The invitation to God’s table

A Reflection for the Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop

Find today’s readings here.

The parable in today’s Gospel reminds us how easy it is to ignore our call to live in the kingdom. God invites every person to the feast. But too often, everyday demands appear more compelling than the promise of sharing in a banquet at God’s side.

That great feast in today’s Gospel is the kingdom that Christ revealed. It is not something that only takes place after death. It is something we can participate in during our earthly life. Any time we live our lives as God teaches, we take our place at God’s table. Any time we use Gospel values to make an important decision, we live in the kingdom. Any time we forgive or are generous to those who do not deserve it, we continue Christ’s work of revealing the Kingdom of Heaven.

Each of us has a call that brings us to the kingdom. St. Ignatius suggests that we come to know our particular call through our deepest desires. Some people can easily build a life in response to these desires. They might even find their place at the table in their youth. Still, many of us have a hard time hearing God’s voice in the midst of the noise of our lives. I hear regrets about this a lot at the 12-step recovery meetings I attend. People will often share about the true self that they smothered under the demands of their addiction. 

“I always wanted to be a rock star, but I never learned how to play guitar.” 

“I wanted to have a big family, but I kept putting it off in order to use drugs. Now it’s too late to have kids.” 

“When I was a child, I wanted to be a scientist, but drugs robbed me of my mental abilities.” 

God is merciful and the work is vast. My friends in recovery can find new ways to live out their divine call, but many still feel a need to mourn the lost innocence of our first desires.

One does not have to suffer from a condition as dramatic as drug addiction to become entangled in something that draws us away from the kingdom. Jesus gives examples of everyday experiences like purchasing property, acquiring goods and getting married. These are all good things, but participation in any one of them could have been delayed long enough to participate in the banquet. The invited guests are so entangled in their own trivia that they would rather offend a generous friend than take their attention off their own affairs. 

This remains a challenge for disciples today. So many things demand our attention. Sometimes these are good things like family and community, but often the demands are trivial or even self-destructive. Through this chaos, in every moment, God calls us to seek and live in the kingdom. Moments of joy, of connection or of beauty too often pass by unnoticed because of the noise in our heads. 

To fill his banquet hall, the great host sends his servants out to collect the poor in both city and country. In the poor, the host sees people who are not going to be distracted by trivia. With fewer material concerns, they have less to take their attention off the banquet invitation. Their hunger is also significant. The previous guests were affluent enough to feed themselves; they thought they could live without the gifts the host offered. The poor, however, represent those who are hungry for the kingdom of God. They know they can not provide it for themselves, and so they take seriously the invitation to God’s table. 

To become like them, we too need to develop that hunger for the kingdom. It starts with faith, specifically with the belief that God is revealing a kingdom beyond anything we can ask or imagine. It also requires personal preparation, developing the ability to be aware of the kingdom as it reveals itself around us every day. Finally, it requires the freedom to leave behind whatever entanglements that hinder our response to the summons. Only with faith, awareness and freedom can we help God fill the tables in the kingdom.

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