It is 4th November 2019. We celebrate the memorial of St Charles Borromeo, Bishop. The readings are from Romans 11:29-36; and the Gospel from Luke 14:12-14. God never takes back the call and grifts yet we can lose it by the way responded and failed to use it for the glory of God and for the welfare of the other. We gain all the more blessings after our life here on earth for having been charitable to the needy and the vulnerable. In the first reading, St. Paul points out that even though people of Israel were unfaithful, God was consistently faithful and generous. God’s love embraces justice; in this finest and subtle merging there is an ample room for God’s mercy. God does not ignore mercy to establish justice just because God is love. Probably, that is what make us taking God’s call and gifts for granted. The responsorial Psalm pleads, “In your great love, answer me, O God.” (Ps.68:14). The Gospel teaches us that charity is not reciprocal but it is a choice. Our Lord wants us to make a clear choice in sharing our resources with those who cannot repay us. Our display of charity must not attract reward, social recognition and speculation and not even our personal admiration for being charitable to marginalised. We may not have any special blessings for being charitable here on earth but surely after our life. So, let us be charitable today all the more than yesterday. As God reaches out to help us in need however unfaithful we are, so may we be generous and reaching out to those who have been forgotten by a merciless, an indifferent, and the ever-busy-minting-money-society. God wants us to reward us when God meets us in Heaven. Let us not be tired in loving the poor and being charity to them. May all our giving to the poor and the needy be anonymous always and that is the vision and the spirit of charity Jesus wishes us to practice as a follower. “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Lk.14:14). Receiving rewards and blessings from the poor is so seldom indeed; even after all that we have done to them either we will be blamed or questioned for being charitable or the recipients themselves would pour the cold water on our back. May the Lord help us to be charitable and generous to those who cannot return what we have done to them. May you have a good day and God bless you.

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