INVITE EVERYONE TO YOUR TABLE
Greeting (1 Cor 4:7 and 1:31)
What do you have that you have not received?
If everything you have was received as a gift,
then why boast?
If anyone must boast,
let him boast of the Lord.
May the Lord, the giver of life, be with you.
R/ And with your spirit.
Introduction
A Good Place for Everyone
How do we regard other people and ourselves in relation to them? Do we look down on others, at least on some, and hold ourselves as more important, people to be noted and given honours? The message of today is: In the Kingdom there is a good place for everyone. If there is to be any preference, it is for the poor, the disabled, the humble, for they are given the first place by God, they are the favourites of Jesus. Jesus asks us here and now: What place do you take and what place do you give to others?
Accordingly, today our Lord Jesus invites us to his table. He knows that we are people with faults, people who have hurt him and others, by the wrong we did or the good we didn’t do. Knowing who we are he still loves us and invites us, as his friends, to join him at his table. Let us humbly take part in his meal and ask the Lord to make us more open to the humble, to people who have erred, and to the poor.
Penitential Act
We seek honors and self-advancement,
even elbowing others aside to become first.
We ask the Lord and people to forgive us.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, you came among us
not to be served but to serve:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you invite everyone
to the table of your feast meal:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you came to call
not the healthy but the sick:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us our pride
and hunger to be noticed and honored.
Admit us to your table
as you lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray to God
who invites everyone to his Kingdom
(pause)
Our Father, you who lift up the lowly;
your Son Jesus came into our world
as the servant of all and he cherished the helpless.
With him, make us respect and appreciate
the weak, the defenseless and the humble,
and accept to be numbered among them.
Dispose us to help them and to seek their help.
For you have poured out your mercy on us too
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading (Sirach 3:17-20,28-29 [Vulg. 3:19-21,30-31]): The Greater, the Humbler
We cannot be open to God’s grace unless we put aside our pride. People appreciate lack of pretense and they see through our boasting.
1 Reading: SIRACH 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God. What is too sublime for you, seek not, into things beyond your strength search not. The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs, and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise. Water quenches a flaming fire, and alms atone for sins.
Responsorial PSALM 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11
R. (cf. 11b) God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.
The just rejoice and exult before God;
they are glad and rejoice.
Sing to God, chant praise to his name;
whose name is the LORD. R.
The father of orphans and the defender of widows
is God in his holy dwelling.
God gives a home to the forsaken;
he leads forth prisoners to prosperity. R.
A bountiful rain you showered down, O God, upon your inheritance;
you restored the land when it languished;
your flock settled in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy. R.
Second Reading (Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24): Our Savior and Covenant Is Jesus
Through Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, Christians, even on earth, are already as if living as citizens of heaven.
2 Reading: HEBREWS 12:18-19, 22-24a
Brothers and sisters: You have not approached that which could be touched and a blazing fire and gloomy darkness and storm and a trumpet blast and a voice speaking words such that those who heard begged that no message be further addressed to them. No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.
Alleluia: MATTHEW 11:29ab
Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord,
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel (LUKE 14:1,7-14): Come Up Higher, My Friend
In his kingdom, God invites those who recognize their lowliness and need of salvation. Likewise, the follower of Christ invites the poor and the humble.
Gospel: LUKE 14:1, 7-14
On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honour at the table. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honour. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 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.”
Commentary
Feeding the Hungry
We are exhorted to practice discretion and humility. Those who humble themselves will find themselves raised – to the city of God where they live with God. Jesus affirms the virtue of humility and encourages us to give without expectations of return.
Jesus speaks of inviting the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind to our dining tables. As per the United Nations, the people living in extreme poverty (read, those living on less than $1 a day) in the world would number around 703-729 million in 2020-21. About 690 million people go hungry and 21.3% of the world’s children suffer from stunting due to chronic malnutrition. Now read this: The world wastes or loses annually 1.3 billion tons of food and 1.6 billion tons of primary product equivalents. The total global military expenditure in 2019 was $1,917 billion! As at this time of writing, Russia is flaring away volumes of gas while European countries are in extreme shortage of gas for electricity, automobile and cooking. If not for heavenly reasons, at least for humane and earthly reasons, it is time we invited the poor and the hungry to our dining tables, provided for them, and took care of their needs. And this act must begin, humbly, at the dining tables of every family.
Lord, give us humble and generous hearts that care for the needs of others.
Share your food with a hungry person today.
Intercessions
Let those who are the last and the least in the eyes of people, be first in our prayers to the Father. Let us say:
R/ Lord, come and save us.
– Lord, in our world the powerful are honored and the humble are looked down upon. Remember the humble, we pray:
R/ Lord, come and save us.
– Lord, in our world the poor become poorer and the rich become richer. Remember the destitute and the needy, we pray:
R/ Lord, come and save us.
– Lord, in our homes many sick people, the old and the weak and the lonely, are often neglected and abandoned. Remember all those who suffer, we pray:
R/ Lord, come and save us.
– In many countries, ours included, there are many homeless and refugees who have no stone upon which to lay their head. Remember all of them, Lord, we pray:
R/ Lord, come and save us.
– Many children and old people have only the street to live and to sleep on; also many prisoners are forgotten. Remember all of them, Lord, we pray:
R/ Lord, come and save us.
– There are people for whom nobody prays, and there are those who hurt and afflict us. Remember them, Lord, we pray:
R/ Lord, come and save us.
Lord, you listen, to the prayers of those who trust in you. Help us to remember with you the least of our brothers and sisters. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord God, our Father,
you overlook the poverty of our hearts
and you have given us a place of honor
at the table of your Son.
May we learn from him
to be at the service of all,
that you may also give us a place,
however lowly,
at the eternal festive meal
of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
Pride is at the root of many sins. Jesus came to undo our pride by humbly obeying the will of the Father. We humbly join Jesus in his sacrifice.
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
Conscious of our limitations,
we expect all good things from God
and so we pray with Jesus our Lord: R/ Our Father…
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from all pride,
which sets us up against one another
and makes us unwilling to serve.
Keep us free from the evil spirit
of seeking gain and fame
at the expense of others,
even as we try to serve one another
and work together for the full coming
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom…
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus the Lord
who invites us to his table.
He comes to seek us
at the lowliest place
and tells us to move up higher. R/ Lord, I am not worthy…
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
we stand here before you
as guests invited to his table
by your Son Jesus Christ.
We thank you that he has accepted us
without judging or condemning us,
though our faith is not clear-eyed
and we often limp while trying to follow him.
Dispose us too to accept as friends and guests
the poor and the weak, just as you have accepted us
in Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
If we want the Lord to live among us,
there is only one place that fits us:
the last place, the place of people
who know how to serve.
There is no room for pretending
to be what we are not.
And before God, we are all small,
we cannot claim any merit.
May this attitude be ours
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go with one another
God’s way of peace and love.
R/ Thanks be to God.