RADICAL GENEROSITY

READINGS: TWENTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

In our world, we operate so much on exchange, and we tend to measure generosity by what it returns. “I’ll help you if you help me.” “I’ll give as long as I get something back.” But in the Gospel of this 22^nd Sunday, Year C ( Luke 14: 7-14), Christ flips all that on its head. “When you hold a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors… Rather, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” At first glance, this sounds unreasonable. Why party with people that I don’t even know?  

My friends, Christ was not condemning parties with family and friends but rather clearly stating that true hospitality isn’t transactional. It’s transformational. Imagine a party where the only currency is compassion—a feast of dignity, where the poor, the overlooked, and the forgotten are honored not for what they can offer, but simply because they exist. Maya Angelou once said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Think of the quiet dignity we restore when we welcome the overlooked, the joy that lights up a face when someone who is usually invisible is suddenly seen and valued. When we choose to include those who are often excluded, we become part of something eternal because such acts echo into eternity—"you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 

So, who in our lives feels excluded, forgotten, or left on the margins? Who is waiting for someone to notice them? Every time we open our hearts to such people, we mirror the very heart of God, who welcomes us even when we have nothing to offer Him in return. My friends, when all is said and done, the measure of this life is not going to be by favors returned, but by lives touched, hope rekindled, and love made visible.