Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
We Belong Together
Alternative Celebration: Learn more here.
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: C | Lectionary Cycle: I
Introduction
We belong together as members of the same body of Christ, each with one’s gifts and talents, with one’s own contribution to make for the well-being of the whole and for the service of others, in the solidarity of one common destiny in Christ. We are like guests at the same table, where there is room for everyone, also for those who are the last and the least in our merely human system of values. We belong together at the same table.
Today’s gospel has partly the same theme as that of yesterday: that in the kingdom of God we have to open our homes and hearts to the poor, the neglected, the people without name or fame. This is why we take the messages of the first reading of years I and II.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
you have made us like parts of a body
dependent on one another.
Teach us to love one another,
for only when we are united
can we live in hope and joy
and persevere in trials.
Only when we are one can we relieve the suffering
that oppresses many of our neighbors far and near.
Give us this unity in love
that unites us beyond the boundaries of death
with you and one another,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Upon hearing these words, one of those at the table said to Jesus:
“Happy are those who eat at the banquet in the kingdom of God!”
Jesus replied:
“A man once hosted a feast and invited many guests.
When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell those he had invited that everything was ready.
But all of them began to make excuses. The first said, ‘Please excuse me. I need to go see the piece of land I just bought.’
Another said: ‘I am sorry, but I am on my way to try out the five yoke of oxen I have just bought.’
Still, another said, ‘How can I come, when I’ve just got married?’
The servant returned alone and reported this to his master. Upon hearing his account, the master of the house became furious and told his servant, ‘Go out quickly, into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
The servant reported after a while, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out, but there is still room.’
The master said, ‘Go out to the highways and country lanes and force people to come in to ensure that my house is full.
I tell you, none of those invited will have a morsel of my feast.”
Prayers of the Faithful
– That the Church may not only love the poor and care for them but speak out with courage when they are trampled upon, we pray:
– That in the poor, the sick and the handicapped, we may recognize and welcome the suffering Lord Jesus himself, we pray:
– That the poor and the suffering may not become embittered when freedom and dignity are slow to come, but that they keep believing in people’s capacity for love and God’s justice and care, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God, our Father,
we thank you for your invitation
to break bread with your Son
and to celebrate his memory
around this table.
Dispose us to share the bread
of our food and of ourselves
with all those you love,
that we may be your one community
of service and mutual love.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God, in your kindness,
you have again given us the food of life
of your Son, Jesus Christ.
As we have shared this meal,
keep us united with you and one another.
Let the Spirit of Jesus live in us,
that we may support one another
on the way to lasting happiness
which begins here on earth
and goes on for ever and ever.
Blessing
Extend hospitality to strangers, bless those who persecute you. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Quite a task! May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTION
4 November 2025
St Charles Borromeo
Luke 14: 15-24
Today’s Gospel reminds us of God’s generous invitation to the banquet of His kingdom. The image of a feast is no accident. For the Jews, the Messianic banquet was a long-awaited hope. Yet, when the feast finally came in Jesus, many who were first invited turned away. Their excuses—land to inspect, oxen to test, family duties—sound very familiar. Even today, how often do we let business, new possessions, or even good things like family life crowd out the place of God in our lives?
The parable also reminds us of the wideness of God’s mercy. Those who were once considered outsiders—sinners, the poor, the broken, even the Gentiles—are invited in. God’s banquet table will not remain empty. His love keeps extending outward, until all are welcomed. That is the power of divine hospitality.
But notice this: the invitation is generous, but it is not to be taken lightly. To accept God’s call and then refuse when the time comes is a grave insult. The kingdom is not something to postpone until we have more time or until life feels easier. God calls us now.
And Jesus describes His kingdom in terms of a feast—full of joy, abundance, and celebration. Christianity is not meant to be gloomy or narrow. To live in Christ is to discover true joy, the kind that no wealth, success, or even human love alone can give.
So, today, let us hear again God’s invitation. Let us lay aside our excuses and take our place at His banquet with gratitude and joy. For in the Eucharist, the feast of the kingdom already begins—here, now, with us.
Luke 14:15-24
Path and vision can change lives
The double invitation in the gospel indicates the importance the Lord places on us and the quality of the feast that has been prepared for us. A feast is a food exchange. Everything given in this party can be obtained with money too. But only if you feel the heart of the inviter hidden in what is given, it becomes festive meal and sharing of love.
Refusing an invitation is same as insulting the inviter. The most dangerous excuses are those with which we fool ourselves. One of the unrecognized characteristics of excuses is that theyaccuse as well as excuse because they reveal our true priorities. The excuses we offer reveal the activities and commitments we hold to be of greater importance like possession, trade and pleasure. If we analyse well, these three big excuses are what usually hold our lives captive. As a result, we are living as physically disabled people who have lost their health, as poor who have lost the benefit of their work, as cripples who have lost their true relationships, and as blind people who have lost all hope in life.
In fact, none of us are kept away from God’s love due to our sinful state instead we just make excuses. Some others would have given anything to have the opportunity that we declined. However, God is not discouraged nor annoyed. He doesn’t suspend the feast but reproposes the invitation, extending it beyond any reasonable limit. Thus, the Gospel, rejected by some, finds an unexpected welcome in many other hearts at different moments.
The first reading retraces that those who accepted the gospel become members of one body in Christ. Each of us is shared by God with different gifts. Gifts do not refer to position or domination but responsibility. Greater the gifts, higher the sensitivity, consciousness and responsibility. One who considers self as much gifted with God’s grace or by race is called to embrace and extend the self in the service of others. Only those who dare to put aside their excuses can ever know the joy of confession, the peace of forgiveness, or the thrill of living by faith. Today the Lord extends His invitation to us to be partakers of the life banquet for and with others. What’s our response?