Reflection on the Readings HUMILITY , FAIR WEATHER FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIP, EXCUSES EXCUSES! Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop Lectionary: 486 Reading 1 PHIL 2:5-11 The scriptures today call us to humility of heart. What Christ is asking for in his followers is to simply put the needs of others before our own and that Kingdom of God comes first. Here today in readings the the Son of God is presented as he who Scriptures say every knee shall bend and tongue proclaim and yet he takes the form of a slave. Humility takes this form where we consider no one below us. Groups formed for the exclusiveness or exclusion of others are not in keeping with the Gospel spirit of love. We all want dear friends but sometimes they are few and far between. We know who in our lives takes our friendship serious and those who dont by the way they act toward us when we ask them to spend some time with us or ask them to help us to move. We can say some of these people we call friends are more like fair-weather friends. Sometimes we are like that with God. In service to God as well many people say they want to serve God but when it is time to come to the table they come up with many ways to excuse themselves. What gets in our way of serving God what is our excuse. The people in the parable in the bible had some maybe similar to ours. 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.’ Could they not have gone to the dinner first and then done their business. The field and the cattle werent going anywhere and the wife was Im sure invited as well. God is not here to impose his will on us and take up all our freedom in fact we find more freedom in God and doing His will. In the Gospel there is a man who gave a great dinner. Someone giving a dinner obviously goes through allot of preparation and expense to do so. It does not say why he gave the banquet but we can assume this man like God is magnanimous and wanting to share his joy and goods with others. Imagine the insult when they did not come. The bible says the man went into a rage and said. ‘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.’” In the same way how would we feel say we cooked this huge Thanksgiving dinner and invited our friends and family and no one showed up. We would not want the food to go to waste. So God chooses to love us and show us His gratuity in many ways but why do we refuse it. Are we afraid he will not let us leave once we get there .There is a parallel to this story I think in the life of the Church. We must realize God wants to set us free and fulfill our lives in a life of grace in the Sacramental life of the Church and service to others. Brothers and sisters: Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and, found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Responsorial Psalm PS 22:26B-27, 28-30AB, 30E, 31-32 R. (26a) I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people. I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him. The lowly shall eat their fill; they who seek the LORD shall praise him: “May your hearts be ever merry!” R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; All the families of the nations shall bow down before him. R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people. For dominion is the LORD’s, and he rules the nations. To him alone shall bow down all who sleep in the earth. R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people. To him my soul shall live; my descendants shall serve him. Let the coming generation be told of the LORD that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born the justice he has shown. R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people. Gospel LK 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.’
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 13:41:01 +0000
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