Homily – Clothed for the Banquet, Fed for the Journey

Brothers and sisters,
Today’s feast brings together themes that every Catholic heart must hold tight:

• The need for fidelity to God’s truth.
• The absolute centrality of the Holy Eucharist.
• And the witness of a sainted Pope who lived it all with courage.

In our first reading from Judges, we hear of Jephthah. The Spirit of God comes upon him. He defeats the Ammonites. But in his zeal, he makes a rash vow and his virtuous daughter ends up sacrificed.

Here is zeal without prudence. Sincerity without obedience. Religious passion without truth.

God forbids human sacrifice. Jephthah’s tragedy was not his love of God, but his attempt to serve Him on his own terms rather than God’s.

The warning is clear: Good intentions do not make something holy if it contradicts God’s revealed will. Zeal without truth is dangerous. And in the life of the Church, worship and devotion must always be measured by God’s revelation, safeguarded by the Church our Lord founded — not by our impulses or inventions.

In the Gospel, our Lord tells us of the King who prepares a banquet for his Son. The Invitation goes out. Some ignore it. Some mock it. Some are too busy. Finally, the hall is filled with guests, both good and bad.

But then comes the shocking moment: one man is found without a wedding garment. He is cast out. The Fathers say the garment is sanctifying grace. The guest it was not thrown out because he wasn’t invited — he was. He was thrown out because he rejected the garment offered; garments were provided for weddings in the ancient world, but he refused it and came on his own terms.

That’s the danger for us too. We may show up to church, we may know the prayers, we may even approach the altar — but if we refuse the garment of grace, if we cling to sin, if we want Christ without conversion, then we are that man. The banquet is offered. The garment is given. The question is: will we wear it? Will we let God’s grace clothe us, or will we insist on coming half-dressed, demanding the feast without the change of life it requires?

This is where St. Pius X, the “Pope of the Eucharist,” speaks directly to us.

He saw two dangers in his time. On the one hand, many Catholics approached Holy Communion rarely — as if Jesus were too far, too distant, too remote. On the other, some approached casually — without confession, without reverence, without preparation.

Pius X cut through both errors with clarity. He lowered the age of First Communion, because even children at the age of reason can love Jesus truly.

And he urged frequent Communion, because the Eucharist is not a reward for the perfect — it is food for the pilgrim.

“Holy Communion,” he said, “is the shortest and safest way to Heaven.” Not money. Not politics, Not success. Not comfort. Jesus, in the Eucharist. Let that ring in your heart.

But Pius X also saw another threat — what he called Modernism: the dissolving of faith into opinion, the emptying of sacraments into mere symbols, the loss of truth in the name of relevance. Against this, he thundered: Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. The Church is the one ark of salvation. Outside her, there is no secure way to the banquet. The sacraments are not pious fictions but real channels of grace.

That is why he restored reverence in the liturgy. That is why he defended the Church’s teaching against compromise. Because if we lose the truth of the Eucharist, we lose everything.

Tonight’s Mass is celebrated ad orientem — priest and people turned together toward the Lord. This is not about turning backs; it is about turning hearts. It is a visible confession that the Mass is not primarily about us, but about God.

We face East, toward the rising sun, as the early Christians did — waiting for Christ, the true Sun of Justice, to come again in glory.

St. Pius X advocated the renewal of liturgy not for spectacle, but for reverence. He knew that form teaches. And if the Mass becomes about us, then we’ve forgotten the Guest of Honour.

He once said:“The Holy Mass is the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven.”

Let that be true in our parishes, in our sanctuaries, in our hearts.

Because the world is distracted. The culture is noisy. Even the Church is tempted to entertain.

But the Mass is not entertainment. It is the Cross. It is the Resurrection. It is the foretaste of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

So, don’t miss the feast.

• Don’t drift in half-dressed.
• Don’t come distracted.
• Come clothed in grace, hungry for Christ.
• The tragedy of Jephthah was zeal without truth — passion without obedience, fire without light.
• The tragedy of the guest was presence without surrender — wanting the feast, but not the King.
• The triumph of St. Pius X was truth with zeal, grace with fidelity, Eucharist with reverence.

Let me leave you with the challenge of St. Pius X in his own words: “Holy Communion is the key to Paradise.”

So here’s the question: If Holy Communion is the key… are you turning the lock?

• Are you coming to Mass with faith?
• Are you letting the Eucharist transform you?

Pius X was pope in a time of rapid change. War, division, political turmoil, moral confusion—it all sounds familiar.

But he never gave in to despair. He gave us a path forward.

Not a political programme. Not a new ideology. Not a clever strategy.

He gave us the oldest and truest thing we have: Christ. In the Eucharist.

So tonight, we honour him best not by nostalgia or pious sentiment.

We honour him by living his motto: To restore all things in Christ.

And that begins right here—at this altar.

Because this is not just bread. This is not just a ceremony.

This is Jesus Christ — crucified, risen, present. Yesterday, today, forever.”

So come. And receive the One who restores all things. And let Him restore you.