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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.
R./ 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.
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.’”
In the parable of the great supper, Jesus bitterly exposes the reluctance of the chosen people to accept salvation. He knows that what Hosea prophesied will be fulfilled: “And I will say to him who was not my people, You are my people, and he will say, You are my God. There is joy, because salvation will reach everyone, and pain, because in this people, His people, many will not accept salvation.
We, the baptized, are this new people, are we not? As members of the Church, yes. But when each one examines himself, it may be that the personal response, when we go to the bottom, does not correspond to what we proclaim when we sing, for example, “we are a people that walks” or “together as brothers, members of one Church”.
It is a question of priorities that becomes very visible when it comes to the celebration of Mass and personal prayer.
Mass and personal prayer: our daily choices come before the good, the good and the beautiful, in capital letters. That is, to be with Jesus, of whom St. Paul says in the first reading: “God has exalted him above all things.
And it is not because following him requires a certain degree of heroism. Let us say that every Catholic is called to sanctify the feasts in the way the Church has foreseen: by going to Mass. In short, a law of minimums. Let us also say that some, and quite a few, maintain the fiction that they practice, but at their own pace. What is the priority in our lives? What do we put before the Eucharistic banquet or a time of prayer and silence dedicated to the Lord? Banal pretexts with a discreet disguise of goodness to cover coldness, indifference, laziness. Also, and above all, incomprehension and ignorance of what this banquet really is. The Catechism states: “The Eucharist is the source and summit of all Christian life.
Like the guests in the parable, we excuse ourselves because there are “important” things that prevent us from going. Certainly, giving help when it is urgent, caring alone for an elderly person who needs help, caring for the little ones when no one else can do it… are reasons enough. But often our excuses are as ridiculous and as easy to procrastinate or ignore as those presented in the parable. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us to know what is essential, what nourishes our faith.
Virginia FernandezLord mighty God,
people—that is we—
often want to be their own gods;
we want to decide for ourselves
what we want to be and what is right and wrong.
Thank you for sending us your Son
who is God and wanted to be a human being,
to serve people, to suffer for people,
to save people from their pride and self-sufficiency.
Thank you for upsetting our values
and holding out the promise to us
that you will raise us up with Jesus,
and that we may acclaim him as our Lord
to give you glory, for ever and ever.
First Reading Introduction
We hear today in the first reading two stanzas from a beautiful hymn to Christ. It may be of Syrian origin and was probably used in the liturgy. It sums up Christ and his work in a few concise terms: divine, yet in the humble condition of a servant, a human being; crucified but risen and glorified above all. He emptied himself, that is, gave up the glory that was rightfully his. And this Christ is the model for people, the image of what a person must become. Are we that image?
Gospel Introduction
Today’s Gospel has partly the same theme as that of yesterday: that in the kingdom of God, we have to open our homes and hearts to the poor, the neglected, the people without name or fame. This is why we take the messages of the first reading.
– That the People of God and its leaders may not seek to impress the world with outward splendor and power but go to all as humble servants, we pray:
– That from Christ, we may learn to go out of our way to serve others, we pray:
– That we may help the poor not to boast of the good we do but to better their lot without humiliating them, we pray:
Lord our God,
your Son Jesus, appears among us here
in the humble, everyday signs
of a piece of bread and a bit of wine.
As we are full of ourselves,
let him give us the insight and courage
to empty ourselves of our pretenses.
Teach us to become with him
unassuming servants of one another
and of you, our God and Father for ever.
God our Father,
in this Eucharist, you have let us enjoy
the presence of him,
who was fully human among people like us,
your Son, Jesus Christ.
May we learn from him
that to be fully human means
to say yes to life with its joys and also its crosses,
to live for others
and even to accept death
as the gate to the lasting joy,
which you have prepared for us
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ. He emptied himself and humbled himself, accepting even death on the cross. Therefore, God exalted him. May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
