One of those
at table with Jesus said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the
Kingdom of God.” He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he
invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to
say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’ But one by one, they all
began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have purchased a field
and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said,
‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask
you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and
therefore I cannot come.’ The servant went and reported this to his master.
Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly
into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the
crippled, the blind and the lame.’ The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have
been carried out and still there is room.’ The master then ordered the servant,
‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may
be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my
dinner.’
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Reflection:
What occurs
in a dinner? There’s breaking of the bread, there’s sharing, interaction,
exchange of ideas and the like. We are not invited to a dinner to simply eat
and go. We are invited because the host wants to know more about us. The host
wants to bless us with the food that he prepared. And he wants to
exchange even for a brief moment small talk that could further enhance and
strengthen the relationship between the invited guest and the host.
When we honor
the Holy Mass with our presence we respond to the invitation of Jesus to be
present at this Sacred and Holy celebration. We break bread with Jesus, we
interact with Jesus and we open ourselves to the innumerable blessings that
Jesus alone could bestow upon us.
But like in
the gospel many of us would refuse to go to Holy Mass because we have our other
preoccupations. We miss a lot when we decline to be present at Holy Mass
foremost of this is we miss the great previledge to know Jesus deeply.
It’s sad to
think that many Catholics leave the church for other Christian churches. Because
as they would say: “They want to develop a personal relationship with Jesus
through His written words in the bible.”
But if only they
would take time to religiously be present at Holy Mass. Jesus Himself will give
them the grace to know Him deeply. Jesus Himself would prod them to open their
bibles so that He could reveal more about Himself to them.
The deepening
of our friendship with Jesus emanates from our presence at His dinner banquet
which is none other than the Holy Mass. Let us therefore go to this one hour
sacred celebration and build a deeper relationship with
Jesus.
Do you always
honor this invitation of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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