Memorial of Saint
Bernard, abbot and doctor of the Church
(Judges 11:29-39a; Matthew 22:1-14)
Today’s readings illustrate two seriously defective ways
of living the faith. Rigorism and laxity
are extremes that are to be shunned.
In the first reading the warrior Jephthah makes a
vow. He asks the Lord’s help in battle
and promises to sacrifice to Him whatever he meets when he returns to his
homestead. No doubt, he has a farm
animal in mind. But when his daughter
greets him, he rigorously considers himself obliged to keep the vow. He does not waver despite the fact that the
Law explicitly forbids human sacrifice.
In the gospel a man enters the king’s wedding feast
without a proper garment. All he has to
do is to know that he is out of place to look around. Everyone else is wearing formal dress. Ignoring the fact, he laxly carries on until
the king confronts him. He should have
realized from the beginning that an invitation to a wedding feast requires some
preparation. It is like the invitation
to participate in the Eucharist. All are
invited, but people have to prepare themselves for it by being baptized and
properly disposed.
Virtue is said to lie in the middle between two
extremes. If we desire to live
excellently (what it means to be virtuous), we must keep ourselves well within
the boundaries of rigorism and laxity.
