Monday November 4
INVITE THOSE IN DISTRESS
Introduction
In the first reading, Paul says that God has never revoked his choice of Israel. Everyone and all are called to be saved by God’s mercy. That Israel did not accept Christ led to salvation being offered to the Gentiles.
We are inclined to love and invite those who love and invite us. Is this genuine love according to God’s standards? True love is gratuitous and opens itself to the poor and to outcasts. This is beautiful to say but hard to do. What is our practice?
Opening Prayer
Lord our God and Father,
we come together here as a people
to share in the feast of Jesus, our Savior.
Let this celebration be the sign of the feast without end
which you have prepared for us.
Make us rejoice with you
and welcome all with open arms,
people from everywhere, all nations,
the poor and the rich, the weak and the strong.
May all accept your invitation,
that we may rejoice with all
in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Reading 1: Rom 11:29-36
Brothers and sisters:
The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy
because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.
For God delivered all to disobedience,
that he might have mercy upon all.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given him anything
that he may be repaid?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To God be glory forever. Amen.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 69:30-31, 33-34, 36
R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.
But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your saving help, O God, protect me.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
"See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not."
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
For God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
They shall dwell in the land and own it,
and the descendants of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall inhabit it.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Alleluia: Jn 8:31b-32
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: 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."
Intercessions
– That those we encounter at the crossroads of life may hear and accept too, the invitation to the table of the Lord, we pray:
– That the Lord who destroys death may give consolation and strength to all who mourn the death of a loved one, we pray:
– That also the communities without priests, isolated as they often are, may receive the Lord as their food, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord God,
we are preparing your table.
Like your Son,
may we open life’s happiness and share it
first of all with the most deprived.
Make us set your and our table
for those who have no access
to most of life’s goods and resources.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord, our hospitable God,
we have shared the table of Jesus, your Son.
Let this mean for us that we have also to share our table
with the humble and the dispossessed,
even people who are difficult and not very lovable.
Inspire us to help them back on their feet
and to restore to them that which no one can dispense with:
self-esteem, self-confidence
and the indestructible courage
to be human persons.
Grant us this through Christ, our Lord.
Blessing
An impossible task? Something which only the naïve would try? Jesus has asked us today to care about the unlovable – or so we think – for no one is unlovable to God. Jesus cared and loved outcasts and sinners. Dare we follow him? May Almighty God give you wisdom and courage and bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Commentary
O felix culpa! “O happy fault!” Misfortune can be turned into good. It was through the disobedience of the Jews that the message of salvation went to the Gentiles. The Jews have persisted in their disobedience, even after mercy has been shown to the Gentiles. But mercy is also in store for the Jews. God had allowed the Gentiles at an earlier time to live in disobedience, and now the Jews in order that mercy might be showered upon all. Indeed, the ways of God are shrouded in mystery.
We are all aware of deathbed conversions, of a turning to the Lord only in the terminal phase of life. It is but another example of the mercy of God. For this we should praise God whose love reaches the just and the unjust.
In today’s Gospel Christ suggests that the dinner invitation should be extended, not to close relatives and friends, but to the unwanted—the crippled, the lame, and the blind. There is no indication as to whether the invitation will be appreciated or not. The fact is that these are the people with whom God is particu¬larly concerned. His mercy reaches the most unwanted people of the earth.
Points to Ponder
God’s mercy for Jew and Gentile
Invitations for the noninvited
Seeking the disenfranchised.
Invite those in distress
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