Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Tuesday of the Thirty-first week in Ordinary Time, November 7, 2023
The theme for our meditation today is: My House Must Be Full. We have just heard how big the banquet provided by God is open to be attended by all those invited and that the host really wants his house must be full. Many seats are available, invitations are delivered repeatedly and even with insistence, the meal is ready to be enjoyed. All of this illustrates how big the party is.
Those who agreed and could come to the party clearly benefited by taking part in it, compared to the disadvantages for those who rejected it. But the thing we want to emphasize in this reflection is the house that his master wanted to be full. If it was not full he would lose because he has already prepared everything! It could be true. But if the intention reveals that the house is full from the perspective of God and His kingdom, its significance would be different.
God invites because his goal is that all human beings are to be saved. Why do people think of refusing the invitation to be safe? In a narrow sense, the house of banquet can be seen in the form of our churches that are starting to empty, especially in European regions and some other parts in the world. Indeed, lifestyle today has an attractive influence of God's people not to always enter the houses of worship. God's insistence will not stop so that the houses of worship must be full is something evident as of now.
In a broader view and to be the important point should be about the kingdom of God is a unity of life of all the believers. We call it the Church or People of God. In this unity, are the understanding, belief, celebration and appreciation of faith looked empty? There will be no longer new revelation in the Church to provide us new commandments. The scriptures and their commandments are final and cannot be added or reduced. We are the ones who need to try to fulfil and improve ourselves to be in accordance with the Scriptures and their teachings.
Saint Paul gives this advice: If each of us makes the best of every special gift in each of us: as preachers of the Word, office employees, teachers, farmers, businessmen, servants and so on, to be enriched with the Christian spirit and Gospel values, we can only fulfil the invitation and house of God's Kingdom. We should follow this principle: no one of us comes and joins the banquet with mind, heart and hands empty. There is no empty gift, however, it must have contents and fruits. This depends on each one of us.
Let's pray. In the name of the Father ... God of Love, strengthen us to make every gift bear fruit in each of us, so that we can build our lives in this world a better place to be enjoyed. Hail Mary full of grace ... In the name of the Father ...