***
Gospel: Luke 14: 12-14
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
“When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
***
Every so often, we hear stories about people who apply the Gospel to their daily lives in a very literal way.
For example, Mother Teresa’s parents took today’s Gospel passage to heart. “When you hold a lunch or dinner,” Jesus says, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.”
Whenever they held a large family gathering at their home in Albania, Mother Teresa’s parents would send her and her siblings out into the streets to invite those who could not repay them – literally the sick and the homeless.
I can only imagine what kind of conversations they had around their table.
Those dinners instilled in Mother Teresa from a very young age a passion for the world’s poorest, so much so that she not only served them for the rest of her life, she also became poor, essentially keeping as her only possessions a crucifix and the clothing on her back.
***
It may seem impractical, if not impossible, for us to populate our dinner table with the same type of guests today. But the heart of this Gospel passage should still speak to us as a Church.
What Christ longs for from us is a spirit of inclusion, generosity, and humility whereby all are seen as equals and welcomed – not only around the altar – but also into our hearts.
***
Who might feel excluded from the Church today? How might we welcome them?
***
“When you hold a banquet,” the Lord says, “invite those unable to repay you.”
Blessed will you be.
***
***
Image credits: (1) For The Church (2) Faith Bible Church (3) DreamsTime.com