The Pope made a beautiful and powerful gesture the other day by inviting the poor and homeless to one of the last Masses of the Jubilee Year of Mercy in the Vatican. That the poor and homeless were given the seat of honour right at the front of St Peter’s was quite in keeping with the gospel imperative expressed by these words of Our Lord:
Then he said to the host who invited him, 'When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbours, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.' (Luke 14:12-14)
