Inviting the poor

Monday,
November 04, 2019
31st Week in Ordinary Time
1stReading:
Rom 11: 29-36
Gospel: Lk 14:12–14
Jesus addressed the man who had invited him and said, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, or your brothers and relatives and wealthy neighbors. For surely they will also invite you in return and you will be repaid. When you give a feast, invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Fortunate are you then, because they can’t repay you; you will be repaid at the Resurrection of the upright.”
DAiGITAL EXPERIENCE
Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience

In today’s Gospel reading Jesus prohibits inviting friends and relatives and wealthy neighbors to lunch or dinner. He addresses this to the very host who had invited him to a meal. Is he talking figuratively in this Gospel passage? Jesus couldn’t be mincing words because he even goes to the extent of specifying whom to invite: the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. At first blush this sounds insulting to his own host. But taken in the context of how his speech ends one can easily see the wisdom and pureness of his intent. He concludes: “Fortunate are you then, because they can’t repay you; you will be repaid at the Resurrection of the upright.” This wise lesson justifies the apparent tactlessness and indiscretion of the teaching.
This lesson reminds me of the late Albino Gothong, founder of A.D. Gothong Manufacturing in Mandaue City, Cebu. When he was alive, no food caterer looked forward to his birthday. He was not throwing birthday parties for his friends because he found giving the birthday party budget to the poor more meaningful and spiritually enriching. We see so much wisdom behind this attitude. Wealthy guests will find expensive food ordinary, and they will even expect it. The poor will find the same food extraordinary and will be thankful to God and will be grateful to the host for the rest of their lives. The gratitude of the poor is sweet because their thanksgiving comes from a non-expectant heart surprised to the highest heavens. This is the kind of thanksgiving that is too loud for heaven to ignore.
What can rich guests do in return? The least they could do is come with expensive gifts and invite the host in return in future occasions. On the other hand, the only thing poor people can do is to summon the blessings of God upon the host. Some don’t, but God’s blessings will pour down on the host just the same. When Jesus said ‘whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers you do unto me’, he was assuring his listeners that God will take it personally what people do to their poor fellows.– (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., J.D., D.M. Email:[email protected].