Today’s Scripture Readings

He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

The Gospel contains a straightforward yet challenging message: to give without seeking reward, and an invitation to broaden our circles. It makes sense; it is not truly generous to invite those who will presumably pay the favour forward to you in the future. Rather, true generosity is when we give to those who cannot repay us. In this Gospel, that is the poor, maimed, lame and blind, but we might look around us to find those on the periphery of our own lives.

The second invitation is one of evangelisation, to go beyond the people we already know to those outside of our circle. For those who do not yet know Jesus, we need to invite them into our family of faith. It could be our friends, families or colleagues who need to be invited. Again, we need to broaden our view and invite all the hungry to the heavenly banquet.

Heaven is the goal that comes from the faithful imitation of Christ in our earthly lives; this should be the end to which we are aiming. As such, we are called to practice virtue in faith now, looking not for the blessings of our peers, but for the blessings of God, a blessing that we could never truly earn or repay.

In the heavenly reality, we will find ourselves as the poor, maimed, lame and blind who have been invited to the feast. Christ does not gather only His friends, family and rich neighbours; the net of salvation is cast wide to all, with no one capable of repayment.

Jesus, help me give without an expectation of repayment. Soften my heart that I may love those around me as I love You. Amen.