Tuesday - November 03, 2020
'We truly love God and keep His commandments if we restrain ourselves from our pleasures. For he who still abandons himself to unlawful desires certainly does not love God, since he contradicts Him in his own intentions. . . Therefore, he loves God truly, whose mind is not conquered by consent to evil delight. For the more one takes pleasure in lower things, the more he is separated from heavenly love.'
-- Pope St. Gregory the Great
TODAY'S READINGS
November 3, 2020
Tuesday of the
Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 153
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.
Alleluia MT 11:28
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come to me, all you
who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you
rest, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
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.’”
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Your Invitation to God's Party
Jesus enjoyed going to dinner parties. He never turned down an invitation, even when it meant dining with hypocritical scholars of the law and Pharisees, which is where today's Gospel reading took place. Parties gave him an opportunity to mingle, and when he mingled, he ministered. Here, he used the occasion to teach the importance of accepting every invitation that comes to us from God.
Perhaps someone has invited you to get up a little earlier and go to daily Mass; this is God hoping that you'll come to his breakfast banquet. Or maybe your priest has sent out a general invitation to a special church event. Or have you been asked to teach children or sing in the choir? Some of my readers have been invited to the priesthood or a religious order. What have you done with God's invitation?
Not all invitations are from God. How do we know which invitations to accept? In my own life, I find it helpful to ask the Holy Spirit to increase in me the desire to do what he's inviting me to do and to decrease all other desires. Then I wait to see what happens.
For example, if there's a choice of two activities on the same weekend, should I do both? God wants me to spend some of the time resting in his lap. Therefore, I will choose only one, but which one? I pray: "Lord, whichever of these two opportunities is your will, increase my desire and energy for doing it and make me feel lethargic and uneasy about the other. And if both are pleasing to you, help me to make the best decision for this weekend."
Then, I trust how my feelings change, and I also trust that if I misinterpret God, he'll turn it all into good, because my motives were right: I did want to do his will.
Discernment only works if we surrender our will and ideas to God, giving him permission to change us, and listening quietly to the Holy Spirit's nudgings deep within us. There are no good excuses for saying no to God.
It's an odd thing about the kingdom of God: The way we get into the party is not as a special guest who should be entertained, but by becoming like Jesus our Host, who, as we see in today's first reading, "emptied himself and took the form of a servant." This is why many turn away from God's invitations.
Every invitation to God's party looks like a job -- a service -- of some sort, and it will often seem difficult and unpleasant. "Dear friend," the invitation card reads, "please join me in the celebration I've planned. It's a pot-luck supper, so bring something to share."
Ugh. I was hoping this would be a catered affair.
But you know what? Once we get into the task that God's invited us to do, we discover it comes with many blessings. We come alive with personal satisfaction and renewed energy, because we're doing it with Jesus.
Today's Prayer
Enlighten, Lord, my mind with the light of Your Holy Spirit to act with wisdom, strength and generosity. Amen.
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