Oktoberfest of St. Angela Merici Men‘s Association Metairie, LA
Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40
Upon reflecting on our Oktoberfest it amazes me to think that we had something that even the great Munich festival does not: a community of faith at its heart! From our leaders in lederhosen to the Seelos shrine, ours was a family gathering, sharing moments of levity and love. Such a community of love is exactly what Jesus commands in this coming Sunday’s Gospel (30th Sunday in Ordinary Time). Our own revelry indeed had a purpose, namely to build up that community animated by love: of German culture, perhaps, but more importantly, of neighbor and of God together in the mission of the Church founded by Christ.
The Gospel passage tells of Jesus’ testing by a Pharisee and scholar of the law: “What is the greatest commandment?” All throughout these encounters with the warring factions of His day, as St. Matthew illustrates throughout Chapter 22, Jesus knows their malicious intent. Yet our Lord in His wisdom frustrates their designs, exposing that these supposed scholars and devotees of the Mosaic Law know nothing about the love that animates the greatest of the commandments at the heart of that Law.
The kind of pernicious, deadly hostility Christ encountered persists even today. As a friend reminded me, our celebration took place while the same fractious, deadly violence that once targeted Jesus devastates the Holy Land in our own day. Wracked by terrorism and war, many of innocent souls in Israel and the surrounding communities find their lives threatened as that vicious cycle continues to unfold. Indeed, despite the beauty of the German cultural heritage fundamental to Oktoberfest, that country’s not-too-distant past contains the scar of just the type of hatred that once motivated one of the greatest evils perpetrated in all of history.
As we pray for an end to these great evils, our own Oktoberfest demonstrated the only true answer to evil: the divine healing that comes through love, the restoration of the family we all are with God as our Father. Love, as Christ taught in the face of evil, brings unity; ultimately, a unity that reaches completion only in Him through His redemptive action on the Cross. Father Seelos’ fearless service of pandemic victims manifested that kind of love in imitation of Christ, reminding us of all that is good in German history and justifies our celebration in its spirit.
It is that spirit of love, honoring the greatest commandments as reminded by Christ, that drew us together and inspires our joy: living the message at the heart of the Word, the One Who is Love itself (1 Jn 4). May we always revel in that love and pray it would always pour forth from us along with a hearty Prost! — at Oktoberfest and in every time and place.
• Deacon Michael A. Cardella -Chaplain
