"Happy the man who will be at the feast in the Kingdom of God." We should become poor in order to appreciate the Eucharistic feast.

As Catholics we should understand Jesus' parable about being invited for a banquet in the context of the Holy Mass.

The first important detail of today's parable is that all the guests had already been invited so they knew very well that the time of a banquet was coming. However, they did nothing in order to answer the invitation and meet the host. They showed indifference and disrespect masked by the poor excuse. They lived in an illusion of self-sufficiency.

The second important detail of Jesus' parable is that the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame that answered an invitation. Indeed, they were forced by the servants but they understood the chance that was given to them. It was their poverty and dependence on other's mercy that helped them to join the feast.

We have been blessed by the Lord with many gifts and talents; but we will never appreciate the Holy Mass without the poverty of spirit. There is nothing we can give to the Lord. There is everything we can receive from Him. It is our communion with merciful Jesus that opens our hearts to the needs of our brothers and sisters.