Holy Prophet Habakkuk (Avvakum); Athansius the Recluse (1176); Passing into Eternal Life (1973) of Blessed Ivan Sleziuk, Catacomb Bishop of Ivano-Frankivs’k and Confessor
Nativity Fast.
Read
1 Timothy 1:1-7; Luke 14:12-15
In today’s Gospel Jesus gives us this extraordinary command to consider the weakest and most vulnerable in our society: “When you hold a dinner, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” This is one of his central concerns throughout the Gospels. Strangers, foreigners, widows, orphans, the poor— these weak ones must not be ignored. Because by caring for them we all find salvation.
God’s passion not only runs right through the biblical tradition, but it comes roaring up into the social teaching of the Catholic Church: “If you have two coats in your closet, one belongs to you; the other belongs to the man who has no coat.” Let us not forget the poor and marginalized.