Once, we had a retreat for all the youth leaders in Mega Manila. Youth ministry heads, campus missionaries, and other volunteers attended. Some guests even flew in from Iloilo and Cebu. All in all, there were over 90 of us for the three-day retreat.

It was a mixed group. There were students, young professionals, and young married couples. Some were new, while some have been serving in the youth ministry for nearly a decade.

It was a joy to put together this retreat for them. In each one’s local contexts, they’ve been using their gifts, pouring their time, and opening up their hearts to bring other young people in to know Christ. The stories they shared and the sacrifices they’ve made were inspiring. Thank God for people who heed God’s call to serve in this way.

God is calling you too.  It may or may not look like this, but I know for sure: You have a story to tell and gifts to share. The question then is “Where?”

Mon Reyes (rizmonreyes@gmail.com)

Reflect

What is one thing you know you’re good at? What is one thing, that when you do well, will help somebody else?

Heavenly Father, we love because You first loved us. Thank You for the gifts You have given to us. Help us to grow in our capacity to serve and to love. Amen.

St. Martin de Porres, religious, pray for us.

God is the source of all goodness. Whatever experience of goodness we may have had from people, we still get a deeper one in our relationship with God. It does not matter how deep we have plumbed the depths of God’s goodness—we can always go deeper. All glory belongs to Him. Any good that we do is part of His grace at work in us. 

²⁹ Brothers and sisters: The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you once disobeyed God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹ so they have now disobeyed in order that, by virtue of the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. ³² For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. ³³ Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! ³⁴ For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? ³⁵ Or who has given him anything that he may be repaid? 36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 69:30-31, 33-34, 36 

R: Lord, in your great love, answer me.

³⁰ But I am afflicted and in pain; let your saving help, O God, protect me. ³¹ I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him with thanksgiving. (R) ³³ “See, you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, may your hearts revive! 34 For the Lord hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.” (R) ³⁶ For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. They shall dwell in the land and own it, and the descendants of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall inhabit it. (R) 

Gospel | Luke 14:12-14

We do not do good works to please ourselves. Good works are for the benefit of others. Our motivations are important, as they indicate the selfishness of our actions. Sin causes us to act for self-seeking pleasure. As we try to imitate the selflessness of God, we have to work against that inclination.

Gospel Acclamation 

If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, says the Lord. 

¹² On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. ¹³ Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; ¹⁴ blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Reflect:

Why do you do good works and for whom?

Read the Bible in one year! Read JOB 38 - 42 today.

When was the last time you celebrated the birthdays of your kasambahay (household staff)? Does your Christmas list include people who serve you every day through their humble jobs (e.g., the guards at your office building or village gate, the janitors at work)? Do you know them by name? Do you know where they are from? How many children they have? What dreams they have for their children? Have you ensured that they receive just wages for their families to have the better lives that God desires for them?

Jesus invites us today to welcome God’s presence in our hearts by ensuring a place for the least among us—in our worldviews, in our daily thoughts and prayers, and within our spheres of concern.

To welcome the poor into our homes and dinner tables will be most difficult, but  the challenge today is to not hide behind the sanitizing of Scripture and the watering down of Jesus’ invitations by looking for symbolisms and figurative meanings. The poor whom He refers to are, simply and literally, the economically poor. The crippled, the lame, and the blind are those with infirmities whom we would rather not see or be with because their brokenness unnerves us. And Jesus’ imperative is that we stop ignoring them or pretending that they are not part of the world which we live in and the society which we are responsible for.

If you have never had the likes of them at your dinner table or in your home, then you likely do not know what and how they truly suffer, and you cannot love them the way God wants you to. To ignore these friends of Jesus is to ignore the Lord Himself and what He asks of you. 

Fr. Mark Lopez, SJ

reflection question

How does the above reflection challenge you in the way you relate to the poor within your sphere of concern?

Give me the heart and the courage, Lord, to embrace Your anawim. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ____________________________