We are reminded today of how Jesus poured out Himself for
us. Picture the God Who made the
stars in the sky, our planets and the sin. Picture the God who made each of us. This same God became a man. He became little. He became a baby that needed to get His
diaper changed and be fed by His Mother.
St. Paul summarizes the gift of the incarnation: “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something
to be grasped. Rather,
he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming
in human likeness…”
Our
Gospel complements this reality.
In the parable about the man who provides a banquet Jesus is speaking of
how God provides us with a
banquet. The banquet centers
around Jesus Christ Himself. He
became little for us as a man, and even becomes smaller for us as He comes to
us in the Eucharist. He provides
the banquet of the Mass for all.
Yet
how many people make excuses to not take part in the feast of Christ? While I haven’t heard the excuse of
needing to check out on oxen I have heard many other excuses as a priest of why
people don’t go to Church: “I have hockey practice;” “I need to study;” “I have
to work to pay off school;” “I will be hunting;” etc., etc., etc.
Jesus
also feeds us with the gift of His Church. Remember, the Church is
the Mystical Body of Christ and we can’t separate the Catholic Church from
Jesus. Jesus gives us the Church
for us to be fed with truth. Here,
too, I have heard excuses of why people don’t come to the banquet of truth: “Who is the Church to tell me I
can’t do x, y or z?” “What is true
for me might not be true for someone else;” “The Church has no business
speaking about politics;” etc., etc., etc.
We
are called to pour forth ourselves like Christ. It is only when we are spent for Christ that Christ can use
us in the world. When we give
ourselves fully to Christ and His Church it is then Christ can act through
us. Then great things happen.
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