Excuses, excuses, excuses! When invited to an important celebration, we may be quick to say "Yes" to the invite. Closer to the date, a reminder comes, and we may think again, "Is this event worth going to?" Or, some of us may wait till the very last minute to accept or decline. Today, it has become more convenient to relay an apology. Just click on the electronic form, never needing to say a word to or face the host of the event. Our relationships have become impersonal, sometimes over-relying on technology to work for us. In the encyclical letter, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV states, "Even when machines excel in efficiency, a human face that asks to be gazed upon remains the centre of our history. The human face is the fullness towards which history is moving" (233).

What happens in me when God calls me? Is there a stirring in me to respond promptly, and to face my God? Or do I use another worldly medium to distance myself from God's immediate face. From the beginning, God set out to invite us back, to be reconciled, to be re-united with all. God did this by sending His Son, "to assume the condition of a slave" (Phil 2:7). Through the Son's dying and rising, the Father calls all, searching the "streets and alleys" (Lk 14:21) to fill God's house where "everything is ready now" (Lk 14:17). God is still waiting today. How do I respond to God?