Come to the Marriage Feast!

This brochure of the Marian Movement of Priests and Laity presents the Holy Church as the Bride of Christ: the parable of Jesus about the royal wedding feast, the mystery of the triple holy Church, the nuptial life of many saints, and the Holy Mass as the sun and wedding feast of our life – with testimonies of grace and of the persecution of the Church in our time.

God devised for mankind only one single way to eternal blessedness, and this way is Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, Himself. He said: No one comes to the Father but by Me. I am the way. (Jn 14,6) Jesus prepared this way for us through the loving self-giving of His life on the cross, as the expression of the highest love and of the glorification of the Father (cf. Jn 17,1-5), and as an atoning sacrifice of most sweet fragrance for the redemption of mankind (cf. Eph 5,2). As the only and eternal High Priest of mankind, Christ has truly and substantially left the sacrifice of His loving self-surrender on the altar of the cross to His Church in the mystery of the Eucharist. In doing so, Christ has inseparably joined the making present of His sacrifice on the cross with His wedding feast. He celebrates this wedding feast by giving His Flesh and Blood to His bride, the Church, and to every believing and loving soul. The greatest act of love in the whole history of creation and of mankind is the priestly self-offering of Jesus Christ on the cross. Here on earth it is celebrated in the Sacrament of the Eucharist until His return.

Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Rev 19,9) These words reveal the deepest meaning of the goal for which God created man. He created us to let us share in His own divine life, and this life is the supernatural, eternal life. Sharing in divine life means the highest happiness and joy; the image of the wedding feast stands for this. It is the beatific vision of the ineffable and incomprehensible being of God Himself. Eternal life is a life of the most intimate unity of the creature with its Creator. God is love (1 Jn 4,8), and therefore one can be one with Him only by loving Him. The eternal happiness in heaven is the highest possible fulfillment of the first and most important commandment, namely, to love God with the whole heart, with the whole soul, with the whole mind and with all one’s strength. (cf. Deut 6,4-5; Mk 12,30)

This act of love is so tremendous that it will endure for all eternity as a remembrance and as heavenly liturgy, as the Book of Revelation proclaims to us in the image of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Therefore Christ also remains High Priest for all eternity. (cf. Heb 7,24)

Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, is the only way to eternal blessedness. However, He has inseparably joined this way with the truth, for He Himself is the truth. (cf. Jn 14,6) He came into the world to bear witness (‘martyrein’ in Greek) to the truth (cf. Jn 18,37), and He is the witness (‘martys’ in Greek), the faithful (‘fidelis’) and the true (‘verus’) in person. (cf. Rev 3,14) From this we recognize that the way to eternal blessedness, to the marriage supper of the Lamb, means a way of unconditional faith and of holding fast to the truth, even to martyrdom. Without faith, that is, without the faithful holding fast to the truths revealed by God, it is impossible to please God (cf. Heb 11,6), that is, impossible to enter heaven.

Nothing is more alien to the mind of Jesus Christ and of the Gospel than to understand or to live Christianity and the way to heaven as a sentimental stroll shaped by individual preference, or as a lavish à la carte menu. Such a Christianity would be without the cross, without sacrifice, without obedience to the clear will of God, without self-denial. It would therefore be a Christianity without true supernatural love, and therefore without true joy, without a true marriage supper of the Lamb, because the Lamb is by its very nature an innocent being offered in sacrifice. Such a Christianity would be an illusion. It would be a Christianity of the “ego”, and therefore the greatest antithesis to Christ Himself and of true Christianity, that is, its most hideous caricature.

Since her beginnings the Church has been aware of the danger that such an illusory and caricatured Christianity without cross and without truth, and consequently also without love, entails. Therefore the first Christians, and since then all generations of true Catholic believers, have always taken to heart these words of the Apostle Jude (Thaddeus): Contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They told you that in the last time there would be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions. It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Have mercy on those who doubt; snatch them out of the fire and save them. (Jude 3,17-23)

The greatest and most effective help on the long, arduous and perilous way to eternal blessedness is Jesus Christ Himself, namely with the gift of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the true presence of His sacrifice on the cross and the nourishment of His Body and Blood. This is the greatest treasure, the true spiritual sun of the Church. Yes, already here in this vale of tears it is an anticipation of the marriage supper of the Lamb in eternal life.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion are also the most effective means for the soul to grow in true eternal love for God, in nuptial love for Him. And this in turn means nothing other than holiness of life.

God willed that the sacrifice of the cross, together with the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, can be accomplished sacramentally only by priests. Without priests there is no Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and no Holy Communion, and consequently the true spiritual sun then goes out in the life of the Church. However, we need not only priests, but above all holy priests. Christ, the chaste, truthful and merciful Eternal High Priest, wants also in our so dark and confused time to walk again through our streets in His priests, teaching those who err and doubt the truth, comforting those who suffer, granting the forgiveness of sins to penitent sinners, and above all offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Therefore the priests, His human instruments, should also be chaste, ready for sacrifice and humble, and always bear witness to the truth, even to martyrdom.

The remembrance of the truth about the calling of all Christians to holiness, and first of all of priests, about the central significance of the Holy Eucharist in the life of the Church, through an ever deeper believing penetration of the truth and of a Holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated sacredly and in a manner befitting the divine majesty, and through the fruitful and reverent reception of Holy Communion with a pure, believing and humble heart: this is where the real meaning and the goal of the Second Vatican Council should indeed have lain, according to the intention of most of the council fathers.

Only the true renewal from the mystery of the Eucharist, in keeping with the constant sense of the Church and of all saints, will bring forth saints in the Church of our days: holy children, holy young people, holy families, holy consecrated brides of Christ, holy religious and above all holy priests. Only then will a true spiritual spring be granted to the Church. We firmly hope for this spring, and it is already present even in our days, beginning first in the souls who love Christ intimately with a bridal love and who have made the Eucharistic Christ the center of their lives.

The present little book “Come to the Marriage Feast!” will undoubtedly be a concrete spiritual help toward the so longed-for true Eucharistic renewal of the Church, and will give many souls light, comfort and encouragement toward love of God and neighbor and toward holiness.

May God bless the spread of this small, valuable booklet with many spiritual fruits!

May we, united with our dear Mother Mary, the first tabernacle of the incarnate Savior, often repeat the following words of an old, well-known Communion hymn, which may increase in us faith and supernatural love for our Eucharistic Lord:

May God’s rich blessing be upon the authors, distributors and readers of this little book!

June 29, 2019, on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

+ Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Mary Most Holy in Astana (Nur-Sultan)

Among all the treasures of the world none is more precious than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; and among all the misfortunes of the world none is greater than ignorance of this most holy Sacrifice. For in the celebration of the Holy Mass we stand as members of the mystical body, as it were, at the foot of the cross, and, united with Christ, our Eternal High Priest, we may offer to the Heavenly Father the perfect sacrifice of praise, thanksgiving, atonement and petition. The Holy Mass is therefore the source and summit of the whole Christian life, the highest worship, the mysterious unbloody making present of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

In the obedient self-surrender of Jesus, all glory and honor is given to the Father. At the same time, the love of Christ opens for every human being a way that leads to the heart of the Father. Thus in this mystery there shines forth the deepest attribute of God, His unfathomable mercy. We lay our whole being, our human weakness, our cares and needs, as well as the guilt of all men, into the transforming event of the Holy Mass. For in the offered Body and in the poured-out Blood of Christ we find healing and atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

Of the Holy Mass one can say what Holy Scripture says of wisdom: It is an unfailing treasure for men; those who get it obtain friendship with God. (Wis 7,14)

When St. Pio was once asked what we should do at the Holy Mass, the saint answered: To suffer with and to love. He also used to say: The world could sooner exist without the sun than without the Holy Mass.

At every celebration of the Holy Mass the call of the Heavenly Father rings out: Everything is ready; come to the marriage feast! My beloved Son renews through the hands of the priest the sacrifice of Calvary and feeds you in the Most Holy Eucharist with His own Flesh and Blood! And yet, how few only follow His invitation – But they made light of it … Thus it is written in the parable of the royal wedding feast, which we want to consider vividly and true to life in the following chapter.

Christ is the only-begotten Son of God. In His Incarnation He comes to call His bride, the holy Church, to the wedding, and to invite men to the celebration. The parable names four groups of those invited:

The first group are the indifferent. There are such also among those invited by God. The invitation is extended to them several times with emphatic insistence. But religion means nothing to them. They are realists, for whom only the earthly and the material is a reality. Christianity does not interest them. […] It has nothing to do with stock-market speculation, professional advancement and social standing. The invitation remains unattended on the desk or ends up in the waste-paper basket. In reality, however, there is no indifference toward God, for God does not accept it. Whoever does not care about Christ does not come into the Kingdom of God; he is therefore one who stands outside and accordingly remains outside. The final judgment of the Lord will be: I do not know you!

The second group are the people of opposition. In the parable they simply kill the messengers who bring the invitation. They side neither with the reigning sovereign nor with the heir to the throne. […] They are clearly in the other camp. Regarding the question of the Kingdom of God, they are the militant atheists, the haters of Christianity. Religion is for them no matter of indifference, but opium for the people, an obstacle to the advancement of mankind, an enemy of true humanity, a hindering remnant of the superstitious Middle Ages, which must finally be eliminated. Thus they wage the battle in word and in writing, join together for common action and organize resistance. In the parable the king’s reply is not long in coming. His troops surround the seat of the hostile resistance, level it to the ground and kill the enemy. It is a picture of the great reckoning of Christ at the end of time.

The third group are the irreverent. The parable portrays a single figure as their representative. The man who was invited from the street to the wedding, and to whom a festal garment was offered in the vestibule, is convinced that his rags are good enough. He should be taken as he is. The invitation means nothing special to him. Applied to the spiritual realm, these are the people who do not want to know what matters to God. They lack the fear of God. […] Religious life is something to which one gives expression from time to time, more under compulsion than voluntarily. One goes to Sunday Mass in the morning, just as one goes to lunch in a restaurant, or in the evening to a concert, and on weekdays to the office. God must be glad when they follow the invitation to divine worship. These are the people who have never truly grasped inwardly what a call from God means. The difference between Creator and creature, eternity and time, infinity and finitude, Lord and servant has never become truly alive for them. […] Therefore they make no effort at all to cultivate a corresponding inner attitude. They do not see that a Christian lives differently from a non-Christian. Because God is for them something incidental, they also do not care whether they live in the grace of the Lord or in sin. […] The consequence is shown drastically in the parable. It is the casting out from the illuminated festal hall into the darkness, from election into rejection. Outward membership in the Church of Christ is not enough. If the inner transformation does not take place, everything ends in being cast out.

The fourth group are the true wedding guests. They are, to be sure, of strange origin: vagrants, tramps, simple folk and beggars from the hedges and fences. The invitation was the great surprise of their lives. Joyfully they have followed it. With shudders of reverence they have entered the palace, and with childlike joy they have put on the festal garment given to them. And now they are at the wedding celebration as if in heaven. Only one thing do they fear: ever having to go back out into the filth and misery, into the cold and darkness outside. These are the people of radiant eyes and grateful hearts, the people who know what grace and vocation are. It is the sinful man who has been called into the world of grace. It is the religious man, who knows that without God everything is worth nothing, who knows how to value the calling as a freely given grace, and who carries deep within himself the painful experience of his own weakness and sinfulness. Yet everything is lost in the splendor of festive joy, for he knows that Catholic Christianity is a wedding celebration that began with the Incarnation of God and that will reach its full festive height at the Lord’s return, with a light that never goes out and a joy that never fades.

Thus Christianity demands a decision, for or against, a Yes or a No. […] At stake is the ultimate and deepest matter, eternal being or non-being.¹⁸

¹⁸ Richard Gutzwiller, Die Gleichnisse des Herrn, 2017, Imprimatur of the Episcopal Ordinariate of Chur, March 2, 1960.

Weeping, with her face hidden in her hands, the Mother of God appeared on September 19, 1846 to two shepherd children at La Salette.

Throughout the whole time of the apparition the tears run from the eyes of the Mother of God.²⁰

¹⁹ According to God’s will all the graces merited by Christ are granted to us through Mary. So also the days that God grants us pass through Mary’s hands. (cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Octobri Mensae) Therefore Mary could say at La Salette: “Six days I have given you to work.”

²⁰ On September 19, 1851 the message of La Salette was officially recognized by Philibert de Bruillard, Bishop of Grenoble. How very different is the divine strategy of salvation from today’s renewal programs. Through the Mother of God the Lord does not demand a loosening of the moral teaching of the Church, but penance and conversion; not a reduction of Marian devotion for the sake of ecumenism, but the veneration of her Immaculate Heart. Toward a Padre Pio the Lord does not demand the abolition of celibacy or liturgical experiments to enliven the worship, but He complains of the indifference and irreverence shown to Him in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Toward the Blessed Dina Bélanger the Lord does not demand greater openness to the world from His priests, but a life in more intimate union with Him, and from the orders and communities no softening of discipline, but greater fidelity to the Holy Rule. In the messages to St. Sr. M. Faustyna the Lord proposes no reduction of the awareness of sin, but invites us to avail ourselves often of His mercy in the Holy Sacrament of Penance. What is praised today as progress is in reality the demolition of the teaching of faith and morals. And this demolition pierces the Heart of Jesus and of Mary. (cf. Engelbert Recktenwald, Harter Geist und weiches Herz, Imprimatur: Fr. Josef Bisig, Suprio generalis, FFSP, Opfenbach, October 21, 1996)

The Steyler missionaries Father Götsch and Brother Gervasius had an experience in China that defies all rational comprehension.

Brother Gervasius accompanies the Father from Kaotai to a woman who is critically ill. After a three-day ride of more than two hundred kilometers they reach their goal, but the sick woman had already died. Downcast, the missionaries begin the journey home. About halfway up the mountain ride they meet a boy, who asks them to come along to his mother. The boy leads them about 15 km off the road to a small village. In a clay hut a dying woman is waiting. Suddenly she puts strange questions to the two missionaries:

“Stranger, will you answer me truthfully?”

“Certainly.”

“Is there a God in whom there are three forms? Is there in the next life a place of joy for the good and a place of terror for the wicked? Is it true that God came to this earth to die for men and to open for them the place of joy? Foreigner, is all this true?”

The priest answers all these questions in the affirmative, amazed. How does the sick woman know these truths of faith?

“You have water with you,” the sick woman continues, “wash me, so that I may come to the place of joy!”

How does she know that Father Götsch has baptismal water with him? After a short conversation the missionary baptizes the sick woman. Full of joy the mother expresses a new wish: “You have bread with you. Not ordinary bread, but God Himself. Give me some of it too.”

The dying woman also knows that the priest has the Most Holy Sacrament with him. Father Götsch gives her Holy Communion and administers the Anointing of the Sick.

Then he says: “Until now you have asked questions; now I ask some questions: How do you know the truths of faith? Did Catholic or Protestant Christians tell you about them?”

“I know no Christians, stranger!”

“Did you read all this in books?”

“I cannot read. I also do not know that there is Christian literature in my language.”

“But then where does your knowledge of the faith come from?”

“I simply thought it must be so. For ten years I have lived according to this faith. I have also taught my children. You can ‘wash’ them all” (she means baptize).

“Did you know that we would come by today?”

“Yes, I had a dream and saw an older man, who told me I should send my boy to the road and call the two foreigners, they would ‘wash’ me for the good place after death.”

The missionaries are deeply moved. The sick woman’s manner, in the face of death, is so simple that no room is left for doubt. As a farewell they give her a small picture of St. Joseph, the patron of the dying. Then the sick woman is beside herself with joy. “I know him, he has visited me. He has been with me often and let me send my son on the way to call you.”

Was he with her in a dream or in reality? She does not know, and it is not important to her. What matters is what she has learned through him.

The woman died that very night.²¹

²¹ According to a report by Ludwig Lenzen from “Weite Welt,” No. 1, January 1976.

²² Imprimatur: Regensburg, March 13, 1977.

Many people are heavily influenced by our entirely this-worldly and faithless society and, mostly compelled by the law of sin, (cf. Rom 7,23) detach themselves from the sacramental life-stream of the Church. Yet despite all the apparent “freedom”²³ in whose name especially moral and religious values are thrown overboard, deep sadness and loneliness reign in many hearts. For when we take leave of the commandments of God and His Church like defiant children, we ultimately stand before the chaos of a failed life.

²³ That this “freedom” ultimately makes us slaves is shown to us by the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John. “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. […] Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (Jn 8,31-36)

If we increasingly “forget” God, the only source of all joy, and move away from His most holy will, then our conscience gradually darkens and faith fades. For faith and sin cannot remain good neighbors in the long run, and because one loves sin and does not want to let go of it, faith must give way.

In view of this truth St. Paul preaches: Keep faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith. (1 Tim 1,19)

One no longer practices as a Catholic, rails vigorously against religion and the Church, doubts the basic truths of Christianity, and finally becomes Protestant overnight or leaves the Church for good. On this subject St. Cyprian remarked: Let no one believe that the good could leave the Church. The storms blow away chaff and straw, not the wheat.

When a young man boasted before the philosopher Pascal that he no longer believed, the latter answered him: “Cast off sin, and tomorrow you will believe again.”

Even if the “children of this world” no longer want to hear the teaching of the Church and her moral demands, all shepherds and faithful are nevertheless called to stand firm and faithful to the true Catholic faith. Especially those priests who hold fast to the love of the Lord and His truth go, to be sure, the way of martyrdom, but they keep their dignity despite many trials and at the same time become a blessing for a great number of souls that God has entrusted to them. Like John the Baptist they fight for the indissolubility of marriage and thereby draw upon themselves the hatred of “Herodias” – “the world.” Like Stephen, they bear witness to the truth of Christ and thereby fall into the most violent battles: Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him. (Acts 7,54) And like the blessed martyr priest Otto Neururer, who was murdered by the Nazis because he clearly spoke out against the marriage of a young woman to a divorced Nazi officer who had left the Church, so also the faithful priests are persecuted, if not bodily, then spiritually and inwardly, for the sake of the holy Gospel. Countless examples could be cited here, which show us clearly: Jesus does not abandon His Church, because she is His beloved bride and because He has shed His last drop of blood for her. From His pierced Heart flows the nuptial wine of the holy sacraments, whose fruits we rob ourselves of for time and eternity when we deny our Catholic faith.

It is precisely this grave loss of faith and of the moral values, which in recent decades have largely collapsed, that plays a decisive role within the tragic abuse scandals that inflict deep wounds on the mystical body of the Church.²⁴

²⁴ While Christians are dying for their faith and their fidelity to Jesus, in the West, men of the Church are trying to reduce the requirements of the Gospel to a minimum. We even go so far as to use the mercy of God and to smother truth and justice. […] The true scandal is not in fact the presence of sinners, since for them there is always mercy and forgiveness, but the lack of clarity regarding good and evil, […]. When consecrated men are no longer able to understand the radicalism of the message of the Gospel, and try to lull it to sleep, then we will go astray. For here we have a real violation of mercy. […] Today there is a confrontation and a rebellion against God, an organized struggle against Christ and His Church. […] (Robert Cardinal Sarah, Gott oder Nichts, 2015)

Among the examples of genuine conversions that took place through the work of St. Pio (1887 – 1968) in San Giovanni Rotondo, the conversion of the actor Carlo Campanini stands out in particular. […]

Campanini’s path to conversion had not been easy. He was born into a poor family, but had a very pious mother. Carlo reports: If I have ever done anything good, it was only because she prayed from up there for this unhappy son. Who knows what would have become of me without her prayers. […]

The “spark from Padre Pio” ignited in him, as he says, when he was 19. At that time he worked in Argentina for a theater group from Piedmont. One day he said to his friend: To believe in God was simple when one could still meet great saints such as Francis of Assisi. But today, unfortunately, there are no great saints left.

His conversation partner answered: Well, there are still saints. We have one in Italy: his name is Padre Pio. A Capuchin friar who bears the wounds of Christ and offers up his suffering for the world. These words deeply impressed Carlo.

Campanini’s meeting with the Padre took place a few years later. He himself told in the prayer groups of Padre Pio: I had gone off the rails, because unfortunately I could accept only eight of the ten commandments of our Lord; the other two bothered me, and therefore I had rejected them all and lived like an animal. […]

At the end of 1949 I had reached the height of my fame, I was shooting three films at once, everyone envied me and said to me: You have it good, among all the beautiful women, with their expensive cars … I can only say how I felt. I hated my life.

On January 10, 1950 I got into the car and drove to Padre Pio. I signed up for confession and waited. My turn came. As I wanted to open my mouth, Padre Pio said to me: Tell me everything from 1946. You can imagine how I felt.

But as I spoke, I looked down at the floor. He said to me: Look at me! Look into my face. But I simply could not. Then the Padre said: You are ashamed before me, who am nothing, but Him you have offended without thinking about it. […] He wanted to hear everything. And only when I promised him to change my whole life did he give me absolution. From that day on I have really begun to live.