Inviting Ourselves Over

Learning how to dine with the poor

11/04/2024

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."

After 28 years as a priest I don’t have many new experiences that I have not encountered before. But I did recently. I asked a parish family if I could come to their home for supper and to bless their house and just to spend some time together to get to know each other. I figured Jesus told Zacchaeus he was coming to his house for dinner so it was okay for me to invite myself over for supper too.

We had set the date several weeks in advance. But the morning of the dinner the mother texted me and said somewhat embarrassed: “Fr. John, I feel so bad to tell you this but can we reschedule dinner? My husband and I are in-between jobs and we feel we really cannot afford a nice meal for you tonight. When we get back on our feet financially, we will definitely have you over!”

Of course, you can imagine how I felt, about 2 inches tall for inviting myself over. Obviously, that’s something Jesus can do but I cannot copy! Still, I replied and said: “Please don’t worry about dinner. But may I still stop by to bless the house and say ‘Hi’ anyway?” She eagerly answered: “We would love that!” You know, we have parishioners here at Immaculate Conception across the whole economic spectrum – from the super rich to the super poor.

But when we come to Mass, we are all spiritually beggars for God’s grace. We all humbly kneel during Mass because we are all equally penniless before the One and only King of kings, Jesus Christ. as James Joyce famously said, “The Catholic Church: here comes everybody!” Our parish is a microcosm of humanity, and that is as it should be, because that is one meaning of "catholic."

In the gospel today Jesus talks about inviting people over for dinner – and he does not say invite yourself over for dinner! Notice how our Lord makes a point about inviting “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” for supper. Now those folks would not typical make dinner guest list. In my home country of India, when someone dies in the family, we would have a big reception after the funeral.

But instead of family and friends, we would invite people in the neighborhood we knew were struggling financially or otherwise. When my uncle died many years ago, my family went to a leper colony and fed them lunch, and made a donation to Mother Teresa’s sisters who cared for the lepers. It was a small gesture to help the poor as Jesus prescribed in the gospel today by inviting them to a banquet.

My friends do you know your brothers and sisters in this parish? We have over 6,000 parishioners who attend our church. Sometimes we become part of a small group and that becomes our whole experience of church. And that belonging is a good thing because we need best friends in the faith. But that is no excuse to ignore everyone else. For example, we can get into a habit of always attending the same Mass. Maybe go to a different Mass on Sunday, and see who all belongs to your parish.

Did you know we have 6 Masses every weekend, and 2 are in Spanish? And by the way, there are more people packed into those 2 Spanish Masses than in all 4 English Masses combined. It’s a sight to behold. And the Spanish music ministry is amazing, with 5 different choirs taking turns singing on Sundays. They sing so loudly you can’t even hear all the babies crying!

And when you think about it, isn’t going to a Spanish Mass a beautiful way to fulfill Jesus’ command in the gospel today? How so? Well, think about going to a Spanish Mass – a spiritual banquet – and listen again to Jesus’ words: “When you hold a lunch or dinner do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors [kind of like going to an English Mass].”

Jesus continues: “Rather…invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, blessed will you be because of their inability to repay you [kind of like going to a Spanish Mass – although many of our Hispanics are very well off financially].” In other words, our experience of attending Mass can be a perfect way to put Jesus’ words into practice by dining with the poor. And maybe that is an instance where it is okay to invite yourself over for supper.

Praised be Jesus Christ!