REFLECTIONS TODAY

Saying “yes” to invitations seems to be a matter of course for most of us. After all, who does not want to be invited, especially to significant events like the wedding of a friend’s son or daughter? 

And yet, it may also be true that we give priority to other things and refuse or turn a deaf ear to certain invitations, and thus ending up hurting our friends. It is important, then, to discern carefully our priorities, to take time to weigh options rather than to be rush in our judgments. 

God’s invitations, needless to say, are more important than those of others. Reflecting on our lives, is there anything perhaps that God is inviting us to and yet, up to now, we have turned a deaf ear to it?

Is he, for example, inviting us to let go of our pride and be more forgiving instead? Or to give up what is so dear to us in view of a greater good? Let us then listen carefully to God and give priority to his biddings over everything else. 
 

Gospel • Luke 14:15-24 

One of those at table with Jesus said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.” He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’ But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves.

The first said to him,‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said,‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’ The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’ The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”

Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024.” E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.