Repay

Today’s Gospel Text:    He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:12-14

Reflection: Our monetary world talks in terms of repayment. You pay and in return are repaid.

So also many actions of life including the whole justice system are based on similar principles.

There is a certain kind of logic about this system which cannot be ruled out, some even look at it as scientific and it maybe so.

Jesus is giving us a new measure and new system that will break every kind of logic and the very laws of science. It works on charity that comes from an authoritative source, which is Jesus.

It is a charity that was first practiced by him before he taught it to others. It is a charity that defies every law and ethics practiced by humans.

How can anyone so easily practice this kind of charity without expecting anything in return? Even though we may call ourselves Christian we practice what is contrary to our Christian calling to be generous beyond a certain measure; a measure which beats every human logic.

He who taught it also practiced it to the utmost when he gave himself for us sinful men in unconditional love.

When Christ invites us he invites us to practice charity in our invitation to the unfortunate and less privileged in the banquets we organize but when he practiced it he practiced it in a much more difficult manner. He offered his very self for sinful and ungrateful men who in no way can ever repay him.

No one can repay Christ for what he has done for us by his offering on the cross for our salvation.

The only repayment we can do, and which is no repayment, is a heart filled with love and lips overflowing with gratitude to God for what he has accomplished in Christ Jesus.  Yet these are mere words from our lips acceptable to God when done with a sincere heart.

Prayer:  Lord may I learn from your great sacrifice and seek to be generous with what you have given me.

  

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Divine Plan

Scripture/Bible: Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. 58 And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechari'ah after his father, 60 but his mother said, "Not so; he shall be called John." 61 And they said to her, "None of your kindred is called by this name." 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." And they all marveled. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea; 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him. …. 80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel. Luke 1:57-66, 80

Reflection: “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.”  Prov 19:21

First we need to understand the meaning of the proverb lest we incorrectly understand that good and evil comes from the Lord or what is pre-determined and destined will happen.

The case of Elizabeth in today’s Gospel text is a very good example in understanding this proverb and its meaning. 

In this it is not that God is bulldozing his way irrespective of the plans of men but rather it means that what he had intended by way of advice to Elizabeth will be established irrespective of what plans the men and women around may make, basing themselves on their own reasoning’s and logic.  

In other words if God is allowed his place in the company of believers by at least one of his instrument then his plan and purpose will definitely be accomplished and Elizabeth is an example of it.

The message is clear to all; we may likewise plan many things through logical reasoning’s and well drawn out plans but it is important and necessary that we seek his wisdom which may at times may not be reasonable to our limited human comprehension.  

It is not by bread alone that we live; the bread of human labor and sweat, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

That would be the difference between walking by faith and not by sight (2Cor. 5:7).  Sometimes this trust in God means a blind leap which our modern education and exposure quells and destroys.

No wonder we find that the faith of the Apostle’s is waning among the educated and intellect of the world who have given their minds up in the service of unbridled reason rather than the service of sure lasting divine and eternal wisdom.

Prayer: Forever, O Lord, thy word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Thy faithfulness endures to all generations. Ps 119:89-90

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us