Wednesday, October 29, 2025

 

Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:26-30; Luke 13:22-30)

It was Sunday evening when a young woman was waiting tables.  She was singing to herself but was not timid about sharing her heart with clientele.  She said that she had been to church that morning where evidently her pastor referred to the Book of Revelation.  The woman said that she wanted to be among the 144,000 people whom Revelation says are sealed for salvation.

Although Revelation also mentions an uncountable multitude standing before the heavenly throne, some still believe that in all history only a relatively few number of people reach salvation. In today’s gospel Jesus does not abuse the crowds of this idea. He explicates that people who “ate and drank” with him – we can think of Catholics who come to Mass and Communion here – are not necessarily heaven-bound.  He adds that inheritors of the Kingdom include those from faraway places.

In the gospels Jesus continually says that we must practice charity to the needy if we are to be saved.  We have to wash one another’s feet, feed the hungry, show compassion on the poor if we hope to have a seat in the banquet hall of the saved.

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