BROADCASTS.com

(Sir.3:17-18,20,28-29;\xa0\xa0 Ps.68:4-7,10-11;\xa0\xa0 Heb.12:18-19,22-24a;\xa0\xa0 Lk.14:1,7-14) \u201cHumble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.\u201d Is this not the message of Jesus\u2019 parable in today\u2019s gospel, and indeed of all our readings \u2013 and indeed the essence of our Christian lives?\xa0 \u201cTake the lowest place.\u201d\xa0 Exalt not yourself in the sight of God, who sits at table with you, whose presence is everywhere, and is a guest far greater than you.\xa0 Give your place to the poor, provide for them out of your means, as He has done, and then you will know the glorious vision of heaven where He dwells. The Pharisees are blind to the presence of Jesus; because of their pride and desire for esteem, they cannot see the guest of honor in their midst.\xa0 They observe Him carefully, ready to judge Him, but it is He who sees them and seeks to instruct them in their ignorance.\xa0 The Lord is most out of place here among the proud.\xa0 He looks around for lowly ones, but finds none.\xa0 The poor have not been invited to this feast; the blind here do not recognize their need for Him\u2026 and so this banquet is not like that of heaven.\xa0 And so, who of these will partake of His Body and Blood and come to \u201cthe heavenly Jerusalem\u201d? \u201cGod gives a home to the forsaken,\u201d David declares in our psalm, and we are called to be like God.\xa0 Jesus makes this quite evident in His instruction to the host of the banquet: \u201cInvite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,\u201d who are unable to repay such kindness, and then \u201cyou will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.\u201d\xa0 This attitude of self-giving we must make our own, knowing our own lowliness in the sight of God, and the vision of heaven of which our second reading speaks will be ours as well.\xa0 Then we will come with the \u201ccountless angels in festal gathering\u201d and \u201cthe assembly of the firstborn\u201d into the presence of Jesus and the holy blood of His sacrifice.\xa0 \u201cThe just rejoice and exult before God,\u201d and with them we too shall rejoice, if we make ourselves humble before Him. It is no mystery that \u201ceveryone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.\u201d\xa0 No, the teaching is clear, and only by living it will we find its fruit, brothers and sisters.\xa0 \u201cMy child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts,\u201d Sirach instructs us; for how can you find favor with God (or with anyone) if you have no respect for Him?\xa0 And if you do not see the greatness of the God before you, how shall you enter His kingdom?\xa0 Our place before God is with faces to the ground.\xa0 This is just.\xa0 This is right.\xa0 By this He will be pleased and so lift our heads to gaze upon His countenance. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "The Humbled and the Exalted" from All One, sixth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, help us always to take the lowest place, that you might call us up to you. YHWH, you give a home to the forsaken and call us to do the same; as you have provided for our needy souls \u2013 though we deserved it not \u2013 so you call us to care for others, or we shall not find our place with you. We are truly lowly, dear God, for before you, who could stand?\xa0 How can we hope to sit at the same table as your only Son and partake of the food He provides?\xa0 Yet to His side He calls us; to be lowly as He is our great gift.\xa0 His grace we shall know, and in abundance, if with Him we lay down our lives for those in need. Then we shall come to your holy mountain, to the heavenly Jerusalem with all your angels and saints.\xa0 Washed in the blood of the Lamb you offer for our sakes, emptied of all the vanity of our race, we shall be exalted and chant your praise, dearest LORD, we who have made ourselves humble and lowly before you, we who have thus found our place at your table with Jesus, and been made perfect by His Cross.