REFLECTIONS TODAY
The Gospel reading is the third in a series of teachings about banquets and invitations. This time it is the Messiah who throws a banquet.
He invites people belonging to all walks of life, but they show no interest in it. They have all kinds of excuses, like attending to their appointments. They do not know their priorities.
This makes the host angry, and he commands his servant to then invite everyone, including those who do not look nice.
The Kingdom of God is like that. God wants us to join in his meal because he can feed all of us, regardless of who we are.
We, Christians, should prioritize the eucharistic meal every Sunday, before anything else. We should not snub God’s invitation to be with his Son. We will regret forever if we neglect to savor God’s love and mercy even for just a minute in our lives. Let us not deprive our hungry souls of sharing in the sacred meal.
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: “365 Days with the Lord 2025,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.