The Celestial Banquet

Jesus Christ Invites Us to the Banquet of Eternal life

Labor Day invites us to appreciate our work, and to recommit ourselves to doing our life’s work as best we can. That’s what holiness is about. God has committed some work to each one of us that He hasn’t committed to another. Yes, each one of us has a purpose. Aim to please God.

We’re also praying that God will keep safe those in the pathway of Hurricane Dorian.

The book of Sirach alerts us to be humble, dependent upon an all-good Creator. We are what we are by the grace of God. The good we do in life is the only thing that we will take with us to God in death.

The letter to the Hebrews contrasts two assemblies, one at Mount Sinai where God made a covenant with the Hebrews; and the other in the heavenly Jerusalem where countless creatures celebrate the new covenant or relationship God made with us through the bloody death and glorious resurrection of His son Jesus. Yes, God transformed us into his sons and daughters, coheirs to the kingdom of God. We are challenged to live a life worthy of that status.

In the Gospel, after watching how the so-called rich and famous proudly took places of honor at the table, Jesus told a parable, comparing the kingdom of God to a celestial banquet. All are welcome. But who will be seated at the table ? The humble, the people we may least expect to see.  The 20th century Catholic novelist Flannery O'Connor captures this parable powerfully in her short story "Revelation."

Jesus teaches us, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be…For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

The word “humility” derives from the Latin word humus, ground or soil, understood simply as down-to-earth, knowing who we are. Mary, Mother of God, showed humility in her song titled the Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord … because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” Yes, Mary rejoiced in the gifts God bestowed upon her, and so too should we.

Pride is the opposite. Pride thinks “self”-sufficient. The book of Genesis gives us insight. God made us in His image and likeness. But we wanted to be number one. We overstepped our limits. The legendary Adam and Eve broke all their relationships, hid from Gdiscipleship, beatitudesod, blamed each other, and the land barely produced sustenance.

Hence, we are born into a broken world. That is the Catholic understanding of original sin, a phrase St. Augustine coined. The biblical characters mirror us trying to play God. Humility recognizes that we are absolutely dependent upon an all-good God. Luckily, God had the final word, and became one of us in Jesus of Nazareth.

There is no human solution to the brokenness in our world. There is a power beyond us – God -- that can heal this brokenness, and we can participate in that healing by doing good for others. This awesome, all-good, and transcendent power became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth and is alive in our midst by the power of the Spirit. This same God invites us to live a life of discipleship with Jesus,  to reflect the beatitudes in our daily lives and to be generous with what we have so that one day we, gloriously alive with Jesus Christ can sit at the banquet of eternal life.
Amen.

A Fresh Start With Jesus As Our Guide

Rubens' Adoration of the Magi

Perhaps the best resolution for the new year is to cultivate a focus on the presence of God in our lives, to become aware of God's presence within ourselves and let the glory of God shine forth in our daily routine.
 
Today we celebrate the Epiphany: the manifestation or showing forth of the child Jesus as the messiah to the magi.

We really don’t know who the biblical visitors were--wise men or astrologers or spice traders. All we know is that they were non-Jews who came from far, far away, guided by a mysterious bright star. They came to pay homage to this Jewish baby called Jesus.

In today’s readings, the word of God from Isaiah takes us back to the sixth century before Jesus. The Jews were freed, to rebuild their city of Jerusalem. The author indicates a divine light will emanate from this shining city on a hill and all people, Jews as well as non-Jews, will acknowledge and walk by this light.

Christians see Jesus as this light who illuminates darkness, who shows human beings the ultimate purpose of life: to be in relationship with God and thereby manifest the glory of God through who we are and what we do.

St. Paul's letter to the Christian community at Ephesus in Turkey outlines our future. Jesus is indeed our guide: a beacon of hope for all.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, we have all the ingredients of a great story: exotic visitors, a wicked king, court intrigue, a mysterious star, precious gifts, a new child. The magi give homage to this child with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, highly symbolic gifts about the identity of this child.

Gold can symbolize kingship or divinity, the things of God; and the coin of this child’s heavenly realm are the virtues of self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, courage, perseverance, honesty, decency, respect and faith in God. Are these virtues the “currency” of our own lives?

Frankincense with its wonderful fragrance and medicinal magic can symbolize healing, and this child came to heal our wounds and bridge the chasm separating us from God and one another. We too are called to be healers.

Myrrh or ointment can symbolize a burial embalmment, and this child through his dying/rising re-established our relationship with God.

Now who is this child? This newborn messiah, completely human and completely divine, is the exemplar or prototype or model of what it means to be an authentic human being. That is why some ask themselves: what would Jesus do in this or that circumstance?

With Jesus as our model, God invites us, from an infinite number of possibilities, to live a holy life, every man and every woman, without exception, regardless of age, race, socioeconomic background, career or calling in life.

Holiness is allowing God to enter into the very fiber of our being so that we can become the best version of ourselves through who we are and everything we do.

Now is the time for us to begin again, to become the best version of ourselves.