A Foretaste Of Heaven On Earth

2022년 8월 28일

A Foretaste Of Heaven On Earth

< Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time  >

 One of the worst experiences I ever had in my life occurred when I was a fifteen-year-old high school student. My father had received a phone call from a cousin in Italy whom he hadn’t seen or heard from in almost forty years. He was now a medical doctor and, ready for this? He had the same name as I did. Instead of Father, he was Dr. Joseph Veneroso. Needless to say I was anxious to meet this man with whom I shared a name. He was visiting the States in a week, so my father invited him over to our house for dinner. The appointed day arrived and everything was set: linen table cloth and napkins, silverware polished, candles in the candle holders, and the food! My parents had been shopping and cooking for days. The appointed hour arrived and—-no cousin. Five minutes became fifteen became thirty and we became concerned. Perhaps he’d been in an accident. Or had been kidnapped. Or heaven forbid, murdered. We tried calling his phone but got no answer. We were about to call the police when our phone rang. It was our cousin, all apologetic. He’d totally forgotten and was now far away in another city. I will never forget the look of hurt and disappointment on my parents’ faces. Worse, there was nothing I could do to take away their pain.

Only many years later, while I was receiving spiritual direction as a seminarian, we were discussing childhood wounds— those that still hurt after many years. My spiritual director suggested these wounds might make me a better priest. I asked how. He said, “That’s the way God feels most of the time. God prepared a wonderful world for us, then sent his son to invite us to the eternal banquet, but we make excuses and don’t bother attending.” But God does not wallow in grief. He invites others, who if not more worthy, at least are more grateful: the poor, the sick, the lame, the blind. In today’s gospel Jesus recommends we throw a dinner party precisely for the people who can never pay us back. Delicious food aside, if we do this, both they and we will get a foretaste of the kingdom of heaven.

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