DAILY- HOMILY

31 October 2016

Monday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time

St Alphonsus Rodriguez, Religious

Memorial.        White.        

Phil 2:1 – 4 / Lk 14:12 – 14

A Spanish Jesuit lay brother, St Alphonsus Rodriguez (1533 – 1617) performed humble household tasks all his life at the Jesuit house in Palma in Majorca.

1st 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 he contrary let each of you gently consider the other as more important than yourselves. Do not seek your own interest, but rather that of others.

Gospel Reading: Lk 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

How many of us seek places of honor and like to be seen in the company of the powerful, the influential, the beautiful people?  Hobnobbing with the rich and famous gives pleasure to many of us, which either means that "birds of the same feather, flock together" i.e. we are equally rich, or, for most, it somehow bestows on us the same tag, even if we fall short of the label.  It's a trait that has been with us for centuries.

Jesus in his time turned the tables on this very human proclivity, and asks us to do the same-- to be mindful of the less fortunate among us, those who are financially as well as physically challenged.  

Maybe it is our yaya who is perennially asking for a salary advance, or our family driver who cannot seem to make ends meet, or the security guard in our subdivision who is nodding off as he has to do extra duty for overtime pay.  

They are God's children as much as the heiress in the social pages of  the daily newspaper  or the head honcho of a conglomerate.  They too have beautiful and uplifting stories to tell, and God promises us that we "will be repaid at the Resurrection of the upright" ( Lk 13:17) if we do something about the plight of the poor.  

May we cast our eyes and hearts for those who are in need around us, and not be ashamed to be seen talking with them, but most of all, do something to improve their lot. Our reward will be waiting for us in heaven.

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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