Annual Fr. Tharp Split the Pot
We are beginning to sell tickets for the annual “Fr. Tharp Split the Pot for St. Ann.”   As in the past, we will sell tickets to the end of the calendar year.  As the pot grows larger, interest swells.  Encourage your friends and associates to buy early and buy often. 

 Little Flower Girls Club

One of our St. Ann Moms is looking into starting a “Little Flower Girls Club” at St. Ann.  You can read about this Catholic program for school aged girls on the internet, but we also encourage you to attend a meeting at St. Ann Office Building Basement Meeting Room on Monday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m.  We will need other Moms to help with the program, so come if you have a girl who might be interested and/or come if you are an adult woman interested in the program. 

Fr. Tharp away on Tuesday Afternoons

For the past eight years, I have been given the opportunity to teach a class at the Seminary on Pastoral Administration.  I teach a three hour class once each Tuesday afternoon between now and Christmas.  Therefore, from now until Christmas, I will be unavailable by telephone and out of my office on Tuesday afternoons. 

Reflection on Scripture

I always felt sorry to the poor guy who was forced into the wedding feast and then thrown out by the “fashion police” for not having the correct apparel.  It just did not seem fair. 

Clearly the story is an allegory.  The King in the story represents God.  The wedding feast is the last judgment and those originally invited are the hierarchy of the Jewish Temple.  They make excuses as to why they won’t accept Christ and come to the feast of heavenly joy.  The guests funneled in from the highways and byways are the Gentile converts to Christianity.  The man without a wedding garment is not a fashion rebel or a poor guy who can’t afford a tux.  Rather he is the guy who just won’t follow the rules. 

Putting on the wedding garment provided by the King was a courtesy honoring the Royal  Court. .  Remember that in the story of the Prodigal Son, the Father brings him the finest robe.  In Genesis, the Pharaoh provides robes for Joseph’s kin, so they fit in with the other guests of Pharaoh’s court.   This parable has nothing to do with fashion, and everything to do with courtesy and respect.  Jesus wants the Gentile Christians to be part of the Church.  He simply wants everyone to respect the rules of the faith and not become recalcitrant and stubborn.  If the Gentiles don’t show respect for the traditions of the Jewish Christians, they ruin the party (i.e. the Church) and risk being thrown out.

Readings for the Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time    

Is 45:1, 4-6

1 Thes 1:1-5b

Mt 22:15-21

Theme: Jesus answers a loaded question with a conundrum.