Word to the Wise
Monday, October 31, 2011 - Monday in the 31th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 11:29-36 and Luke 14:12-14,]When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite you friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
I have just completed the preaching of a novena in honor of St. Jude at the shrine in New Orleans on Rampart Street. This location is near the French Quarter and public housing projects. On Saturday, the parish hosted a regular event of a meal for the homeless. So many people came that all the food was eaten, and this place knows how much is usually needed! Throughout the novena I have seen just about every level of social and economic status attend the novena and sitting side by side at the services. It has been an inspiring experience. Therefore Jesus' words, quoted above, took on a living character in my sight!
The expectation of "repayment" or "reciprocity" in regard to social engagements was common in Jesus' time, and I suspect it is common in our own time. People will invite folks to a party with the idea of being invited in return, especially if there is a desire "to see what their house is like!" Jesus challenges potential hosts to invite those who cannot reciprocate the invitation. This theme of generosity with material goods is very strong in the Gospel of Luke! It is this gospel that presents us the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus! How many of us would have the courage to do what the Shrine of St. Jude (or other similar places) does in New Orleans? Perhaps we can help make it possible? AMEN