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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,

don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbours.

For they will invite you back,

and that will be your only reward.

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Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

Then at the resurrection of the righteous,

God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

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– Luke 14:12-14 (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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It is not that Jesus does not want us to invite our friends and acquaintances.

What He is emphasising

is that we should likewise spend time and money and effort

in providing fellowship and joy to those who so lack them.

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Donating cash to the needy and to the excluded and marginalised,

for them to go and buy their own food, is one thing.

It is not a bad thing of course,

but it is nowhere near actually inviting them

to come and sit at table with us.

There we can serve them not just food as sustenance,

but also generous portions of love, joy, peace, hope and encouragement.

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They have no means to repay us,

and our own happiness comes from the fact

that our gesture is totally gratuitous, without asking for anything.

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What a blessing it is

to have both host and guests filled with loving joy.

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PRAYER…

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Come, Lord Jesus,

let me serve You.

Open the eyes of my heart

so that I can see You in others

who are bearing much heavier crosses of life than I am.

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Let me not turn my face away from the needy

but rather, let me serve them,

and eat and drink with them,

as I seek Your face in them

and then find You seated right by my side.

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Lord Jesus, I want to serve You.

Please lead me to my guests;

please lead me to You!

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Amen.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Come, Lord Jesus, I want to serve You.

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YEAR OF FAITH 2012-2013

FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH…

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“For the poor will never cease out of the land;

therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother,

to the needy and to the poor in the land.'” (Deut 15:11)

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Jesus makes these words His own:

“The poor you always have with you,

but you do not always have me.”(Jn 12:8)

In so doing He … invites us to recognise His own presence in the poor who are His brethren:

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When her mother reproached her

for caring for the poor and the sick at home,

St. Rose of Lima said to her:

“When we serve the poor and the sick, we serve Jesus.

We must not fail to help our neighbours,

because in them we serve Jesus.”

[CCC 2449]

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