“Sharing your bread with the hungry……….Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of Luke something that is very interesting…A contradiction to say the least…But that is exactly what the message of Jesus Christ is all about…A contradiction…Jesus “turned the world on its head”…..That should tell us something about how we should view the world and also how we as Catholics should live in it…We are not here to “go along to get along”…We are a people set apart!….But I digress…Let’s get to the words of Christ today in the gospel…."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. Rather, 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”……..Its November, Thanksgiving Day is coming……No better way to “give thanks” then to give to those who are unable to return the favor

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

Over the years I have served along side Mother Teresa’s sisters many times at food give outs and at the various soup kitchens they run around the world…I will share with you a story about one of the times……I was in San Francisco for work and it was Sunday. I have been to the city many times so all the things tourists do did not interest me. With that being said, I paid a visit to Mother Teresa’s sisters who run a soup kitchen every Sunday night on the east side of the city in an old firehouse………That evening I arrived before the sisters did and the line of hungry men was already forming…Most of the men there were rather rough looking and before the sisters arrived three Mexican migrants were about to get into a fist fight with this one man who picked the fight and was about to learn the “hard way” why we should never pick fights. Right before the fight broke out, this one very rough looking poor man stepped in and said…..”We don’t do this here”…Implying there was something holy about to take place and he was going to honor it and if these guys about to fight did not honor it too, there would be “trouble”…This guy looked like he could “take care of himself” so the four guys about to brawl settled down….Shortly there after the sisters arrived…We prepared the meal and by now the line at the front door was huge with again, some very “rough customers”…..Inside serving the food was me and one other volunteer and three nuns…..On the line was probably well over 150 men, many of whom I am sure were no strangers to county jail.....….Before the sister who was in charge opened the door, the five of us said the St Michael’s Prayer before a crucifix and a statue of Our Lady……”Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen”…....Then we opened the door and the men poured in!…As I watched this I thought to myself for a moment…This is completely crazy….If chaos breaks out and it just may…We are finished!…Stepping back from this now and trying to view this scene as a “third party” looking in after many years I still think it was completely crazy!....This soup kitchen run by Mother Teresa's sisters was and is a total contradiction to every rational shred of common sense any adult should have…..At the risk of their own safety the sisters fed and feed the poor.....But as the narrative of that particular day wore on and the meal was served, nothing bad happened…The men were respectful, ate and went on their way....Thanks be To God!

“Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others”

Jesus tells us in the gospel today from Mass that we are to help those who are in need and he goes on to say if you do….”You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous”…To live as a disciple of Christ, to this very day means to live a contradiction, nothing has changed in 2000 years….The world tells us “one thing”…But Jesus tells us something else…He tells us in Matthew’s gospel point blank…”What you do for the least of these, you do to me”….That is not a suggestion either…Read the passage for your self.....And what Jesus said in Matthew’s gospel will be on “the final exam”….So take note!

“Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!”