Bishop Enrique Díaz Díaz shares with Exaudi readers his reflection on the Gospel of this Sunday, August 31, 2025, entitled:  “Table of Brothers.”

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Sirach 3:19-21, 30-31:  “Make yourself small, and you will find favor with God.”

Psalm 67:  “God gives freedom and wealth to the captives”.

Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24: “You have come near to Zion, the mountain and the city of the living God.”

Luke 14:1, 7-14:  “He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Humans are like trees: some trees grow freely and reach heights, providing freshness, shade, flowers, and even fruit. Others need other plants to grow, but at the same time, they nourish themselves, adorn, protect, and invigorate them. On the other hand, there are parasitic plants that, not content with simply nourishing themselves from other trees, suffocate, strangle, and eventually dry them out. Just like people. I like coffee plants, not only for their exquisite fruit but for their lifestyle. Small and simple, they need larger trees to provide the necessary protection and warmth, to nourish and protect them from the wind, sun, and pests. They always need a tree nearby, not to climb, but to give life together. They are beautiful in bloom, the coffee is delicious, their way of growing, of living, is admirable. Many people are like that too.

Jesus observes and criticizes contrary behavior. Perhaps to us, it would seem the most ordinary thing. We struggle to give way, to pay attention to others, to find a place for those in need. Life is a frantic competition to conquer places, to rise to the top, no matter how much we have to crush others. The Greek maxim: “higher, stronger, faster…” is a motto of our existence. But not in its deepest sense of true self-improvement, but rather as an expression of selfishness and boundless ambition. Nothing satisfies the human heart, nothing satisfies it, and the person becomes a leaky sack that is never filled and always desires more and more, even at the expense of his brothers and sisters. He has become so deluded with having more and more power that he often leads a hollow, sad, and empty life because he never has enough. In their excessive desire for more possessions and power, many end up leading a dull existence, immersed in their ambitions, dissatisfied with not achieving anything, always yearning for what they don’t have. And so they seek first place, ostentation, and appearance.

The values ​​of our society are exposed by the guests fighting for the top spots, in clear opposition to the values ​​Jesus proposes: a meal for all and a banquet of brothers and sisters. Jesus inverts the scale of values ​​of our world and offers a table of service, openness, and attention. He teaches that we must seek the lowest places, not to evade responsibilities, but as equal participation. While society praises and lords over the great, Jesus tells us the opposite:  “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”  Thus, the sign of the Kingdom becomes more evident: all are brothers and sisters, they share the meal because they share the same life, they become close, they seek to establish intimacy and participation. Jesus does not seek the mediocrity or timidity that many Christians seek with false humility; on the contrary, he launches us toward undreamed-of ideals and proposes unheard-of heights, but not by climbing at the expense of others, not by snatching away what belongs to them, not by despising our brothers and sisters. The sign of the banquet is the closest sign to the Kingdom of Heaven, but we cannot pervert it with privileges, hoarding, individualism, and discrimination.

Jesus further clarifies his teachings: we should not use food and invitations to manipulate benefits. Jesus does not criticize friendship, family relationships, or joyfully reciprocated love, but invites us to reflect on the ultimate truth that motivates our actions. Jesus proposes human relationships based on resemblance to our Father God, free of charge, in freedom and love. Relationships and friendship should always help us grow; we should never manipulate people. “What good can I get from this person?” This is the world’s way of thinking, and very often the relationships we establish have utilitarian ends, making it difficult to live selflessly. Many wonders how much they have received and from whom they expect recognition. On the contrary, Jesus teaches that the important thing is not to receive, but to give—to give joyfully, to give promptly, to give freely.

The desire to receive, to appear, to acquire notoriety, nests in the heart of man. Together with the idols of money and power, man enslaves himself to the desire for honors and the pursuit of prestige. Therefore, he struggles and strives. He fears an unnoticed life and ends up drowning in a poor, mean, meaningless life, full of selfishness and self-absorption. He forgets that the true value of a person is to give more than to receive, just as light or heat needs to be consumed. If, on the other hand, one seeks to accumulate and hide, selfishly withholding everything, one runs the risk of accumulating things, prestige, and money, but ends up being a cold stone, a beautiful but unlit candle, a sterile seed. The evangelical law of losing in order to find, of giving in order to be happy, of dying in order to live, is difficult to follow, but it is the only one that allows us to have a full and happy life. Yes, man is like a plant. Some give life, freshness, and happiness, and others, in their eagerness to grow, smother the tree from which they drew their life. There are men whose generosity inspires others to grow, and others who, in their struggle to rise, end up alone and abandoned.

The image of a shared table, where everything is offered freely, where we can participate with joy, where we are all brothers and sisters, requires generosity, smallness, and service that can only be lived in love in the style of Jesus. How do we live our relationships with others? How do we share the little or much we have? Who do we invite to the table of life, and who have we rejected? What does Jesus tell us?

God, good Father, who created us freely out of love, grant us hearts big enough to love, strong enough to fight, and generous enough to give ourselves as a gift to your human family, as your son Jesus did. Amen.