Good morning. One of the things that I struggled with growing up was my mom’s idea of “you scratch my back, I scratch your back.” For example, when we first moved to Houston in 1990, my aunt and her family let us stay with them at their house until my parents were able to buy and fix up our house. For many years after that, she would often remind us of this when she wanted us to do something for my aunt or her family. In other words, it is our turn to “scratch their backs” because they “scratched our back” when our family needed help.
You see, in my own mind, I believed that my aunt helped our family out of the goodness of her heart and because we were family, not because she was expecting anything back in return from us. I believe that is the message that our Lord Jesus Christ is teaching us in today’s Gospel when he said to the Pharisee: “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, [and here is the key] in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.” What does Jesus tell us to do instead: “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."
This was how Saint Martin de Porres lived his life in service of God and his people. From Franciscan Media: “When Martin de Porres was 12, his mother apprenticed him to a barber-surgeon. Martin learned how to cut hair and also how to draw blood - a standard medical treatment then - care for wounds, and prepare and administer medicines. . . After a few years in this medical apostolate, Martin de Porres applied to the Dominicans to be a “lay helper,” not feeling himself worthy to be a religious brother. After nine years, the example of his prayer and penance, charity and humility, led the community to request him to make full religious profession. Many of his nights were spent in prayer and penitential practices; his days were filled with nursing the sick and caring for the poor. It was particularly impressive that he treated all people regardless of their color, race, or status. He was instrumental in founding an orphanage, took care of slaves brought from Africa, and managed the daily alms of the priory with practicality, as well as generosity.”
My sisters and brothers in Christ, we are stewards of everything that we have - our time, talent, and treasure, including our very lives. We can never repay God’s generosity, yet our Lord and our God, who is loving and merciful, continuously pours out abundant blessings upon us without expecting anything in return, except for us to be in a relationship with Him. Let us take to heart Jesus’ lessons in “humility and charitable generosity. . . seek neither honor nor reward” for our reward will be at the “resurrection of the righteous” in the kingdom of heaven.
