One of those at table with Jesus said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the kingdom of God.”
He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many.
When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’
But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’
The servant went and reported this to his master. 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.
For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'”
Don’t make up excuses
1- The feast. The figure of the feast is a celebration with family and friends. Because, what you have with God is a close family relationship. How nice it is to be able to see God like this: intimate and close, simple, frank… It’s a relationship that opens up in familiarity and friendship. That is why in mass, we speak of the “Paschal banquet”, the sacred banquet of communion, or the feast of faith. At mass, we are gathered in the celebration of the Eucharist; coming together to celebrate and share what we’ve been through. It’s like that Sunday lunch where we take time to talk about things that happened during the week. Our Sunday banquet goes along those same lines, but in faith, and with God himself. We share our life with God, in a close relationship, talking and listening to Him daily; simply and intimately.
2- Business. There are those people who can’t leave their work to celebrate life for a while. They are those who are immersed in their business or job, and cannot spare a moment for God. Perhaps today, something like that may have happened to you: your activities or money issues may occupy your time so much, that you not to give time to God. But even worse, you no longer have time to celebrate life and share a meal with those who love you most or who you love the most. You always have something else to do that doesn’t allow you to share time with others. Perhaps you share a meal with someone, but your mind is somewhere else and the dull expression , like a bulldog, on your face shows that you’re not really there, even though your body is. Today I invite you to review your life and see if your occupations and material things are leading you to forget about sharing life with God and with others.
3- The guests. Today Jesus wants you to remember it’s important to gather together for a good meal – that nice get-together you can enjoy with friends. It is so important to share time with one another; to take part and participate. It’s a matter of sharing our life, not only food, with others, knowing that we can’t live life on our own; we need one another. So, let’s go for it and live life fully. We need to recognize that we’re poor and in need of one another and of God. How nice it is to share life! Do you have someone to share life with? Or have your occupations already isolated you from everything and everyone? So, come on! Be strong! We are here for you. You’ll never be on your own.
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Don’t forget: Heaven is our goal!
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