Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according Saint Luke 14, 15-24
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. It is great 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. Some people cannot leave their work to celebrate life for a while. Others are immersed in their business or job and cannot spare a moment for God. Perhaps today, something like that may be happening to you: your activities or economic issues may take up all your time, so much so that you do not give time to God. But you also no longer have time to celebrate life and share a meal with those who love you. You always have something else to do that does not allow you to share time with others. Perhaps you share a meal with someone, but your mind is somewhere else and the dull expression on your face shows that you are not really there, even though your body is. Today I invite you to review your life and see if your occupations and material matters are leading you to forget to share life with God and with others.
3. The guests. Today Jesus wants to remind you of the importance of meeting your friends and family for a 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 cannot live life on our own, that we need one another. So, let’s go for it and live life fully. We need to recognize that we are poor and in need of one another and of God. How great it is to share life! Do you have someone to share life with? Or have your occupations already isolated you from everything and everyone? Come on! Be strong! We are here for you. You will never be on your own.
Never forget that something good is on the way!
God bless you, be with you and protect you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
