August 29, 2010 22nd Ordinary Sunday Sir. 3:19-21, 30-31; Heb. 12:18-19, 22-24; Lk. 14:1, 7-14 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/nab/082910.shtml   ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Our society works on the basis of mutual invitation. As long as we conduct ourselves in such a way, we have the convenience of speaking our own religious and cultural language. Intellectually and spiritually, we live comfortably. But Jesus is not enthusiastic about it. The real meaning of hospitality is found in inviting someone who cannot repay you, someone who is unfamiliar to you. Then the concept of invitation - hospitality - receives a Christ-related meaning. Christ is the hospitality of God toward us. He invites all of us, from all languages and cultures, to the great feast, the Lord’s Supper, the feast which none of us can repay.   Throughout his gospel, Luke has focused on Jesus' heart for the poor and socially unacceptable people of his day. In fact, the sure sign of the presence of God was to be, "good news" for the poor. The Messiah's mission was to bring healing to the sick, sight to the blind and freedom for the oppressed.   Hospitality is one of the marks of the faithful community. "Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers," Paul wrote to the church at Rome [Rom. 12:13]. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews enjoined his readers, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it" [Heb. 13:2].   The Christian community, bound together in mutual love, is to live as a visible demonstration of the Kingdom of God. Hospitality and reaching out to the captives and suffering are marks of the people of God.   Christians live in light of the teaching of their leaders, acknowledge the continuing Lordship of Jesus Christ and are in continual worship of God - both in their inner lives and outer actions.   Jesus tells, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, four unfortunate types, poor, crippled, lame, and blind. They cannot reciprocate. Helping those, feeding those means that one will not be repaid. They are unable to do so. This is true generosity. Spending money on people who will invite one back, pay one back, is not generosity. It might be worldly wisdom or “business sense,” but it is not really generous.     <<   Previous: 21st Ordinary Sunday  | Next: 23rd Ordinary Sunday >>   Go Back to SERMONS (Year C)