Tag: banquet

“Make people come in that my home may be filled.” | Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 14:15-24)

Jesus said: “Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’ The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled.'”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells a parable while dining at the house of a Pharisee. He responds to a guest’s comment about the blessedness of those who will eat in the kingdom of God. In the parable, Jesus tells how people respond differently to a man’s invitation to others to dine at his banquet. Each one is preoccupied with worldly distractions and excuse themselves from the invitation. So the man sends out his servant to invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. The man in the parable represents God, and the great banquet symbolizes the kingdom of God. But the ones first invited excuse themselves from attending. What reason in the world is there to reject the blessings God gives to those he invites to his kingdom?

Father in heaven, help me understand the meaning of today’s Gospel, especially the last words of the man in the parable: “For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.” How clear is your Son in this, the Eucharistic invitation to “eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood.” Give me the grace, Lord, to say yes to your invitation to the true food and true drink of the Eucharist. Whenever I have the ability to attend Mass during the week, let me hear and respond to your invitation to dine in the Kingdom of God.

From the Gospel acclamation: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest, says the Lord.” Lord, let me trust in your mercy.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Blessed indeed will you be.” | Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 14:12-14)

Jesus said: “Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Jesus speaks in today’s Gospel to a leading Pharisee who invited him to dine at his home. He tells him not to invite those close to him in case they might invite him back and as a result have repayment. In telling the Pharisee to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, Jesus instructs him in the means of resurrection to eternal life with the Father. Three times Jesus mentions the notion of repayment in reference to its flow. Who does the Pharisee host, and what is expected in return? In what many forms does fear of repayment bind, and what does Jesus teach about hospitality and the flow of currency that leads to the banquet of eternal life?

Father in heaven, I don’t often see and am not accustomed to seeing the broken and destitute people Jesus names in the Gospel. Yet it is exactly those who are to be invited to the banquet. Jesus holds true to his word in that he invites the same to his banquet at every celebration of the Mass. In receiving the Eucharist, as I approach the body and blood of Christ before the altar, I become the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. In that sacrament I recognize my dependence on you for every good gift and invite the Holy Spirit to do what is necessary so that I become the body and blood of Christ that I consume. Give me the grace, Lord, to be Christlike to the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame in whatever guise I encounter them. And help me begin to see that they are right before me every day. “For the LORD hears the poor,” the psalmist writes, “and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”

From the responsorial psalm: “But I am afflicted and in pain; let your saving help, O God, protect me. I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him with thanksgiving. Lord, in your great love, answer me.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaVQ82g2C4

“The feast is ready.” | Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 22:1-14)

Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants. . . . Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. . . . Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to the chief priest and elders, the Jewish spiritual leaders. The wedding feast he describes is the kingdom of heaven. In the parable, the king goes to extremes to fill his hall with guests. The ones invited are not worthy to come. Why is that? One went away to attend to his farm, another to his business. Others beat and killed the servants who invited them. In comparing the unworthy who were invited to the banquet to the chief priests and elders, Jesus then goes on to say in the parable that the invitations would go out to those on the street, to the good and the bad alike. As in the wedding banquet, the invitation to the kingdom of heaven goes out to the good and bad alike. Some accept that invitation, and some don’t. God goes to extremes in his invitation to feast at the banquet of his mercy. What in the world is there that would keep us from accepting it?

Father in heaven, you invite me to hear and accept your invitation to come into your kingdom. Throughout the course of the day, let me stop to ponder what that means. You, the creator of heaven and earth, say to me as you say to many, “Come to the banquet.” How am I to respond to that in thanksgiving, in my words and actions, and in how I treat others? Give me the grace, Lord, always to say yes to your invitation.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.