinging to present things, had despised the future goods as empty — once the body has been laid aside, the senses of the flesh extinguished, and the earthly goods left behind upon the earth — will hunger for that supper with an incredible desire. For as the Prophet David says: They shall return at evening, and shall suffer hunger like dogs, and shall go round about the city (Ps. 58). Plainly, at evening — when the day of this present life is ended — they will return and come to their senses, when repentance will be useless; and they will suffer hunger like ravenous dogs, and will go round about the city of the Lord, if perhaps they may be able to obtain crumbs of that supper. But the sentence of the Lord stands firm: none of them shall taste of My supper.
O if you knew, O soul, what it means: You shall not taste of My supper. O if you could grasp how great that hunger of the wretched will be, and how sweet the food of which they will be deprived for ever. And what would they then give, if only they could taste — even if they held the whole world in their power, they would most readily renounce it all. Since these things are so, let us be converted while we have time, while it is day, and while repentance is fruitful. Let us now hunger for that most sweet supper; let us now suffer hunger — not like unclean and ravenous dogs, which in taking food think of nothing but the good of the mouth and the belly, but like men who share in reason — let us hunger for the food of eternal life and the bread of Angels, or even for that hidden manna which no man knoweth, but he that receiveth it (Rev. 2), and of which God Himself has the fruition from eternity and for eternity; and let us so live in this exile that we love not the exile, but sigh for our homeland; and when we have arrived there, we shall not need to go round about the city, but shall enter through the wide-open gate and, freely admitted to the supper of the Lord, shall be satisfied with the bread of life and the water of wisdom — that is, with the most pleasing and sweetest food and drink.