Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners." (Lk 5:27-32)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022523.cfm
Eating and drinking with sinners was one of the first charges against Jesus. Whenever the church tries to play purity games with the Eucharist, it runs up against the prayer that the liturgy itself places on our lips before communion: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Saturday after Ash Wednesday, Saturday of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lent
