INVITE THE POOR
Jesus lived a different style of life. Those who want to sincerely follow him feel themselves invited to live in a new and revolutionary manner, in contradiction to the «normal» way of behaving that we observe around us.
How not to feel unsettled and questioned when we hear words like these? «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…. When you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; then you will be blessed, for they have no means to repay you and so you will be repaid when the upright rise again».
We’re invited to act out of an attitude of gratitude and of attention to the poor, which isn’t the regular way of doing things. We’re called to share, without following the logic of those who always seek to collect debts, though at the cost of humiliating that poor person who is always in debt to everyone.
Jesus is thinking about human relationship based on a new spirit of liberty, gratitude and fraternal love. A spirit that is in contradiction to the normal behavior within our system, that always ends up abandoning those who are most defenseless.
Jesus’ followers should feel themselves called to prolong his style of living, though it be with very modest and humble gestures. This is our mission: introduce that new spirit of Jesus into history; contradict the logic of greed and selfish accumulation. We won’t achieve spectacular changes, much less anything immediate. But with our actions of solidarity, thankfulness and fraternity we will criticize selfish behavior as something unworthy of a healthy living together.
Those who follow close to Jesus know that his actions end up absurd, uncomfortable and intolerable according to the «logic» of most people. But they also know that with their small gestures they are pointing out the definitive salvation for human beings.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
