Saturday October 30

Thirtieth Week In Ordinary Time

KNOW YOUR PLACE

 

Introduction

If a trusted friend proves disloyal, we feel badly hurt and find it almost impossible to remain faithful. Not so with God. He remains faithful to Israel, of which all but a small rest abandoned him. Yet, the Jews keep a role in God’s plans by facilitating, beyond the possible exclusiveness of one people, the entrance of pagan nations.

Our Lord invites us to his table. He knows that we are people with faults, people who have hurt him and others, by the wrong we done and the good we have failed to do. Knowing who we are, he still loves us and invites us as his friends to join him at his table. Let us humbly take part in his meal and ask the Lord to make us more open to the humble, to people who have erred, and to the poor.

 

Opening Prayer

Our Father, who lift up the lowly,
your Son Jesus came into our world
as the servant of all and he cherished the helpless.
With him, make us respect and appreciate
the weak, the defenseless and the humble,
and accept to be numbered among them.
Dispose us to help them and to seek their help,
for you have poured out your mercy on us too,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

Reading 1: ROM 11:1-2A, 11-12, 25-29

Brothers and sisters:
I ask, then, has God rejected his people?
Of course not!
For I too am a child of Israel, a descendant of Abraham,
of the tribe of Benjamin.
God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah,
how he pleads with God against Israel?

Hence I ask, did they stumble so as to fall?
Of course not!
But through their transgression
salvation has come to the Gentiles,
so as to make them jealous.
Now if their transgression is enrichment for the world,
and if their diminished number is enrichment for the Gentiles,
how much more their full number.

I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers and sisters,
so that you will not become wise in your own estimation:
a hardening has come upon Israel in part,
until the full number of the Gentiles comes in,
and thus all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

The deliverer will come out of Zion,
he will turn away godlessness from Jacob;
and this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.

In respect to the Gospel, they are enemies on your account;
but in respect to election,
they are beloved because of the patriarch.
For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 94:12-13A, 14-15, 17-18

(14a) The Lord will not abandon his people.
Blessed the man whom you instruct, O LORD,
whom by your law you teach,
Giving him rest from evil days.
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
For the LORD will not cast off his people,
nor abandon his inheritance;
But judgment shall again be with justice,
and all the upright of heart shall follow it.
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
We’re not the LORD my help,
my soul would soon dwell in the silent grave.
When I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your mercy, O LORD, sustains me.
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.

 

Alleluia: MT 11:29AB

Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
For I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel: LK 14:1, 7-11

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.

He told a parable to those who had been invited,
noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.
“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,
do not recline at table in the place of honor.
A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him,
and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say,
‘Give your place to this man,’
and then you would proceed with embarrassment
to take the lowest place.
Rather, when you are invited,
go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say,
‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

Intercessions

– Lord, in our world, the powerful are honored and the humble are looked down upon. Remember the humble, we pray:

– Lord, in our homes, many sick people, the old and the weak and the lonely are often neglected and abandoned. Remember all those who suffer, we pray:

– Lord, many children and old people have only the street to live and to sleep in. Remember all of them, Lord, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
you overlook the poverty of our hearts
and you have given us a place of honor
at the table of your Son.
May we learn from him
to be at the service of all,
that you may give us a place,
however lowly,
at the eternal festive meal
of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
we stand here before you
as guests invited to his table
by your Son, Jesus Christ.
We thank you that he has accepted us
without judging or condemning us,
though our faith is not clear-eyed
and we often limp while trying to follow him.
Dispose us too, to accept as friends and guests
the poor and the weak,
just as you have accepted us
in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

Blessing

If we want the Lord Jesus to live among us, there is only one place that fits us, the last place, the place of people who know how to serve. There is no room for pretending what we are not. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

Still “looking”! But then Jesus didn’t have his eyes closed either: he noticed how the Pharisees competed for the places of honor. But unlike them he was not motivated by malice. From this small incident at table he drew a parable of the Kingdom. (The “Kingdom” is the Presence of God.) God is visible everywhere and in everything to eyes that see. 

The “take-away saying” is, “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” This saying occurs no fewer than three other times in the gospels (Lk 18:14; Mt 18:4 and 23:12). It’s rather like the piece of wisdom I heard on the street, “Don’t be making yourself so big—you’re not that small!”. And of course, it’s like that other saying, “The last shall be first and the first shall be last” (Mk 10:31). In a way, those who exalt themselves are already humbled, and those who humble themselves are already exalted. Self-exaltation isn’t worthy of a human being; it’s a betrayal of our true dignity, “a good person never considers that he or she has advanced beyond anything,” said Tauler (October 4). It’s a bit like economic inflation, when money has less and less value because of repetitive price increases. The “price increases” in this case are when I think and talk above myself. The more common word for it is “vanity.” In Latin, these two words—inflatus and vanus—mean the same thing: empty.