From time to time we hear news reports of problems in people’s homes resulting from unwelcome guests gate-crashing a party. Certainly, the last venue we would expect to be gate-crashed, is God’s heavenly banquet, described sometimes as the ‘Marriage Feast of the Lamb’. However, this seems to have occurred in today’s Gospel parable. But more shocking still for many people, would be the king’s actions towards the individual concerned, and how to reconcile these with our understanding of the ways of an all-loving and merciful God. Can you think of any circumstances in which such harsh actions might be justified? What if the individual was a terrorist or paid assassin bent on causing mayhem? In this world, the just and wicked live side by side, which is why we can never enjoy a lasting peace. But in the hereafter God will act firmly to protect From time to time we hear news reports of problems in people’s homes resulting from unwelcome guests gate-crashing a party. Certainly, the last venue we would expect to be gate-crashed, is God’s heavenly banquet, described sometimes as the ‘Marriage Feast of the Lamb’. However, this seems to have occurred in today’s Gospel parable. But more shocking still for many people, would be the king’s actions towards the individual concerned, and how to reconcile these with our understanding of the ways of an all-loving and merciful God. Can you think of any circumstances in which such harsh actions might be justified? What if the individual was a terrorist or paid assassin bent on causing mayhem? In this world, the just and wicked live side by side, which is why we can never enjoy a lasting peace. But in the hereafter God will act firmly to protect His flock by separating the virtuous from the wicked.                                        Fr John