September 1^st  2019.  Twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 14:1,7-14

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   Luke 14:1,7-14

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.
He told a parable to those who had been invited,
noticing how they were choosing the places of honour at the table.
"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,
do not recline at table in the place of honour.
A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him,
and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say,
'Give your place to this man,'
and then you would proceed with embarrassment
to take the lowest place.
Rather, when you are invited,
go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say,
'My friend, move up to a higher position.'
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.
For every one who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
Then 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 your relatives or your wealthy neighbours,
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."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel, Jesus exhorts us not to sit at the places of honour in a banquet because we risk being asked by the host to go to a less prestigious place. What is Jesus doing here? Is he giving rules of etiquette so as to save us from social embarrassment? No! He is not interested in anything so silly. As always, Jesus is saying something much more profound. Each one of us is conditioned to always look for first place. In work, in school, even in our families, we enter into rivalries with others. We react when we are ignored, when we are unobserved, when we are taken for granted. We yearn for notice, recognition, glory. This furious striving to place ourselves ahead of others causes so much tension and anguish in our lives! That is why Jesus encourages us to take the last place. What is the last place? In the Garden of Eden, Adam tried to put himself in first place by ignoring God’s command. But when we put ourselves last, then we allow God to assign a place to us! The place that God assigns to us bestows on us a dignity and freedom that we would never achieve if we follow our own pursuit of “dignity” and “prestige”. Do you want true satisfaction? Do you want a real reward? Then stop seeking yourself and allow God’s providence to take care of you. In the second part of the Gospel, Jesus exhorts us to give to those who have nothing to give us in return. In other words, do not give to the rich and powerful, but to those who are blind, lame and ill. Who is blind lame and ill? The people that I live with! Like me, they have their poverty, their patches of blindness, their slowness. These are the people that I must serve, especially in their negative aspects. In every marriage, sooner or later, you must face up to the fact that your spouse is poor, blind and lame in many respects, as you are yourself! It is at this moment that we must love as God has loved us.

Jesus asks us to take last place. What does he mean? Adam tried to take first place in the Garden of Eden! Taking last place means allowing God to assign a place to us.

The parable that constitutes the first part of this Sunday's Gospel invites us to take "the last place". What place is that? It is the position that we take when we are in a genuine relationship with our heavenly Father. In the garden of Eden, Adam took the first place, trying to take the position of God himself, with disastrous results! Salvation is all about becoming disciples, or being called to follow Jesus. If we follow his guidance, then he leads us to the right place, and this place is the carrying out of our unique mission. We are afraid to follow him because our souls are anxious to maintain themselves in first place! We fear not being important, not being acknowledged or recognized. Why are we so preoccupied with being in first place?  Why are our hearts so clogged with the obsession for honour and recognition?  In truth, we live an existence woven of things that last no more than five minutes!

What kind of satisfaction do you look for in life? What reward do you seek? The position that the Lord gives us confers upon us a dignity, freedom and meaning that we would never discover when we impose our own will on life.

The Lord has called us to something much more important and solid. He has a position to give us, one in which we receive a dignity that makes us free, a dignity that the contempt of others cannot damage. Our mistake is that we try to impose our own meaning on existence instead of allowing ourselves to be led by Providence. When we allow ourselves to be led by Him, we discover a whole new quality of joy, a celebration that will never end and that no one can take away from us. How many Christians in history have tasted this fullness of joy once they stopped trying to choose their own place and allowed themselves instead to be assigned a place by God! This joy is attained through acts of abandonment.

In the second part of the Gospel, Jesus exhorts us to give to those who have nothing to give us in return. In other words, do not give to the rich and powerful, but to those who are blind, lame and ill. Who is blind lame and ill? The people that I live with! Like me, they have their poverty, their patches of blindness, their slowness. These are the people that I must serve, especially in their negative aspects.

Jesus, in the second part of the Gospel, describes the organization of a dinner and a strange list of guests. Friends, family and rich neighbours are not to be included. Instead, invitations are to be sent out to "the poor, the lame and the blind", people who arrive with empty hands, who do not have anything to offer in return. The distinction that Jesus wishes to make is this: Is life about serving or being served? Feeding or being fed? It is not just a matter of choosing strangers to invite, but those who have absolutely nothing to give. That person could also be my brother or someone close to me, someone who is "poor, lame, blind". Every person has his blindness, his poor aspects, his slowness, his distortions.

In every marriage, sooner or later, you must face up to the fact that your spouse is poor, blind and lame in many respects, as you are yourself! It is at this moment that we must love as God has loved us.

In premarital courses, when preparing young people for marriage, it is necessary to train the future spouses in a simple truth: marriage is not a call to be with the other person simply because it is satisfying, intelligent, good or beautiful. True love is something unconditional. Therefore, it doesn’t always have these satisfactions. In fact, in every marriage, sooner or later, you have to come to terms with the fact that the person in front of you is poor, blind and lame in many respects. Just like you! It is at times like this that we all desperately need to be able to love like God, who loved us in times of poverty, in our lameness and when we understood nothing. In fact, none of us is ever "worthy of participating at his table". In summary, there are two opposite ways of living: seeking the best place and doing what benefits us most ... or letting God put us where he wants and live for the benefits that he bestows upon us. We will discover that God is much more generous than the whole world!