November 5th, 2018

Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
485

FIRST READING
PHIL 2:1-4

Brothers and sisters:
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also everyone for those of others.

PSALM
PS 131:1BCDE, 2, 3

Response: In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.

O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.

Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother’s lap,
so is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.

GOSPEL
LK 14:12-14

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.”

Daily Reflection

St Paul in the first reading tells us to be self-effacing and not to compete; to always put others’ interests before our own. God is our loving Father and a Father to all. Hence our love for Him must translate into active love for one another. In loving others we remain true to our deepest self. With God as our secure foundation, we are emboldened to reach out to the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel. In doing so, we can be sure that our motives are pure, as we know that they cannot pay us back in this life. There is little virtue in doing good to those who will pay us back. Let us take risks and give of our plenty to those who need it most. We look forward only to a heavenly reward. This proves our faith and trust in God’s promises.