Sunday, August 29
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Focus Theme
Open Table

Weekly Prayer
Almighty God, in your goodness, you provide for the needy. Remove from your people the pride of place and the pursuit of power that mocks humility. Open our hearts in generosity and justice to the neglected and lonely, that in showing esteem for others, we may honor and please you through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. Amen

Focus Scripture
Luke 14:1, 7-14

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable."When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Reflection
by Kate Huey

Over the weekend, I saw the new film, "Eat, Pray, Love," the story of a woman on a personal quest that takes her to Italy, India, and Bali, where she, well, eats, prays, and loves. Perhaps she appropriately begins her spiritual journey not with strict, ascetic practices but with consuming big plates of pasta with unreserved gusto, for isn't physical hunger a good image for spiritual hunger? Eating--that most human and most necessary of activities--and all that we associate with it are entwined with our spiritual lives, so it's no surprise that meals and food are significant themes not just in the movies but in the Bible as well, including the Gospel of Luke. Sitting here at dinner in the home of a Pharisee, with a dinner crowd of "good church members" who watch him with suspicion, Jesus makes observations and gives advice that is really a clear instruction to us all about how to live in the reign of God:  when making up our guest lists and deciding how to share the blessings we've received, don't be strategic. Don't go for reciprocity. Be extravagantly, forgetfully generous. Invite the most unlikely, most unexpected of guests into your home and share that most necessary, most enjoyable experience of eating together. "You will be blessed," Jesus says, repaid at the resurrection, for sure, but we sense that he's referring to more immediate blessings as well. Early in the film, "Eat, Pray, Love," the main character seems to realize that she's missing something in not being able to extend herself, to be present for, others. We might say that she hungers to be a blessing as well as to count her blessings. In this week's reading, Jesus helps his followers understand where the blessings are to be found, and how to live as a blessing as well.

For further reflection

Boris Pasternak, 20th century
He comes as a guest to the feast of existence, and knows that what matters is not how much he inherits but how he behaves at the feast, and what people remember and love him for.

George Bernard Shaw, 20th century
The churches must learn humility as well as teach it.

Thomas Merton, 20th century
Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.

Victor Hugo, 19th century
There are people who observe the rules of honor as we observe the stars: from a distance.

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