We Are Invited To The Feast

November is known for the Thanksgiving Holiday! It is typically understood as the November Feast of Good Food in the secular world. But, it is so much more than that. It is really a beautiful day to thank God for all that we have and for our very lives and families. It is a Eucharistic Day that I begin with Mass, celebrating the Feast of True Food and True Drink.

The Feast of the Eucharist is available every day of the year (except for Good Friday), but this is the day that I especially thank God for our country, the United States of America; the land of the free and the brave. I pray to God with the intercession of Our Lady that it stays that way.

Everyone is invited to the Eucharistic Feast, not just today but every day. This Feast is more than a celebratory dinner that we are invited to pencil into our calendars.

It is Eucharistic – lifesaving with eternal consequences. You have a special VIP invitation to the table of your own redemption where a free plate of saving grace is all yours just for showing up. This invite is more than a thousand times the value of a Taylor Swift concert ticket or NFL game.

You are invited to the Feast again and again. He just keeps offering. This is the table at Holy Mass.

Will you come and dine in the Kingdom of God with Jesus?

Will you take Jesus up on His Eucharistic Offer?

In all of the gospels, Jesus describes his “True Food” as following the will of His Father. It is His will that we come to Mass at least every Sunday to partake in the Last Supper together as the Body of Christ. How do we misunderstand this offering so much that we cannot attend daily Mass a few times a week? We could be doing everything in our power to take our rightful place at the Master’s dinner. But most of us don’t. It is our sinfulness that holds us back. That’s it. Simple.

It’s time to show up. At daily Mass, Confession, Adoration, Scripture Study and to fast and pray.

The Eucharist means Thanksgiving. We thank the Lord for his True Food, our lives, and his enduring love every time we partake in the Mass. In the past few readings from the gospel of Luke, Chapter 15, at the beginning of this month – the Lord is very stern in the scripture passages. In one reading, Jesus tells a parable about a master who has a great dinner to which he invited many. But, one by one, they declined for various reasons. He sends out his servant several times to find more people to attend, but at the end of the story – there is still room at the table. The people are busy with their wives and property. It is stated that the master was “enraged” and tells his servant that “none of those who were invited [and do not come] will taste my dinner.”

What are the excuses that we give the Master? Maybe it is time to be deliberate and recline at table rather than in front of the TV no matter how busy we are – especially on Thanksgiving morning. And, then, the next readings from Luke, Chapter 14, admonish us for putting father, mother, wife or even our own lives before the love of Jesus. He speaks of hating those that come between Him and us. Wow. This hate is meant to get our attention to put God first rather than the idols in our lives such as food, alcohol, entertainment – even our own families. Today, we can unintentionally care more about other things then about serving God and setting that badly needed example for our families and friends. This is actually what they need the most: God. Jesus in the Eucharist.

He is stern here for our own good! He is asking us to stop the excuses and begin a life of discipline. We depend on one another.

When I am holy, I help you be holy; when I am sinful, I tempt you to be sinful. We are one Body of Christ.

It’s time to take our fasting and praying seriously. Me included!

Accepting our crosses, crucifying our idols that numb them, and uniting the discomfort to the Cross of Jesus will give us the deepest union with the Father’s will. This acceptance out of love and abundance will bring unity to our families and the closeness that we yearn for. Our daily seat at the Eucharistic table guarantees our ability to carry out the will of God in our lives without making idols of other relationships or things that distance us from intimacy with Him.
Intimacy with Him is intimacy with those that we love the most.

God’s True Food and True Drink is the only food that will satisfy.

It begins with each of us. Start going to Mass on Thanksgiving morning. Then enjoy the food!

“It is you who have stood by me in my trials and I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” – Luke 22:28-30