Tuesday, 5 November 2013 Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint 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. Make people come in that my home may be filled The guests excuse themselves, whereas the Kingdom is closed to no one who does not exclude himself by his own decision. Our Lord kindly invites everyone in but it is our own laziness or distraction that keeps us out. Someone who prefers buying a farm has no place in the Kingdom! In Noahs day, buyers and sellers were engulfed by the flood (Lk 17,26-28),... and so it is for anyone who excuses himself because he has just married, since it is written: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother and wife... cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14,26)... And so, following the proud disdain of the wealthy Christ turned to the pagans. He brought in good and wicked that the good might be made greater and the inclinations of the wicked improve... He invited the poor, the sick, the blind, thus demonstrating that physical handicap keeps no one out of the Kingdom..., or rather, that the infirmity of sin is healed by the mercy of the Lord... Then he sends people out seeking at intersections in the roads, for “Wisdom cries aloud in the streets” (Prv 1,20). He sends them out to the crossroads that sinners might be told to abandon broad ways and meet up on the narrow way that leads to life (Mt 7,13). He sends them out along roads and hedgerows because people who are hastening towards the blessings to come without being held back by present blessings, who are committed to the way of good will, will attain the Kingdom of Heaven just like people who are able to make a distinction between good and evil as fields are divided by a hedge: that is to say, those who set up the rampart of faith against the temptations of sin.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 00:20:56 +0000
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