WHO SHOULD YOU INVITE?
While we rightly go to Jesus and call on Him for help,
courage, and even consolation in life's difficulties, He still challenges us to
give more and to do more each day of our lives.
Do not invite just
your friends and family, but have a place at table for the poor and crippled as
well, and be of one mind. This is the message from today's readings. St. Paul encourages us to
be of one voice and thought. He also challenges us to think of the needs of
others as superior to our own, thus, looking out for one another's needs. Jesus
seems to suggest something similar in today's Gospel when He tells us to invite
those who are less fortunate with the expectation of an eternal reward rather
than payment in this life.
Part of the American
dream is to get ahead. Some people like to observe that in this country you can
become anything you want. In climbing the ladder of advancement it is often
necessary for one to ingratiate themselves with the right people. "Who you
know" is frequently more important than "what you can do". As a
result, the wife of an ambitious husband finds herself lavishly entertaining
guests who are influential in her husband's field of endeavor and vice versa.
Jesus presents the
opposite picture. He insists that He has come not to be served but to serve. He
associates with the poor and the lowly. His spirit is not "What can people
do for me?" but "What can I do for people?" He wants His
followers to have this same outlook. And it is this broad outlook He envisions,
not merely dinner invitations, when He says, "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 14:14).
St. Paul had the mind of Christ when he wrote, "Let all
parties think of others as superior to themselves, each of you looking to
others' interests rather than his own." To abandon our own interests for
the sake of others is a program for life. To adopt this program requires faith.
The first act of faith is the conviction that there is more to life than what
the American dream proposes. It is an assurance that Jesus is the model for the
right way to live, and that He shows us that true fulfillment and happiness
come from acting unselfishly. We need to think only of how Jesus, in every
circumstance, put Himself at the disposal of peoples' needs.
The second act of
faith is the conviction that the Christian dream is a reality, the hope of
resurrection to the fullness of life with Christ. It is the assurance that if
we follow the example of Jesus, He Himself will be our reward on the day of
resurrection. The fact is that while we rightly go to Jesus and call on Him for
help, courage, and even consolation in life's difficulties, He still challenges
us to give more and to do more each day of our lives.
This is the true
meaning of life!