Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament

August 20, 2026

Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

In today’s Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast. God is the one who invites. He has prepared everything and sent his servants to call the guests to the feast. But many refuse. One goes to his farm, another to his business, and others mistreat and kill the servants.

The Word of God reminds us that salvation is a free invitation from God, but this invitation must be answered. Many times, we may allow our busyness, interests, habits, and desires to pull our hearts away from God. To come to the wedding feast without a wedding garment is also an image of an outward religious life that lacks true inner conversion.

Today, the Church remembers Saint Bernard, abbot and doctor of the Church. The Collect calls him a man “filled with zeal for your house” and a “burning and shining light” in the Church. He not only heard the Lord’s invitation. He allowed the love of God to transform his life.

Thinking of the wedding garment in the Gospel, we also remember the white garment of our Baptism. Saint Peter Julian Eymard had a deep gratitude for the grace of his own Baptism. He saw it as the beginning of a life filled with grace, where God called him to live his vocation as a child of God fully and to become an apostle of the Eucharist.

May the Lord help us answer his invitation with a new heart, a new life, and a new love, so that in daily life, we may also become small lights leading others to the wedding feast of the Kingdom.

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, you invite us to the wedding feast of your Kingdom. Help us not to refuse your call or come before you with a divided heart. Renew in us the grace of our Baptism. Clothe us with a new heart and a new love, so that we may become small lights of faith and peace for others. Amen.