Don't just write a check

There are people today acclaimed as great humanitarians who write checks for millions of dollars to worthy causes or who make highly publicized photo ops at soup kitchens and orphanages (in between movie sets, concert tours or big business deals).

Even those of us who are not rich and famous often show our generosity by donating old clothes, responding to direct mail charity solicitations, or putting a few dollars in the second collection for the missions.

These are good things in themselves.

But in today's Gospel (Luke 14:12-14), our Lord challenges us to be more up-close and personal in our generosity: not just writing a check or redirecting hand-me-downs, but as intimate as breaking bread with those the world considers wretched refuse.

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.