A Word of Hope for Oct 31 by Fr. Greg Heille, OP from Aquinas Institute, St. Louis, Missouri.
"I wish you could have met my Aunt Ruby."
She was a tiny Italian woman with a large family who loved to prepare a meal, not only for her own children but for every invited guest. And for all the times I sat at her dinner table as a child, I do not once remember Ruby sitting down to eat with us. Even when we begged her, "Ruby, sit down, eat with us," she was always going back and forth to the kitchen. That was not Ruby's way. Her love language, perhaps even to a fault, was the act of service.
In today's Gospel from Luke 14, Jesus tells the parable of a guest who presumes to take a higher place at a banquet, only to be asked by the host to move to a lower one. Ruby never presumed to take a higher place. She didn't even presume to take a place at the table.
In her last days, in a memory care unit, Ruby was provided for in her every need. And I can only imagine that when she was called to heaven, the heavenly host invited her to take a higher place at the heavenly banquet, and was happy to serve her as she had served others.
In Philippians 1, St. Paul says he is torn between continuing to be of service in this life and going to the Lord. "Death is gain," he says. But if God wants him to stay and serve, then faithful labor is for him.
Faithful labor. Faithful service. That is the invitation of today's Scriptures: trusting that as we serve one another in love and faithfulness, in the image of our Savior, we too will one day be called to the higher place, and we too will know that death is gain.
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
0:03 – Meet my Aunt Ruby
0:21 – She never sat down to eat
0:43 – A love language of service
0:52 – Today's Gospel: the parable of the banquet (Luke 14)
1:21 – Ruby never took a higher place
1:35 – Her last days and the heavenly banquet
2:06 – St. Paul in Philippians 1: "Death is gain"
2:36 – Faithful labor, faithful service
2:43 – The invitation for us today
📖 Today's Readings
First Reading: Philippians 1:18b-26
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 42 – "My soul is thirsting for the living God"
Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-11
🙏 A Word of Hope is a short daily reflection on the Scripture readings from Mass, offering encouragement, faith, and hope for your day.
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