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God never destroys the work of his own hands, but removes what would pervert it, that is all. Maturity is the stage where the whole life has been brought under the direction of God.
- Oswald Chambers
(Let is happen. God
knows what God is doing) |
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PHIL 2:1-4; PS 131:1BCDE, 2, 3
LK
14:12-14
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your 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."
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture |
"When you have a reception, invite beggars and the crippled, the lame and
the blind." —Luke 14:13
According to Jesus, feeding the poor is a personal responsibility. The poor must be our personal friends. We should try to get to know them by visiting them, while encouraging them to call or drop in on us. The government and Church are not to take our place in feeding the poor but to supplement our individual efforts.
We should open our homes to the poor and serve them with our own hands. We can supplement this by writing a check to a social service agency, but a check can never take the place of hands-on, in-house service to the poor.
Jesus described His ministry as preaching Good News to the poor (Lk 4:18). He said that on Judgment Day our personal service to the poor would make an eternal difference (Mt 25:34ff). Jesus
freely chose to become poor (2 Cor 8:9). In our personal ministry, we must always make it a priority to "be mindful of the poor" (Gal 2:10) and have "a preferential love for the poor" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1586). We cannot love Jesus without loving the poor. They are God's presence in our midst, a challenge with eternal consequences, and a precious opportunity to love Jesus. Love the poor.
Prayer: Jesus, give me a
profound respect for poor people, irrespective of their circumstances.
Promise: "Never act out of rivalry or conceit; rather, let all parties think humbly of others as superior to themselves, each of you looking to others' interests rather than to his own." —Phil 2:3-4 Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence - by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
CHAPTER II. THE DIVINE ACTION WORKS UNCEASINGLY FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF SOULS.
SECTION I.The Divine Action.
The divine action, although only visible to the eye of faith, is everywhere, and always present.
All that we see is nothing but vanity and deceit;
truth can be found only in God. What a difference between the thoughts of God and the illusions of man! How is it that although continually warned that everything that happens in the world is but a shadow, a figure, a mystery of faith, we look at the outside only and do not perceive the enigma they contain? We fall into this trap like people without sense instead of raising our eyes to the principle, source and origin of all things, in which they all have their right name and just
proportions, in which everything is supernatural, divine, and sanctifying; in which all is part of the plenitude of Jesus Christ, and each circumstance is as a stone towards the construction of the heavenly Jerusalem, and all helps to build a dwelling for us in that marvellous city. We live according to what we see and feel and wander like madmen in a labyrinth of darkness and illusion for want of the light of faith which would guide us safely through it. By means of faith we should be able to
aspire after God and to live for Him alone, forsaking and going beyond mere figures.
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