When you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed that they cannot repay you, for you will be rewarded in the resurrection of the righteous. Hearing this, one of those who sat at table with Him said to Him, "Blessed is he who eats bread in the Kingdom of God!" And he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and called many, and when the time for supper came, he sent his servant to say to those who were called, 'Go, for all things are ready.' And everyone, as if by agreement, began to apologize. The first said to him, "I have bought land, and I must go to see it; Please forgive me. Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them; Please forgive me. A third said, "I am married, and therefore I cannot come." And when the servant returned, he reported it to his master. Then, being angry, the master of the house said to his servant, "Go quickly through the streets and alleys of the city, and bring hither the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind." And the servant said, "Lord! it has been fulfilled as you have commanded, and there is still room. The lord said to the servant, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel me to come, that my house may be filled." For I say unto you, that none of those who are invited shall partake of my supper, for many are invited, but few are chosen" (Luke 14:13-24).

     Is this not an accurate picture of what I have been talking about? We are called to God's feast. This feast would have begun on earth if man had not betrayed himself and betrayed God. When God created the world, He created it beautiful, in complete harmony with Himself and in the harmony of all creatures with each other. And this world could have survived in its primordial beauty, could have grown from the beauty of innocence into the slender and already unshakable beauty of holiness, but man has betrayed both himself and God. He was called to be the leader of the whole world from innocence to holiness; but he himself departed from this path, and the whole world wavered and became what we see it to be. And so, at the beginning of this parable, we are given three images that are applicable to each of us in this fallen world, which we have chosen as our homeland, while our homeland is the Kingdom of God, which could be earth and heaven at the same time, but remains only heaven until God wins the final victory over evil, over strife, over sin.

     The first of those who are invited says to the messenger from the owner of the house: "I have bought myself a piece of land; I need to examine it, master it; he is mine"... This is what I have just been talking about: we have chosen the land and we say: I want to develop it, it is mine; I want to possess it to the end; I want her to be what I am... And we do not notice that, trying to hold on to the land, to make it our own, we ourselves become its slaves, we belong to it. We cannot tear ourselves away from it, we are completely immersed in it; we grow our roots into it, we no longer look upwards, but look only at this land: so that it may be fruitful. And in the end, we belong to this earth in such a way that we lie down in it with our bones, we are buried in it, our body dissolves in it; what we thought was ours now possesses us. We have no time to go to the feast of God, to the feast of faith, to the joy of meeting, to the Divine harmony of everything, because we want to master the earth; And as a result, it absorbs us.

     Another says, "I bought five pairs of oxen—I must test them! I need to check their performance! And besides, I didn't buy them to stand in a stable, they have to bear the work, to bear fruit"... Isn't that how we think – each in his own way, but all in the same way – that there are tasks before us! We must do something, do something on earth! How can we live without leaving a trace?.. And everyone tries, to the best of his ability, to work. Some of the ancient fathers see the image of these five pairs of oxen as a symbol of our five senses. We are given the five senses – sight, hearing, smell, etc.: how can all this not be applied to earthly life? But the five senses apply only to the earth; the sky cannot be grasped by sight, hearing, or smell; The sky is taken by a different instinct. Even earthly love is not embraced by the five senses – what can we say about Divine love, about eternity? It is as if we put these five senses of ours into the market and acquire what we can – but only earthly...

     Sometimes, through these feelings, something more is revealed to us: earthly love. And then the third of the invitees said to the servant: "I am married, I have my own joy, my heart is full to the brim – I have no time to come to the feast of your master, not even my master – can't he understand it himself? I have my own joy – how can I still contain someone else's joy?" Attachment, love, which is on the verge of eternity, on this side or on the other side of eternity, depending on how we react to it, again becomes an obstacle: it keeps me on earth, I have nowhere to go from it. Eternity – later, once; now – I would fill the time with this joy, this amazement, this happiness, and it is enough that my happiness is mine, I do not need someone else's... And the third invited one also does not go to the feast of God, because he is afraid that the temporary joy will leave him, drowning in eternity, in the eternal.

     And what remains? What remains is a man who lives by holding on to the earth, which will swallow him up; The whole meaning of its existence is to do something with this land and on this land is temporary, which will also pass: people's memory passes, buildings collapse, the whole world is covered with the remains of obsolete, dead, destroyed civilizations. And man nevertheless builds a new one – which will also not stand, temporary, aimless – because there is no goal in it itself, and there is no further goal. And instead of opening up through love, a person often closes himself up with love: his own – and others... And this is very scary. Oh, these "others" and "friends" can be distributed very differently, there can be a lot of "friends"; but all the same, as long as there is only one "other" left, the Kingdom of God not only does not exist, it is denied.

     I want to give you two images. The first is a story about a real person whom I remember, whose relatives I knew. A scientist, a creative, gifted person died; He was buried. He had a son in an insane asylum, a young man who had not yet reached the age of twenty. His mother informed him of his father's death. He laughed and replied, "Not true! Having exhausted all her explanations, his mother brought him to me to explain to him that his father was really dead. Before I could say anything to him, I asked the young man, "Why do you think that your father is not dead, when the witnesses of his death tell you that he is dead, the people who saw his dead body, who took part in his funeral, who saw his coffin lowered into the ground and covered with earth? Why do you deny his death?" – "Because," he answered, "he never lived, and therefore could not die..." And he explained to me that his father existed only by attachment to the car, to the television, to his collection of precious stones, to his books. As long as these things exist," the boy said, "my father is as alive or as dead as he used to be.