When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." (Luke 14:13-14)

You might have heard the saying “You Scratch My Back…” “… And I’ll scratch yours.” Regardless of age, race, religion, culture, or gender everyone is self-interested.  Self-interest is natural, and this is part of being human that means we are not perfect. “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” (Alexander Pope) That is why Jesus invites us to think outside that human box (imperfection) and more in the divine one. God’s love for us is unconditional and "everlasting”. “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you. Through Jeremiah, God declares to his people, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.’” (CCC, no. 220) In Him there is no personal benefit in showing us His immeasurable love. We can’t, after all, give him anything that He doesn’t already have. Let us take Jesus’ invitation to heart by looking over our list of dinner invitations by doing an act of charity for someone who is unable to scratch your back in return. Maybe you can make time to pray for all the souls in the purgatory.

Peace in Christ,
Father Vincent-Vuong Nguyen