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This is a summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily delivered at St. Charles on August 29, 2004
"When you are invited go and take the lowest place." Luke 14:9
THIS GOSPEL IS A PARAPHRASE of last Sunday's message, "The last shall be first."
Jesus repeated himself because his hearers may not have understood the message the first time. The Church needs to repeat the Gospel until we practice it!
I am a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland. Remembering my Irish identity I come before you Americans during the Athens Olympics with a great sense of humility. You are laden down with gold. Ireland won a single gold medal. It was won not by an athletic Irishman or woman, but by an Irish horse. Yet in the light of the Gospel, I can be proud of our humility!
There is a story doing the rounds that seems like a modern-day reenactment of the instruction Jesus gave about the wedding banquet.
A society wedding was arranged in a neo-gothic church in New York that had a basement used to feed street-people. A luxurious catered reception was planned. There was a hitch. The prospective groom failed to show! The enraged bride dismissed the congregation and sent the catered reception to the food kitchen for the homeless. At least on that day some of the hungry of New York were well nourished.
Jesus observed the behavior of the guests at a banquet noticing their competition for the places of honor. Our Church is sometimes not immune to concerns about status.
Our Parish Community Center is not entirely complete yet. For example we still need to provide recognition to our benefactors. It is right to honor the generosity of our people. Yet at the same time we face the difficulty: how do you decide between the large gifts of those with resources and the widow's mite? Is the $1,000 pledged by a Latino family who offer a day a week of their wages less valuable than the thousands of dollars offered by another? Jesus does not judge by society's standards nor should we.
"When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame." He gave a preferential option to the needy. He showed a sensitivity to all who are vulnerable. We may want to add to his list: the elderly in assisted living, the unborn, those who are excluded because of gender or sexual orientation, those with emotional challenges, minorities who suffer because of color.
May the Eucharist we share proclaim the promise of a table where we give the place of honor to the last, the lowest and the least.