Then Jesus said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers 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." (Lk 14:1, 7-14)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/083125.cfm
I remember a couple from one of my parishes who always invited those who had no one with whom to share the holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July. Sometimes there would be 14-20 of us gathered in their home. Perhaps that’s what the Lord had in mind for the Eucharist as well! Maybe we need to reach out to those who are NOT at the Lord’s Table, especially those no one else would invite.
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.
Sunday XXII, Ordinary Time
