“When you give a feast, invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.”

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29

 My son,

Conduct your affairs with discretion and you will be loved by those who are acceptable to God.

The greater you are, the more you should humble yourself and thus you will find favor with God. For great is the power of the Lord and it is the humble who give him glory.

 For the sufferings of the proud man there is no remedy, the roots of evil are implanted in him. The wise man reflects on proverbs. What the wise man desires is an attentive ear.

 

Ps 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11

God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.

 

    ＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

Hebrews : 12:18-19, 22-24a

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses: nor heat of a blazing fire, darkness and gloom and storms,   blasts of trumpets or such a voice that the people pleaded that no further word be spoken.   

But you came near to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem with its innumerable angels. You have come to the solemn feast,   the assembly of the firstborn of God, whose names are written in heaven.

There is God, Judge of all, with the spirits of the upright brought to per­fec­tion.  There is Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, with the sprinkled blood that cries out more effectively than Abel’s.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

Luke 14:1, 7-14

One Sabbath Jesus had gone to eat a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee, and he was carefully watched.  Jesus then told a parable to the guests, for he had noticed how they tried to take the places of honor. And he said,   “When you are invited to a wedding party, do not choose the best seat.

It may happen that someone more important than you has been invited,   and your host, who invited both of you, will come and say to you: ‘Please give this person your place.’ What shame is yours when you take the lowest seat!

Whenever you are invited, go rather to the lowest seat, so that your host may come and say to you: ‘Friend, you must come up higher.’ And this will be a great honor for you in the presence of all the other guests.   For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised.”

Jesus also addressed the man who had invited him and said, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, or your brothers and relatives and wealthy neighbors. For surely they will also invite you in return and you will be repaid.  

 When you give a feast, invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.  Fortunate are you then, because they can’t repay you; you will be repaid at the Resurrection of the upright.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

Feeding the Hungry

Read: We are exhorted to practice discretion and humility. Those who humble themselves will find themselves raised-to the city of God where they live with God. Jesus affirms the virtue of humility and encourages us to give without expectations of return.

Reflect: Jesus speaks of inviting the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind to our dining tables. As per the United Nations, the people living in extreme poverty (read, those living on less than $1.90 a day) in the world would number around 703-729 million in 2020-21.

About 690 million people go hungry and 21.3% of the world’s children suffer from stunting due to chronic malnutrition. Now read this: The world wastes or loses annually 1.3 billion tons of food and 1.6 billion tons of primary product equivalents.

The total global military expenditure in 2019 was $1,917 billion! If not for heavenly reasons, at least for humane and earthly reasons, it is time we invited the poor and the hungry to our dining tables, provided for them, and took care of their needs. And this act must begin, humbly, at the dining tables of every family.

Pray: Lord, give us humble and generous hearts that care for the needs of others.

Act: Share your food with a hungry person today.