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.
God invites us to his banquet even though we don't deserve it. He in turn invites us to love as he loves. He invites us to give of ourselves for those who cannot earn it or repay it. This is surprisingly difficult. We imagine ourselves as selfless but when the rubber hits the road we live in a system are carefully accounted giving and taking. We are called to love and not count the cost. It is hard to silence the voice within that is ever counting and tallying that cost. That voice demands repayment for our work and it is hard to ignore.
In order to love as we are called to love we must first receive the mercy of God. As we receive it we must acknowledge it with great thankfulness. If we imagine we are we are are in our own lives because we deserve it this is a lie of which we need to disillusion ourselves. We have nothing that does not come from the mercy of God. Much of it comes to us through others, through their prayers, their examples, and their guidance. But mercy has its source in God alone.
God shows mercy with the expectation that we share it. Mercy is for the one who receives it but it must also overflow to others. Mercy is not real which leaves someone with a selfish and inward focus. He gives specific graces to individuals not just for their own sake but for the sake of those who encounter them. What graces has the LORD given us? How does his mercy at work in us make us uniquely suited to show mercy to others?
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy
because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.
There is no point in this process where we can do it on our own. We don't take the ball and run. God continues to support and sustain us. We must continually cry out, "Lord, in your great love, answer me." If we do so God will use us to show his mercy to the others. He will build one growing chorus of praise to his name.
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To God be glory forever. Amen.
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