Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: 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.'”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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We’ve all made different commitments in life. Some of them are quite demanding.

For example, there’s marriage, family, friends, work, ministry, sports, leisure, and so on. If we ordered them from most to least important, which commitment would come out on top? Which one would be second? Third?

We really don’t need to answer the question with words; how we spend our time speaks for itself.

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In today’s Gospel, we encounter three people who’ve made the same commitment – to attend a friend’s dinner party.

However, when the time for the party arrives, each says to the host, “I ask you, consider me excused.”

One just purchased a new plot of land. Another bought five oxen. A third was just married and preferred to be alone with his wife, even though they could’ve gone to the banquet together.

Being attentive to your spouse, tending your land, and caring for your animals are all good things. But each of these three people fell victim to a timeless temptation: choosing what is good over what is great.

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The Lord uses this imagery of hosting a dinner party to describe God’s invitation for us to join him at Mass.

Often, we say “yes,” as we should. 

But when do we find ourselves saying, “I ask you, consider me excused?” What life priorities trump Sunday worship?

It could be one of the many other commitments we’ve made: work, our child’s sports schedule, even feeling tired after a dinner party the night before. When this happens, the Lord falls from first to second place in our lives.

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“Come, everything is ready,” Jesus says to us. Will we accept his invitation this week?

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Image credits: (1) Oakwood Church of Carrollwood (2) LinkedIn (3) Jesus with the Eucharist at the Last Supper, Juan de Juanes

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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.

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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.

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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 still speaks 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.

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Who might the Lord be inviting into the Church today? How might we welcome them?

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“When you hold a banquet,” Jesus says, a banquet at the altar , “invite those unable to repay you.” 

Blessed will we be.

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Image credits: (1) Merriam Webster (2) Pinterest (3) Amazon

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Gospel: John 6: 37-40

Jesus said to the crowds:
“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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There are two fears that most people share: public speaking and death… I have the honor of dealing with both of them today!

On this Feast of All Souls, we pray for all people who’ve gone before us in the hope of rising again. Our parents, grandparents, spouses, Pope Francis, recent victims of Hurricane Melissa, maybe even one of our children.

This is a wide-ranging, complex, and emotional feast day. But at the very heart of it, I believe there are three questions we need to ask.

Why is there death? What is eternity? And what is heaven like?

I hope to answer them, albeit partially.

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After the death of his own brother, Saint Ambrose said, “God prescribed death as a remedy.” Not to punish us, but to put a definitive end to evil, to preserve in the afterlife only that which is good. 

Death is a remedy.

On the one hand, no one wants to die. But, on the other, no one wants to suffer indefinitely. While things like love, beauty, and humor color and add meaning to life, there are also many things which we tire of – hunger, thirst, cancer, war, and so on. Death is the antidote.

But while we suffer, we’re often left to wonder, “Is there a better life, a world without sin?”

Fortunately, there is. After his great vision of heaven, the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation. 

In heaven, he tells us, we will look upon God’s face. “Night will be no more, nor will [we] need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give us light, and we shall reign forever.”

We are destined for this place of eternal light, love, and joy, and, “no one shall take your joy from you,” Jesus assures us.

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Eternity is not an unending succession of days, a rolling calendar with an infinite number of “Tuesdays,” when the alarm goes off and we rise for work. 

Eternity is the moment of supreme satisfaction, like plunging into the ocean without ever having to draw a breath, where before and after no longer exist. 

Death is only a comma in the perpetual sentence of life. While it’s only human for us to try packing all of life’s meaning into this space before the comma, the truth is the best is yet to come.

What the deceased have in eternity is what we often lack here on earth, perspective. They see and enjoy the end for which we were made.

Yet those sanctified souls in heaven also experience what Pope Benedict XVI called an “incomplete joy.” They gaze happily upon the face of God, while also longing for us to join them. 

They remind us that Christian hope is not solely individual. Our lives are intimately linked to others; salvation is about all of us. Life, death, and eternity are communal events.

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What, then, is heaven like?

The bible describes heaven as a city, “the new, eternal Jerusalem.” There is no city on earth where every person lives perfectly; although vast wealth, security, and community can be found, earthly cities are also ridden with poverty and crime.

But imagine a “city” in the perfect sense of the word; a place where everyone is secure, together, and fulfilled. There is peace. All have the sense of being “at home.”

In this city, there will be a wedding. 

At a wedding, two of the most basic human needs are met: the need for intimacy and the need to be fed. Spouses commit themselves to each other in order to create a fuller life together. Often they spend extravagantly on their wedding day to share their joy with others.

This very human experience of merging two lives into one points towards that heavenly banquet when humanity will be wedded to God forever. Out of his joy, God will share with us everything he is and everything he has. 

As Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven, may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son… Everything is ready; come to the feast.”

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Today, we gather to pray for our loved ones who have already been invited to, “Come to the feast.” We rejoice for them, we pray in gratitude for their lives, and for the gift they have been to us. 

We also ask God for the strength to continue our own journeys of faith so that, one day, the city of God may be completely filled with life – including yours and mine. 

“Come to the feast.”

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Image credits: (1) HAIL (2) All Souls Day, William-Adoplhe Bouguereau (3) Vatican News