DAILY MEDITATION: “Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor…"

Liturgical day: Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel text (Lk 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."

“Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor… blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Fr. Austin Chukwuemeka IHEKWEME
(Ikenanzizi, Nigeria)

Today, the Lord teaches us the true meaning of Christian generosity: to learn how to devote ourselves to others. "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.” (Lk 14, 12).

Christians move about in this world as any other person; but the fundamental purpose in dealing with our neighbor cannot be either human rewards or the vainglory; over everything else, we have to seek the Glory of God pretending no other recompense than Heaven. “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" (Lk 42,13-14).

The Lord invites all of us to give ourselves unconditionally to all men, motivated only by our love for God and for our brothers in the Lord. “If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount” (Lk 6, 34).

Things are like that because the Lord helps us to understand that, if we give ourselves unselfishly, without expecting anything in return, God will repay us with a greater reward and will confirm us as His favorite children. This is why Jesus tells us: “But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High” (Lk 6, 35).

Let us beg from the Mother of God enough generosity so that we can elude any temptation of selfishness, as her Son did. “Selfish. Always looking after yourself You seem incapable of feeling the fraternity of Christ. In those around you, you do not see brothers: you see stepping stones…” (Saint Josemaria Escriva).

Source: evangeli.net