Saint for the day: Charles Borromeo – (October 2, 1538 – November 3, 1584)

Scripture Readings for today’s Liturgy:

Romans 11:1-2a, 11-12, 25-29 – Psalm 94 – Luke 14:1, 7-11

At first glance, today’s reading from Romans might give us the idea that God “sets up” situations that force us to see our errors and

come to Him to be saved. This kind of thinking can lead us into a dilemma of seeing God as playing games with his creation. This is where free will comes in and where we struggle to understand how God could let us make mistakes when He could have easily kept us on the right path. Free Will is a gift that we need to understand. God has not made us robots but individuals who realize our need for something outside of ourselves to bring us the happiness that we seek.

This is where the “prosperity preachers” miss the point: God isn’t interested in our having the best and fastest car or a second home in the Bahamas. He’s most concerned that we find true happiness that only He can provide. Again, we are reminded that “God doesn’t call us to be successful but to be faithful!” This is where today’s Gospel comes in: it’s not a matter of seeing ourselves as important in the eyes of those around us that matters, but that we allow God to give us our worth.

Mary’s Magnificat sums it all up: He looks upon His lowly servant ,,, and has lifted up the poor.”

Our actions need to be honestly based. We can’t say to ourselves, “I know what I’ll do. I’ll make a big show of going to the last seat and hope that the host sees my “humility” and calls me up to a better place” That just won’t work! We can’t manipulate God into to raising us up any more than we can pull ourselves up by our own boot straps! Read through Mary’s Magnificat verse by verse as it has the secret to true success in the eyes of God. Amen!