REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 31ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR I 7TH NOVEMBER 2023

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REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 31ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR I 7TH NOVEMBER 2023 

Romans 12:5-16a; Ps.131; Luke 14:15-24

We Belong to One Another

Man is able to unite with God (conversion) when God makes a movement towards man and man in turn, makes a movement towards God. Without any of these movements conversion will not be actualized. In today’s gospel, this fact is further buttressed. In it, Jesus uses the parable of the Banquet to assuredly say that God never fails to make a movement towards man. He continues to call man to himself through different ways. This is symbolized in the preparation of a banquet and the sending out of invitation. God so much desires that we partake with him in the eternal banquet.

An invitation is different from summon. The latter is coercive in nature. When God invites us, he does not force us; however the concerns of this world will always coincide with God’s invitation. We cannot honour both. Therefore, to honour one is to turn down the other. So, when the invited guests gave excuses for their inability to honour the invitation, they were invariably asserting that they love something else more than God. To say to God, we must say no to ourselves and to the world.

Beloved, the kingdom of God is not a personal thing or a public affair that we can manipulate in order to personalize. If a chair is exclusively yours, when you are not on it, no one else will use it. It either you or no one. This is not the case with the kingdom of God. It is for everyone and exclusively for no one. We may choose not to belong to it but we cannot decide that others will not belong to it. Therefore, anyone can go to heaven so long he/she is able to honour God’s invitation.

The first reading talks about the kingdom of God as something in our midst. The proper use of our gifts is our positive response to God’s invitation to participate in his banquet. If we must share God’s life with him in heaven, we must first share his life with others on earth. God is the master planner. He has designed a beautiful world that will emanate from the harmonization of our gifts. This harmonization will not be realized if we see ourselves as rivals. We are members of Christ’s body. The well-being of a part is the joy of the other parts. 

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