Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind

Rm 11,29-36; Ps 68; Lk 14,12-14
4 NOVEMBER

Jesus invites every worshiper of the true God – Christ is worshiper of the true God for Christ, in Christ, with Christ and in the Holy Spirit – to do everything in view of his eternal reward. Working for a miserable glory over time is the most foolish and insipid thing that can exist. Life can last a hundred years, but what are these hundred years before eternity? The damned say that the time delivered to evil lasts as long as the air moved by an arrow. The air is divided in a moment and in a moment is recomposed. Eternity is timeless. The minutes are endless and the days cannot be calculated.

We, then, have strayed from the way of truth, and the light of justice did not shine for us, and the sun did not rise for us. We had our fill of the ways of mischief and of ruin; we journeyed through impassable deserts, but the way of the Lord we knew not. What did our pride avail us? What have wealth and its boastfulness afforded us? All of them passed like a shadow and like a fleeting rumour; Like a ship traversing the heaving water, of which, when it has passed, no trace can be found, no path of its keel in the waves. Or like a bird flying through the air; no evidence of its course is to be found – But the fluid air, lashed by the beat of pinions, and cleft by the rushing force Of speeding wings, is traversed: and afterward no mark of passage can be found in it. Or as, when an arrow has been shot at a mark, the parted air straightway flows together again so that none discerns the way it went through – Even so we, once born, abruptly came to nought and held no sign of virtue to display, but were consumed in our wickedness” (Wis 5,6-13).

How do we work for the eternal reward? Putting all our spiritual and material goods at the service of the poorest and most needy brothers. A banquet is held. Inviting the rich to be in turn invited is vanity. It does not give any eternal reward. The reward is the reciprocated invitation. Instead, the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind are invited. They cannot reciprocate. The eternal reward is received from the Lord. Not only that. The Lord also blesses our time extensively. Almsgiving covers a multitude of sins and saves from death, protects us from danger and leads us on good paths. Nothing helps life on earth and nothing is more pleasing to God than almsgiving.

In addition to charity, alms must be done for justice. Every gift, both spiritual, physical and material, is God’s. The Lord bestows his gifts. We put them to good use. By natural and supernatural law, God has the right to a part. The part of God is of the poor, the miserable, of those who are in poverty. If we do not observe God’s right, all our goods will go down the drain. God does not enjoy them and we do not enjoy them either. The warning of Haggai also applies to us. The right of God must always be observed, including respect for the day of the Lord. We respect what belongs to God, God respects what is ours. We do not respect his day, might God ever bless our six days?

Now thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways! You have sown much, but have brought in little; you have eaten, but have not been satisfied; You have drunk, but have not been exhilarated; have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed; And he who earned wages earned them for a bag with holes in it (Hag 1,5-6).

Almsgiving is the Lord’s right, and every right requires justice. One is unjust, one is obliged to repair, if we take away his right from God. This truth must be taught.

Then 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 your relatives or your wealthy neighbours, 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.”

In terms of justice we are all deficient. We are missing in so many things. We deprive our God of many things that are his. Either we repair, or He takes what is his. He is entitled by right. If we had eyes to read in our lives, we would see the presence of the divine blessing and also its absence. His presence is light.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, make Christians want to heal from their blindness.