Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Kenn.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today. We welcome guest reader Deacon Eric Bissette.
Deacon Eric is a beloved spiritual leader in his home parishes of the Diocese of Rochester, New York.
Little Book's listeners will recognize Deacon Eric as a regular narrator for our daily reflections.
And now, here is today's gospel and homily.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.
On a Sabbath, Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully.
He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.
When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor.
A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, give your place to this man.
And then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place.
Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you, he may say, my friend, move up to a higher position.
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
Then he said to the hosts who invited him, when you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers 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.
The Gospel of the Lord.
I think when we die and go to God, about the only thing that will matter will be the way we treated other people.
That's what comes through when Jesus is preaching over and over again.
And if that were not enough to convince us, in the letters of John written towards the end of the first century, he says over and over, little children love one another.
There's an interesting story about John.
They say when he was an old man, they had to carry him to preach to his community, and he would repeat this same thing.
Little children love one another.
The people began to ask if he wouldn't preach on something else.
After all, he was with Jesus and must have had much more to say.
John responded, when you learn this, then you know everything.
Little children love one another.
And he went right on preaching it.
When we die and go to God about the only thing that will matter will be the way we treated other people.
Any scripture scholar will tell you it's what Jesus lived and preached most of all.
We're even supposed to love our enemies.
This is a particular emphasis in Luke's Gospel.
You remember in Luke's account when Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane and one of his disciples struck the high priest's servant with a sword and cut off a part of his ear.
Jesus healed him.
And later, when Jesus was hanging on the cross, Jesus said, father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.
Sometimes we treat things in our life better than we treat people.
Especially people who aren't important to us. Or worse, people we really don't like.
There's something else we need to keep in mind.
If it's true that when we die and go to God about the only thing that will matter is the way we treated other people, then there's something we have to realize.
Generally speaking, the best things we can do for other people are things that go unnoticed.
By that I mean they're not outstanding.
Bystanders don't notice them.
Usually there aren't any bystanders, and the people we help may not even say thank you.
It's not that no one cares, but these actions aren't what you'd call prominent.
Think, for example, of all a parent does in raising a child.
There are thousands of things that go unrecognized because they are such small things.
But what an effect they have.
And people who don't have children, what they do for others in the course of a day.
For example, people who take care of elderly parents.
The best things they do are little things, or people who notice others who cross the path of their lives on a given day and they notice someone is down.
First of all they notice, which is no small thing, and they try to do something about it.
Nothing magnificent, just a thoughtful word.
Those things don't make it into print.
But God uses a different book.
In the gospel, Jesus talked about inviting the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.
Then Jesus says, blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.
When we die and go to God, about the only thing that will matter will be the way we treated other people.
One final thought.
It's a bit personal, but it might be helpful.
There are many, many ways to pray.
One of the patterns I learned is to spend a few moments looking back on the day gone by.
You can do it at night or, as I prefer, do it the next morning.
You ask yourself three questions.
First, what did I do well yesterday?
Then you give thanks to God for letting God act through you.
Second, what did I do not so well?
And you ask God's forgiveness and healing so you'll do better the next time.
Third, what do I have coming up today that could be difficult?
And you ask God's help to do it well, to be sure to open yourself to the Lord's presence within you and let the Lord act through you.
Here's what I've noticed when I look back to something I did well, and sometimes I can't think of anything in that category. But often enough there is. It's almost always something I did for someone else, and it's something that in world history seems small.
It's never a speech I gave or a meeting I ran or something I published or something that made the newspapers.
It's a phone call, a stop at the hospital, a note, a word with someone in the hallway.
Interesting.
The best thing I can do on a given day is usually related to how I treat someone.
And it's almost always something small.
So I pass it on to you. For whatever it's worth.
I pass on to you what I believe is the meaning of today's gospel passage.
When we die and go to God, about the only thing that will matter is the way we treated one another.
John had it right.
Little children love one another.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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[00:09:26] Speaker C: Sa.
