Monday 31st October 2022. Read Phil. 2:1-4, Ps. 131, Luke 14:12-14
“When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:13-14)
Have you noticed that food tastes differently when eaten alone? Do you sometimes ask yourself why the same amount of food when shared with others fills your stomach faster than when you eat alone? Are you surprised at this saying: “When you want to walk FAST, walk ALONE, but if you want to walk FAR, then walk with SOMEBODY.”
However, the great economist Adam Smith once said: “self-interest is the first law of nature.” As much as we know the importance of looking out for the interests of others over that of ours, in practice, we only think of others when we stand to gain something in return from them.
Jesus went to the house of a leading Pharisee to eat, but upon noticing the caliber of people who had been invited, he said to his host: “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
How difficult it is for us to invite poor people to our celebrations? Or those who do not have what it takes to invite us in return. How difficult it is for us to stretch out a helping hand to people who may never help us in the future?
Christianity is not about living a normal life, it is about being a super-human; it is about going beyond what everybody will do; it is about helping people you stand to gain nothing from.
The challenge is set before us today to go out and be GOOD. The world is a small village. We can make the world a better place to live if we live according to the principle of helping one another.
As St. Paul says to Philippians 2:1-4, “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. DO NOTHING FROM SELFISH AMBITION OR CONCEIT but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, cleanse
my heart from all forms of selfishness knowingly and unknowingly. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Monday of week 31 in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Phil. 2:1-4, Ps. 131, Luke 14:12-14)
© Rev. Fr. Evaristus Abu
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