SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
13 FEBRUARY 2022
In the
first reading, the Prophet Jeremiah contrasts the blessings enjoyed by a person
who trusts in the Lord with the curses suffered by one who trusts only in human
beings. He compares the one who trusts
in the Lord to a tree planted beside the waters. It stretches out its roots to the stream for
nourishment. He compares the one who
trusts only in human beings to a barren bush in the desert. It is isolated from the life-giving stream
and stuck in a salt and empty waste. Our
Psalm contains these same contrasts. In
both cases, the tree does not accidentally find itself near the stream. It is planted there!
In the
Gospel, Jesus uses this same literary device to contrast the blessings of those
who have embraced his message with the curses of those who have refused. Saint Luke tells us that he gives this
version of the Beatitudes on level ground to the Twelve, the crowd of disciples,
and to a large number of curious folks.
He is on level ground, because he has emptied himself of the privileges
of divinity and taken on their nature. He
invites them to empty themselves of any attachments that keep them from
embracing God’s gracious gift of love.
He calls the poor blessed (or happy or fortunate), because they do not
need to have any status or wealth to be numbered as part of the Kingdom of
God. Those who are hungry are blessed,
because they do not depend on any other external quantity to satisfy them. Those who are weeping are blessed, because
they can express sorrow over the power of sin in our world, especially in its
power to draw us from a deeper connection with Jesus Christ. Disciples are blessed when they have the
courage to speak the truth in the face of rejection and persecution.
Then he
warns those who have not emptied himself that they are cursed. The rich are cursed, because they think that
their power or possessions can save them.
Those who are filled up cannot imagine being hungry for the Lord’s
presence. Those who pursue the feelings
of happiness cannot understand the dangers of being drawn away from intimacy
with the Lord. Those who value
popularity with other people above all cannot expect to be conformed to the
image of Christ, who embraced rejection and trusted in being raised from the
dead.
Jesus is
calling his disciples to respond to God’s love with action. The Second Vatican Council insisted on a
renewal of moral theology to emphasize that Christian living draw more on the
Scriptures. With that instruction, we
can understand that the Beatitudes reveal God’s plan for our happiness here and
in the world to come. As we listen, we
need to be aware that the Paschal Mystery of the Lord’s death and resurrection
overshadows these words of Jesus. Jesus
invites us to be part of his kingdom now.
The kingdom is not a place.
Rather, it is a verb, a reality that he has brought to us and which he
invites us to embrace.
With the
aid of God’s grace, we can learn to live these Beatitudes by practicing the
theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we can embrace
the moral virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Then the fruits of the Holy Spirit – love,
joy, and peace – can become more manifest in our lives.
Jesus
Christ does not want any of his beloved disciples to be cursed. He wants us to be happy and fortunate. He wants us to see each other as equal in the
kingdom of God, hungering for his love, aware of the power of sin, and one with
him in speaking an unpopular truth. He
also warns us against the dangers of relying on ourselves and our possessions,
on filling our lives with what we think will fulfill our deepest hungers,
pursuing the transitional emotion of happiness all the time, and pursuing
popularity at all costs. He wants our
behavior to put us firmly in the Kingdom of God now.
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