A reading from the Book of Sirach
(Chapter 3:17-18, 20, 28-29)
This book is not part of the Jewish scriptural canon, but it is part of Jewish wisdom. Scholars believe it was written between 196 and 175 years before the birth of Jesus by a scribe named Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira. In this passage the author foreshadows what Jesus teaches in the gospel passage read today: humility. Do not call attention to yourself; do not try to assume a mantle not meant for you and, in the eyes of God, that you do not need. Humility is a virtue that God loves.
Responsorial Psalm
(Psalm 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11)
“God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.” What is the home for the poor in our time? It must be difficult to find inasmuch as so many live in poverty, many in life-threatening destitution. And yet, as Pope Francis taught, there are enough resources on earth to eliminate poverty. What's required on the part of even those of modest means is the will to build that house of refuge for those in want. It begins with generosity on the part of individual men and women and with their, our, pressure on authorities to make those in need a priority in public policy.
A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews
(Chapter 12:18-19, 22-24a)
The author of this book, addressing a Jewish audience, is describing a contrast between the religious atmosphere they are used to and the character of their new faith, Christianity. Of course, there is still some element of mystery in Christianity, imagery and liturgical practices that remind us of who we are who God is. But the idea of God as inapproachable, as one to be feared if "fear" implies terror, is no longer valid if it ever was. The new covenant is an invitation to approach God who made that invitation clear by living among us in the human person of Jesus and still relates to us intimately in his body and blood, the Eucharist.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
(Chapter 14:1, 7-14)
The New Testament has been described as one of the most radical documents in human history; if that's so, it is in large part because of messages like that in the gospel passage read in today's liturgy. Jesus' example of a dinner guest placing himself at the lower end of a social pecking order must have sounded radical to an audience that was used to a caste system in both civic and religious life. The folks Jesus spoke to were born into a certain stratum of society, and they understood that they would stay there for their whole lives. The idea that one should deliberately move even lower on the scale must have sounded outlandish to folks who were already oppressed as well as to those, who also listened to Jesus, who enjoyed some level of privilege. John the Baptist and Jesus, those radicals, railed against this system and, unfortunately, they have something to say about it today. Of course, they were not interested in outward appearances; they were interested in how people treated each other or, more to the point, how they cared for each other. Those in privileged classes should help to raise up those "below" them, not as condescending superiors but as brothers and sisters, willing, so to speak, to eat at the same table with anyone.
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Photograph by Farhad Ibrahimzade on Unsplash..
Excerpts from the English translation of the Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). All rights reserved.
Charles Paolino is managing editor at RENEW International and a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Metuchen.