First Reading: Romans 12: 5-16ab

Gospel: Luke 14: 15-24

 

Jesus teaches his disciples about the Christian call to the Kingdom of God through the parable of a man who once gave a great banquet, and invited many.

 

The Readings for the day’s liturgy show us that the Christian life is an invitation: we can only become Christians if we are invited. It is a free invitation which comes from God. We cannot pay to enter. We are invited freely, through the pure grace of God, through the Father's pure love. For it was Jesus who, by his blood, opened this possibility for us. 

 

God's mercy reaches even to those who decline the invitation or pretend to accept it, but do not truly participate in the feast. They say yes, but they really mean no, they are Christians who are content to remain on the guest list. Unfortunately, being listed as a Christian is not enough, this does not help for salvation.

 

We must pray for the grace to understand how beautiful it is to be invited to the banquet, how beautiful it is to be with God and what a pity it is to vacillate between yes and no; to say yes, but to content ourselves with only remaining on the guest list.