DAILY- HOMILY

November 3, 2014

Monday 31st Week in Ordinary Time

[St. Martin de Porres; Blessed Rupert Mayer]

Phil 2: 1-4 / Ps 131: 1bcde, 2, 3 / Lk 14: 12-14  

Reading: Phil 2: 1-4

If I may advise you in the name of Christ and if you can hear it as the voice of love; if we share the same spirit and are capable of mercy and compassion, then I beg of you make me very happy: have one love, one spirit, one feeling, do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit. On the contrary let each of you gently consider the others as more important than yourselves. Do not seek your own interest, but rather that of others.

Gospel: Luke 14: 12-14

Jesus also addressed the man who had invited him and said, "When you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite your friends, or your brothers and relatives and wealthy neighbors. For surely they will also invite you in return and you will be repaid. When you give a feast, invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Fortunate are you then, because they can't repay you; you will be repaid at the Resurrection of the upright."

Reflection:

     Our saint for today, St. Martín de Porres, was a Dominican monk who was known as a healer and worked in charitable service to the poor. As a young boy, Martín learned administering herbal remedies, dressing wounds, and drawing blood - something that was thought to be curative at the time. For that he was known as a healer. When he entered the religious order, he preferred to do menial work like cleaning the toilet and the pots and pans in the kitchen. He was known for his exceptional piety. Fellow monks saw him surrounded by a bright light when he prayed. Patients under his care spoke of his having walked through locked doors in order to render medical help. A very humble man, St. Martin had a special devotion to the Holy Eucharist, his way of imitating Christ who humbled himself in the form of bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist. 

     In the gospel reading, it is not that the Lord does not want us to invite our friends and relatives, for that would be very unnatural. But he asks us to consider also inviting even those who cannot invite us back, those who cannot afford to buy a birthday gift. What he is really asking us to do is to share our fortune with the less fortunate. Being the source of life and goods, God will surely repay us abundantly in the next life.  

     The first reading speaks of Christ's example of humility. "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." We get so caught up in our own lives that we sometimes forget that other people are out there who desperately need our help. Helping others does not always mean you have to do extraordinary things. Sometimes it can just be a simple act of kindness, a smile at those we are helping, not looking at them as our equal, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Oftentimes the little things people do to help others is God's way of working through each one of us. If we can allow him to do this, think of how many people we can help.

Prayer Requests:

We pray ...

... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn

... for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary

... for families who are in need of healing

... for world peace and reconciliation

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

Have a good day!

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