Today's Word
By FR. BEL R. SAN LUIS, SVD
MANILA, Philippines — A young couple had invited many guests to their
daughter’s birthday dinner. At the table, the hostess turned to her
six-year-old daughter and asked, “Would you like to say the prayer?” “I
don’t know what to say,” the girl replied.
“Just say what you hear Mama say,” the mother answered. The
little girl bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite
all these many people to dinner?”
The gospel of this 28th Sunday speaks about an invitation too, but
the host in the parable was not regretting that so many came but rather
nobody came.
* * *
In Jesus’ parable, the king (God) had made elaborate preparations for
a wedding banquet and then invited guests, but they all begged off for
more “important” matters: One went to his estate, another to his
business (read Mt 22:1-14). Jesus refers to the wedding banquet as God’s
kingdom (heaven).
Christ’s parable is a thinly veiled accusation against the Jewish
people of the day who had been invited by God to be his Chosen People,
but they contemptuously refused. Today the parable serves as a WARNING
for us Christians as the new Chosen People who are invited.
* * *
To be fair, we have not ignored God’s invitation; otherwise we would
not be baptized Christians and would not be fulfilling our Sunday
obligations. But we’re still on our way to the great banquet. And the
danger for us is that we may allow the affairs of this world, our
business, our pleasures to blur or blot out our vision of the real goal
in life.
* * *
There was a couple who were so engrossed in their business of
manufacturing big volumes of clothes for export that their family
suffered. Their high school daughter got pregnant by a guy they hardly
knew and their son had started taking drugs. Their business was all that
mattered so that even on Sundays, they had to work. And because the
couple had no more time for one another, eventually their marriage broke
up.
To paraphrase our Lord’s words: “What does it profit a man if he
gains the whole world, but suffers the loss of his family!”
People can
be so busy making a living that they fail to make life itself.
* * *
Our Lord invites us to live a HOLISTIC or balanced life which takes
into consideration one’s spiritual well-being. God invites us to His
Eucharistic banquet for spiritual nourishment and to have time for
prayer.
God is not taking away our time for work, recreation, and worldly
pursuits. What He is asking is that we should not forget or neglect our
spiritual needs.
* * *
Tomorrow is INDIGENOUS FILIPINOS SUNDAY. This event is designated by
the Church to focus attention on our oft-forgotten, neglected – if not
exploited – indigenous brethren. In dealing with them, we would do well
to regard them not only as genuine Filipinos but as children of God.
Christ said: “Whatever you did to the least of my brethren, you did it for me.”
Without this Christian attitude, it would be easy to abuse and exploit these lowly and largely illiterate brethren.
No comments:
Post a Comment