Sometimes I feel lost like I am on the outside of life looking in.
I feel lost when I believe the lies that I am not good enough for God to love and accept me. This false and destructive thought obscures my identity as a daughter of God. I forget that I am enough; everything is a gift; I am beloved. Without a sense of security and rootedness, I start to grasp at power, prestige, comforts, and possessions.
Today’s Gospel and the Memorial of the Queenship of Mary remind us we are clothed in the glory of the children of God.
After the invited guests refuse to go to the king’s party, the king instructs his servants to go into the streets and gather everyone they find, the bad and the good alike. All of us have the joy of being invited as one of the King’s guests even if we were counted among the bad and the good. It is through Christ’s Most Precious Blood shed on the Cross we have been invited to the heavenly banquet. (See Matthew 22:1-14.)
But what do we do with that disturbing scene when the king finds the man without a wedding garment and throws him out? When I read this passage, I have often thought, What is that wedding garment and how do I get one, fast?
The wedding garment is not something we will find in a store; it’s provided by God. Our good Father gives us all that we need. He first invites us and then provides the baptismal wedding garment of Redemption. We receive this garment in our Baptism. When we seek to live in relationship with the Trinity indwelling in our souls, we enter into the glory of the children of God through the Blood of Our Lord Jesus.
We are called and made for this glory. Our Blessed Mother—Queen of Heaven and Earth wears this majestic raiment. She teaches us, guards us, and guides us to the wedding feast of heaven—especially when we feel lost.
Have you done our Mystery study? The Queenship of Mary is celebrated in the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.
Sister Maria Kim Bui is a Daughter of Saint Paul, women religious dedicated to evangelization in and through the media. She is originally from Tempe, AZ, spent most of her fourteen years in religious life in the northeast, some time in Texas, and now was recently asked to serve as the director of marketing and sales at the Sisters' publishing house in Boston. She is a contributing author to our children's devotional prayer book, Rise Up and the author of our Blessed Conversations Mystery: Belong found here. Find out more about her here.