August 31, 2025
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 126
Reading 1
My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
and you will find favor with God.
What is too sublime for you, seek not,
into things beyond your strength search not.
The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs,
and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise.
Water quenches a flaming fire,
and alms atone for sins.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (cf. 11b) God, in your goodness, you have
made a home for the poor.
The just rejoice and exult before God;
they are glad and rejoice.
Sing to God, chant praise to his name;
whose name is the LORD.
R. God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.
The father of orphans and the defender of widows
is God in his holy dwelling.
God gives a home to the forsaken;
he leads forth prisoners to prosperity.
R. God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.
A bountiful rain you showered down, O God, upon your inheritance;
you restored the land when it languished;
your flock settled in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy.
R. God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
You have not approached that which could be touched
and a blazing fire and gloomy darkness
and storm and a trumpet blast
and a voice speaking words such that those who heard
begged that no message be further addressed to them.
No, you have approached Mount Zion
and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and countless angels in festal gathering,
and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven,
and God the judge of all,
and the spirits of the just made perfect,
and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord,
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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 every one who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
Then he said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/083125.cfm
Commentary on Sirach
3:19-21,30-31; Hebrews 12:18-19,22-24; Luke 14:1,7-14
The whole passage from which today’s Gospel is taken deals
with people eating together. The Kingdom of God—the perfect society, which is
the goal of the Christian message—is often pictured as a banquet. As such, it
is a meal for everyone, not just a private dinner for two by candlelight. All
the dishes on the table are for everyone equally. There is enough and more for
every person’s needs. It is an occasion of sharing and joyfulness. And in the
New Testament, the meals in which Christians share—and the Eucharist is among
them—are meant to be a true sign of that yet-to-be-realised banquet and
Kingdom.
That is exactly what we do not find in today’s Gospel. A
rather sinister atmosphere is established by the opening sentence:
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a
leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath…
While it should have been an occasion of fellowship, instead
we are told:
…they were watching him closely.
They were not watching him out of admiration or curiosity
(the way a young child might for the first time watch a stranger at the family
table). No, they wanted to see if Jesus on this Sabbath day would put a foot
wrong so that they could accuse him. He was, in fact, judged before he even
opened his mouth.
Accessible to all
For his part, we might notice the impartiality of Jesus. He raised many
eyebrows when he was seen eating with tax collectors and sinners. But he was no
inverse snob—he also accepted invitations from the rich and powerful. God’s
love is for all—the sunshine and the rain fall equally on all. So it is with
God’s love, of which Jesus is the visible sign.
From this meal situation Jesus gives us two parables. It has
been pointed out that in one Jesus speaks directly to the guests and in the
other he addresses the host. In this way, Jesus involves them directly in what
he is saying. As we watch and listen, we need to hear Jesus speaking to us
also. The lessons are still totally relevant for our time and our society.
Being in the right place
The first parable was a response to the way the guests took their seats. Jesus
had:
…noticed how the guests chose the places of honor…
In many formal dinners, the seating is a very delicate
matter. Those regarded as important are put near the host and the rest lower
down. Elegantly printed cards may be at each place and indicate exactly your
‘status’ for this occasion. At a wedding dinner, only a few can share the top
table with the married couple and their immediate family. Others will find
themselves tucked away in a corner feeling the heat of the kitchen!
As Jesus spoke, did some of his fellow guests begin to feel
uncomfortable? Were some dissatisfied because others had a higher place than
they? Where was Jesus sitting? Do you think he cared very much? If you were
there, would you have cared? Do you feel your worth as a person depends on how
you are treated on such occasions?
Reversing the procedure
Jesus reverses the normal procedure, saying:
…do not sit down at the place of honor…
You might suffer the indignity of being asked to sit lower
down. Rather, he says:
…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.
It is a risky thing to do, of course. You might be left
sitting in your lower place! For some, that could be a social disaster.
Jesus, of course, does not mean for us to behave that way
literally. What he does mean is that, in the Kingdom of God, such things have
absolutely no importance. Someone with the spirit of the Kingdom knows that
human status, that is, the status conferred by fickle society, does not mean
anything at all.
The only status that counts is one’s relationship with God
and with other people, irrespective of their classification by race, religion,
profession or class. Our real status is measured not by our rank or occupation,
but by the level of love and service offered to God through our relationships
with those around us. What counts is not how we are looked on by others, but
the degree of care and compassion with which we look at them. This calls for a
strong inner security, which is independent of arbitrarily conferred status or
position, so that one can say easily to another: “Why don’t you go to the top
table and sit with the host?”
Those who find their security in their bonds of love with
other people know that no status whatever is lost by having to sit near the
kitchen. It gives them an opportunity to talk to the cook and the staff. It is
put somewhat differently in the Second Reading (from Hebrews) today:
…you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem…and to the assembly of the firstborn who are
enrolled in heaven…
Who to invite
In the second parable Jesus talks directly to his host, saying:
When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your
friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in
case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.
A look at the media social pages reveals a merry-go-round
where the same people eat the same dinners in different venues night after
night. On a lower level, most of us do more or less the same. And how many
dinners are arranged as a bribe or a gentle form of blackmail? How many
principals of ‘good’ schools have the experience of being invited out to
expensive eating places only to find in their mail soon after a request for a
son or daughter to be accepted into their school. It happens all the time. It
is even regarded as ‘normal’ and “everybody does it”.
Jesus has rather different advice:
…when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled,
the lame, and the blind.
Invite those people in particular who will be able to give
you absolutely nothing in return, who will be able to do absolutely nothing to
further your career or your status in the community.
As an image, life can be seen as a ladder or a circle. Many
of us live on a ladder, desperately trying to climb to the top. In so doing we
often find ourselves climbing on the backs of others and even kicking them to
the bottom so that we can reach the top. To be in the first place is deeply ingrained
in many of our societies today—whether it is in business, in an examination, or
even getting on to a bus. We are by and large a ladder society.
Circular living
The Gospel is proposing that we rather try to work towards creating a circle
society. In a circle, there is no top or bottom. All are equal. All are facing
each other. All are in a better position to know and respect each other. (How
can you respect the person you are climbing over to get to the top of the
ladder?) All are in a better position to share what they have with those who
have less. Put a round table between these people and everything is ready for a
banquet. And, as the story goes, provide each person with a chopstick too long
to be used by oneself, but just the right length to offer food to the person
opposite and you have the Kingdom in the making.
Is that possible? is it too unrealistic? Certainly it will
not be achieved in a day or even a generation. But we could begin in our own
homes first of all, and then extend to the small groups to which we belong. Our
parish with its small communities would be a very good place to start.
And right now we are attending a Christian banquet, the
Eucharist. What links do we see between sharing together the bread and wine
that is the Body and Blood of Jesus and the sharing together of food and
conversation that takes place at our own dining tables or the tables of others?
Should not our Eucharists have more of the characteristics of good family meals
and should not good family meals be, in their own way, a living out of the
Eucharist? In the early Christian Church, both the Eucharist and family or
group meals were put back to back as part of one single experience.
Is it not about time we started trying to do the same?
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/oc221/
Sunday,
August 31, 2025
22nd Sunday
of Ordinary Time
Listening to the Text
Initial Prayer:
Lord, we all have an insatiable need to
listen to you, and you know it, because your yourself has created us like that.
“You alone have words of eternal life” (Jn 6: 68). We believe in these words,
we are hungry and thirsty for these words; for these words, in humility and
love, we commit all our fidelity. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”
(1 Sam 3: 9). It is the frantic prayer of Samuel who does not know; ours is
somewhat different, but it has been precisely your voice, your Word, which has
changed the shaking of the ancient prayer in the yearning for communion of a
son who cries to his Father: Speak for your son is listening.
Reading of the Gospel – Luke 14: 1, 7-14:
1 Now it happened that on a Sabbath day
he had gone to share a meal in the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and
they watched him closely. 7 He then told the guests a parable, because he had
noticed how they picked the places of honor. He said this, 8 'When someone
invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honor. A
more distinguished person than you may have been invited, 9 and the person who
invited you both may come and say, "Give up your place to this man."
And then, to your
embarrassment, you will have to go and take the lowest place.
10 No; when you are a guest, make your way to the lowest place and sit there,
so that, when your host comes, he may say, "My friend, move up
higher." Then, everyone with you at the table will see you honored. 11 For
everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself
will be raised up.' 12 Then he said to his host, 'When you give a lunch or a
dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relations or rich
neighbors, in case they invite you back and so repay you. 13 No; when you have
a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 then you will
be blessed, for they have no means to repay you and so you will be repaid when
the upright rise again.'
Moment of Prayerful Silence:
In order to be affected by the word of Christ and so
that the Word made flesh, who is Christ, can dwell in our heart and that we can
adhere, it is necessary that there be listening and profound silence.
The Word is Enlightened (Lectio)
Context:
The parable on the choice of place
is narrated on a Saturday when Jesus is already in Jerusalem, where the Paschal
Mystery will be fulfilled, where the Eucharist of the new Covenant will be
celebrated, to which then follows, the encounter with the living one and the
entrusting of mission of the disciples which prolongs thus the historical
mission of Jesus. The light of the Passover makes all those who are called to
represent him as servant, diakonos, within
the community, gathered around the table,
to see the road that the Lord follows. It is the theme of the guests at
table or of joyful living together of Saint Luke. Jesus has realized the most
beautiful reality, proclaimed and taught at table in a joyful, sociable frame.
In chapter 14, Luke, with his art of a capable
narrator, paints a picture, in which he superimposed two images: Jesus at table
defines the face of the new community, convoked around the Eucharistic table.
The page is subdivided in two scenes: first, the invitation to dinner in the
house of one of the chief Pharisees, on a feast day, Saturday (Lk 14: 15-16),
which also concerns the problem of the guests: who will participate at the
table of the Kingdom? This is prepared beginning now in the relationship with
Jesus, who convokes around himself the persons in the community-Church.
Exegesis:
•
Saturday
a day of feast and of liberation
This is the passage in Luke: “On a Sabbath day he had gone to share a
meal in the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him
closely.” (Lk 14: 1). On a feast day Jesus is invited by the one who is
responsible for the movement of the observant or Pharisees. Jesus is at table.
The first episode takes place in this context: the healing of a man with dropsy
prevented by his physical disability to participate at table. Those who are
sick in their body are excluded from the community by the observants as the
Rule of Qumran says. The meal on Saturday has a festive and sacred character
especially for the observant of the Law. In fact, on Saturday, there is a
weekly remembrance of Exodus and of the creation. Jesus, precisely on that
Saturday gives back freedom and reintegrates in full health the man with
dropsy.
He, therefore, justifies his gesture before the teachers
and the observant of the Law with these words: “Which of you here if his ass or ox falls into a well, will not pull it
out on a Sabbath day?” God is interested in persons and not only in the
property or possessions of man. Saturday is not reduced to external observance
of the sacred rest, but is in favor of man. With this concern turned toward
man, is also given the key to define the criteria of convocation in this community
symbolized by the table: How to choose the place? Whom to invite and who
participates at the end in the Banquet of the Kingdom? The gesture of Jesus is
a program: Saturday is made for man. On Saturday he does that which is the
fundamental significance of the celebration of the memory of the getting out of
Egypt and of creation.
•
On the
choice of places and of the guests
The criteria to choose the places are not based on
precedence, on the roles or the fame or renown, but are inspired on the acts of
God who promotes the last ones, “because
the one who raises himself up will be humbled and the one who humbles himself
will be raised up” (Lk 14: 11). This principle which closes the parable of
the new etiquette, that of the turning over of the worldly criteria, refers to
God’s action by means of the passive form “will
be raised up.” God raises up the little ones and the poor as Jesus has done
introducing the man with dropsy, who was excluded, to the table to eat together
in the Sabbatical feast.
Then we have the criteria for the choice of guests. The
criteria of recommendation and of corporative solidarity are excluded: “Do not invite your friends, or your
brothers or your relations or rich neighbors…” “On the contrary, when you have
a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind…” (Lk 14: 12,
13).
The list begins with the poor, who in Luke’s Gospel are the
beneficiaries of the Beatitudes: “Blessed
are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven.” In the list of the
guests the poor are mentioned as the physically disabled, the handicapped,
excluded from the confraternity of the Pharisees and from the ritual of the
time (cf. 2 Sam 5: 8; Lv 21: 18).
This same list is found in the parable of the great
banquet: the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, take the place of the
respectful guests. (Lk 14: 21).
This second parable on the criteria of choice of the guests
is proclaimed with this proclamation: “Then
you will be blessed, for they have no means to repay you and so you will be
repaid when the upright rise again” (Lk 14: 14), at the end of time when
God will manifest his sovereignty communicating eternal life. At this point
there is a phrase of one of the invited guests which is like a souvenir between
the two small parables and the parable of the great banquet: “Blessed is anyone who will share the meal in
the Kingdom of God” (Lk 14: 15). This word which recalls the Beatitude of
the Kingdom and the condition to participate in it through the image of the
banquet, “to eat the bread,” introduces
the parable pf the great banquet in its eschatological meaning. But this final
banquet, which is the Kingdom of God and the full communion with Him, is
prepared at present by sitting and eating together at the same table. Jesus
narrates this parable to interpret the convocation of men with the announcement
of the Kingdom of God and through his historical action.
The Word Enlightens Me (To Meditate)
•
When Jesus was in the house of the Pharisee who
had invited him to eat observes how those invited try to get the first places.
It is a very common attitude in life, not only when one is at table: each one
tries also to get the first place regarding attention and consideration on the
part of others. Everyone, beginning by ourselves, we have this experience. But
let us pay attention, the words of Jesus which exhort to abstain from seeking
the first place are not simply an exhortation of good education; they are a
rule of life. Jesus clarifies that it is the Lord to give to each one the
dignity and the honor, we are not the ones to give it to ourselves, perhaps
claiming our own merits. Like he did in the Beatitudes, Jesus turns over the
judgement and the behavior of this world. The one who recognizes himself a
sinner and humble is raised up by God, but, who instead intends to get
recognition and the first places risks to exclude himself from the banquet.
•
“Do not take your seat in the place of honor, a
more distinguished person than you may have been invited… then to your
embarrassment you will have to go and take the lowest place. (Lk 14: 8-9). It
seems that Jesus takes as a joke the childish efforts of the gusts who struggle
in order to get the best positions; but his intention has a more serious
purpose. Speaking to the leaders of Israel he shows which is the power which
builds up the relations of the Kingdom: “Whoever raises himself up will be
humbled and who humbles himself will be raised up” (Lk 14: 11). He describes to
them the “good use of power” founded on humility. It is the same power which
God releases in humanity in the Incarnation: “At the service of the will of the
Father, in order that the whole creation returns to him, the Word did not count
“equality with God something to be grasped, but he emptied himself taking the
form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a
human being, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death on the cross” (Phil 2:
6-8). This glorious kenosis of the Son of God has the capacity to heal, to
reconcile and to liberate all creation. Humility is the force which builds up
the Kingdom and the community of the disciples, the Church.
To Pray – Psalm 23
The Psalm
seems to turn around a title: the Lord is my shepherd.” The Saints are the
image of the flock on the way: they are accompanied by the goodness and the
loyalty of God, until they definitively reach the house of the Father (L.
Alonso Schökel, The Psalms of trust, Dehoniana Books, Bologna 2006, 54).
Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
In grassy meadows he lets me lie.
By tranquil streams he leads me to restore my spirit.
He guides me in paths of saving
justice as befits his name.
Even were I to walk in a ravine
as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side.
Your staff and your crook are
there to soothe me. You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup brims over.
Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life.
I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come.
Final Prayer
“Lord, thanks to your light
which descended on me, it flooded my life with the conviction that I am a
sinner. I have understood more deeply that your Son Jesus is my Savior.
My will, my spirit, all my being
hold Him tightly. May the omnipotence of your love, conquer me, Oh my God.
Overthrow the resistance which frequently renders me rebellious, the nostalgia
which impels me to be indolent, lazy; may your Love conquer everything so that
I can be a happy trophy of your victory. My hope is anchored in your fidelity.
Whether I have to grow in the whirlwinds of civilization, I have converted into
a flower and your watchman in this Spring which has blossomed, sprout out from
the Blood of your Son. You look at each one of us, you take care of us, you
watch over us; you, the Cultivator of this Spring of Eternal Life: you, Father
of Jesus, and our Father; you, my Father!” (Anastasio
Ballestrero)
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