Daily Gospel Reflection

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November 6, 2023

Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 14:12-14
Listen to the Audio Version

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.”

Reflection

Patrick McGowan '05, M.Div.
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Modern people live much differently from the tight-knit ethnic, familial groupings that have defined society throughout human history. We consider ourselves more free to create our identities and relationships, but we still understand reciprocity.

Parents fret and strategize on ways to make the “right” playdates happen through a complex dance of time, presence, and status with near-strangers, hoping their kids will get a precious return invite!

As adults, how many of us secretly loved the COVID stay-at-home protocols, not only because we didn’t have to commute but because they provided a break from complex office relationships that often have very little to do with work but can make or break a career?

We need reciprocal relationships to get by, but then we must ask ourselves, what is Jesus telling us today about such relationships?

Having worked at South Bend’s Catholic Worker, I know firsthand that God’s poor know we want reciprocity from them—usually in the form of gratitude. They are not always interested in providing it. It’s understandable. Maybe their mental health is not strong. Perhaps they are worn out from abandonment and are scared to give of themselves to a person who can quickly leave their sphere without warning. It is scandalously easy to ghost the poor.

If we are serious about loving the way Jesus loves, we know better than to look to the poor for reciprocity. In serving them without hope of any kind of payback, we get a spiritual workout in unconditional love—a love that is not about ourselves.

Today’s gospel demands a lot. It demands that we step beyond “give and take” and begin giving a feast for the poor, knowing that if we get strong in unconditional love, we can bring that strength to all relationships, shining Christ’s light in a mistrustful, contractual world.

Prayer

Members of the Holy Cross Novitiate

God of all consolation, your Son told the Pharisee that he should host not the rich and well known, but should instead invite the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Help us to be obedient to that command as well, so that in showing love to those on the margins, we may come to a better understanding of the mystery of your love. May we not be people who crave repayment, but instead make us people of charity and love for all your children wherever they may be. We ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Saint of the Day

Saints of Ireland

Today, the Church in Ireland celebrates the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland. This is something of a regional version of All Saints Day, honoring the many saints and scholars of Ireland. It is a reminder to us of a rich heritage of Catholic faith that is rooted in Ireland, that grew across the sea with the many Irish immigrants who traveled here, and has blossomed in the American Church.

The official litany used in the Irish liturgy for this feast concludes with a prayer asking God for an increase in grace to all of “us who celebrate the memory of all the saints of our island.” Just as on earth, the Irish people rejoiced to “be one with them in race, so in heaven, may we deserve to share with them an inheritance of bliss.”

This stained glass image of St. Patrick stands in a reading room in the Hesburgh Library. Other great Irish saints whose stories have been told here include St. Brigid of Kildare, St. Laurence O’Toole, Patrick's driver, St. Odran, St. Kieren of Saighir, St. Angus the Culdee, the great explorer St. Brendan, and St. Columba.

Ireland has a particularly privileged place at the University of Notre Dame, and the University has important ministries in Ireland, including Teach Bhríde and the Newman Centre for Faith and Reason. Let us pray with the saints of Ireland today for their intercession for their country, which has such a special relationship with our University.

All the Saints of Ireland, pray for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!