Tag: the poor

“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