COVID-19 has brought added challenges to the faithful, even with the efforts of clergy to keep rites accessible with technology.

The Rev. Scott Pogatchnik of the Church of St. Augustine in St. Cloud recently wrote to his congregants about the wedding banquet parable shared by Jesus in the gospel and the important message of coming “dressed for the feast” that it entails.

“Indeed, the Mass is a tremendous gift and Jesus speaks of it in the words of “wedding banquet” in the gospel,” Pogatchnik said in the church's Oct. 11 bulletin. “He says that many are invited, and yet many let other priorities distract them from the Love God wants to communicate at Mass. What does God do in that case? He broadens the invitation even more— sending servants to find more wedding guests!”

In the parable, the man who shows up at the feast without a wedding garment is given as an analogy for being unprepared for the feast that God has laid out.

“What is this garment?" Pogatchnik asked in the bulletin. "The great saints of the Church have said that it is ultimately acts of love, shown through the various virtues."

St. Paul talks about the faithful clothing themselves with kindness, humility and most of all love, Pogatchnik noted.

“Therefore put on the whole armor of God: … fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness," Fr. Pogatchnik quoted St. Paul in the bulletin. "As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”