Monday, November 04, 2013. Today's Liturgical Reading by Daily Flash, Goa. 

Feast of St. Charles Borromeo. 

Romans 11:29-36; Psalm 68[69]:30-31, 33-34, 36-37; Gospel : Luke 14:12-14. [Please share today's Gospel with family,friends/neighbors.]

Focus: "Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind" (Luke 14:13).

Jesus' teachings are radically different from those of this world. Most often we find that they are contrary to what the world believes and does. What Jesus advises in today's Gospel (Focus) is also diametrically opposite to what we generally do. 

Does it mean we should not call our relatives and friends to dinner? Not at all! Jesus only says that an invitation given to such close and 'comfortable' people has limited value. He turns us towards our final destination and what will add value then: "You will be repaid at the resurrection" (Luke 12:14). So often we lose sight of this basic point and confine ourselves to what the world approves.

The Gospel presents us with two questions. One, do we keep salvation as the most important goal in life? A friend of ours was very fussy about her looks, what people said, and so on. The day she came to know that her husband had cancer, all other things paled into insignificance. Her values changed practically overnight. For us, too, such concerns become trivial and futile in front of eternity. 

Two, does our heart go out to the hungry, the impoverished? Remember Jesus' promise, "And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous" (Luke 14:14).

Fruit: Lord, today help me reach out to those who are poor or crippled - materially or spiritually.