Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Luke 14:15-24

“Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.”

During the last weeks in Ordinary Time, as the Church year draws to a close, Holy Mother Church calls us to meditate upon the Last Things: Heaven and hell, death and judgment. During November, we also pray for the faithful departed, especially our beloved dead and the Poor Souls.

Often we wonder what our beloved dead—when they, we hope and pray, reach Heaven—will experience there. Jesus’ teachings and parables about the very human and earthly experience of dining gives us insight into the nature of Heaven, which is often described as “the Heavenly Banquet”. In yesterday’s Gospel Reading, Jesus invited a Pharisee to be more generous about inviting to his home those he might consider “undeserving”.

In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus gives us a parable to reflect upon God the Father’s generous invitation to share in the “Kingdom of God”. It’s true that the Kingdom of God to a certain measure can be experienced while on earth. However, the fullness of the Kingdom of God, and the banquet experienced in that Kingdom, can only be known fully in Heaven.

In Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel Reading, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many.” It’s easy to see how this represents God the Father inviting many to the Banquet of Heaven. “But one by one, [those invited] all began to excuse themselves.” That’s perplexing, and might make us wonder whether the parable still applies to God inviting people to Heaven. After all, no one would turn down an invitation to Heaven, we might think. Unfortunately, if we thought that, we would think wrongly. People reject God’s call to Heaven just as they reject God’s call to Sunday Mass, just as they reject God’s call to daily prayer.

Prayer, Sunday Mass, and the Eternal Banquet of Heaven: God invites us, step by step, to share in the fullness of His divine life. The excuses that we often give God for turning down His invitations are just as foolish as the excuses offered by those invited in the parable. Fortunately for us, God the Father continues to invite us each day of our earthly life. It’s up to each us of to respond to God’s invitation, and recognize ourselves in the words recited shortly before Holy Communion: “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb” [see Revelation 19:9].