Saturday, 30th Week Year II
Hagerstown Correctional Center
October 31 2026
St. Paul in Chains
If there is anyone in the New Testament who understands where you are sitting today – it is St. Paul. When he wrote his letter to the Philippians (which we just heard), St. Paul wasn’t sitting in his office, or in a library, or even at a kitchen table. He was in chains. He was locked away. His future was uncertain. His destiny was in the hands of others.
But listen to what he said: “Christ is being proclaimed, and in that, I rejoice!” He goes on to say: My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Paul is speaking to you. He is proclaiming a truth that concrete walls and steel bars cannot change: Your imprisonment does not dictate who you are in God’s eyes. It is does not deprive you of your God-given dignity nor of your God-given mission in life. The world thinks locking someone up stops their life. St. Paul shows us that when your life belongs to Christ, your purpose in life, your reason for living, cannot be contained. He says: “For to me, life is Christ!” He found total freedom in a prison cell because his mind and heart were anchored in something the guards couldn’t touch and the state couldn’t take away. Christ lived in his him and he lived in Christ. That made him and it makes you a beloved son or daughter of God the Father.
The Lowest Place
That brings us to today’s Gospel. There we meet Jesus who knows what is in the human heart. He’s at a banquet, watching people compete for places of honor, as if to prove that they are really important. Jesus does just shake his head and walk away. Instead he tells the people at the banquet and (tells us) a parable about a wedding feast where people were doing the same thing – vying to sit at the head of the table. Jesus’ advice? Don’t take the place of honor in case someone more important comes along and the host tells you to take a lower place at table. Instead, take the lowest place and then you might get invited to a better place. What was Jesus talking about? Mere politeness? Etiquette? I don’t think so.
Jesus was talking about himself. He is God’s Son, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. But it was Jesus who took the lowest place of all. Not clinging to equality with God but humbled himself to the point of giving up his life on the Cross. He was crucified between two thieves. By-standers ridiculed him. Public opinion condemned him. He was at the very bottom of society.
When you feel like you are at the bottom, you are actually standing exactly where Jesus chooses to meet us, me and you. He does not blind us with his glory but comes to us in meekness and humility of heart, as one acquainted with our sinfulness, human frailty and suffering. Jesus meets us where we are, wherever that might be.
The lowest place is not a curse if it leads us to God. In fact, when we are stripped of our pride, our status, and our illusions, when we are honest with God and with ourselves, then we find out what lies at the bottom of our hearts: ‘A thirst for God, the living God.’ Isn’t that what we just said? “My soul is thirsting for the living God!”
Sometimes people in high places have a hard time understanding their need for God. It gets camouflaged by busyness, distraction, and pride. But if you and I are in the lowest place, our thirst for God becomes real. When that happens, the Host of this banquet, the Mass, will encounter you. He will look beyond your past and your present circumstances, and say to you, “My friend, move up to a higher place!”
Restoration in Christ
When that happens, rejoice. The Lord is with you. He has called you ‘friend’. The Lord doesn’t wait until we have it all together. He came to call sinners and that includes me and you. If we are at rock bottom, he’ll meet us there. If we’re somewhere in between, he’ll walk with us all the way. The point is that God isn’t trying to make you into a different person but rather to give you back your life made new – the best version of yourself. Restoration is a process that beings right here, inside these walls. He helps you reclaim your dignity as a son or daughter of God the Father. He restores the image of God in you. He offers you and me a mercy stronger than sin and more powerful than death.
God does not measure your worth by the mistakes you’ve made or by the seat you’ve been assigned by a court. He measures your worth by his love for you. He wants to raise you up, give you a peace that surpasses understanding, and to use your life, here and now, to reflect his light to those around you.
Like St. Paul, you can choose to make this place a sanctuary. You can choose to let Christ live in you today. Let your thirst lead you to him, and trust that the One who has been a good work in you will bring it to completion. Let me assure you of my prayers and I would be most grateful if you would pray for me and for those whom I serve. God bless you and keep you always in his love!