Let me set the
background, the setting, for our Gospel today.
Immediately prior to the passage we have from St. Luke’s Gospel, Jesus
had gone up a mountain to pray. He spent
the whole night in prayer. In the
morning He called to Himself His disciples, His followers, and from them Jesus
chose twelve that He named “Apostles”.
Then Jesus came down the mountain with the Twelve to a level space.
There on the
level space were a lot of people forming sort of concentric circles around
Jesus. First there are the Twelve
Apostles, then the disciples, then we are told “a large number of people from
all Judea and Jerusalem”. These would
have been Jews. But that is not all. Finally, there is a crowd from “the coastal
region of Tyre and Sidon.” These coastal
people would have been gentiles, pagans, non-Jews. So this is a mixed group, representing all
people, with Jesus in the center.
However, Jesus
does not address the whole group. The
Gospel states, “And raising his eyes
toward his disciples he said:” Jesus addresses His disciples. That is us.
You and me. We are disciples.
Where are we
in this Gospel? Well we are not
Apostles. Hopefully, we are not
pagans. Nor are we Jews. We here at St Austin parish are called to be
DISCIPLES. And so Jesus is addressing
US.
“Blessed are you…” The word “you” here is Greek is PLURAL.
In English we only have the word “you” for both individuals and for
groups. But this is clearly plural. It would sort of be as if Jesus said,
“Blessed are yous guys…” He is
addressing us a group of disciples.
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the
kingdom of God is yours.” Jesus is
not speaking here of material poverty but rather of poverty of spirit. That is, Jesus is talking about those who
know their need for God. Those who are wise enough, and perceptive
enough, to know that everything they have is gift: the family they were born into, the
opportunities they have been given, their health and energy, their education,
the spiritual formation they have
received, indeed even their very life, is all gift. It is not something
they have accomplished, but something they have freely received. And the result of this recognition is
gratitude. Gratitude.
Gratitude and
this sense of poverty of spirit are very close.
And so Jesus assures us, “the
kingdom of heaven is yours.”
“Blessed are you who are now hungry,”
hungering and thirsting for the Kingdom of God, for God’s Will to be done on
earth, hungering for an end to injustice, for an end to environmental
degradation; thirsting for justice and for peace. “You
will be satisfied” Jesus promises.
“Blessed are you who are now weeping”
over racism, xenophobia, hatred, anti-Semitism, gay bashing, and all forms of
discrimination. You will laugh with joy
over righteousness and justice in the Kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and
they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the
Son of Man.” To suffer persecution and rejection for
following Jesus, for doing what is right and what is decent and good, draws you
incredibly close and deep into His fullness of life, and is a blessing far, far
greater than any passing discomfort or suffering.
That is what
we as a community, as a parish, are called to.
“But woe to you who are rich,” and
self-satisfied, and don’t need anyone else, and think you can do and get away
with whatever you want.
And “Woe to you who are filled now,” so full
of yourselves that you do not think you need anyone else and have no care for
anyone else.
“Woe to you who laugh now” and pay no
attention and give no care to children jailed on the border, to families
desperately seeking safety and a new life, to the poor, the sick, the oppressed,
to protect and care for children yet to be born, but instead fill your days
with mindless and ceaseless entertainments, with gadgets and high-tech toys, to
avert your attention from the real pain around you.
“Woe to you when all speak well of you” because you have conformed
yourself so well to the ways of this world, and fit in so seamlessly and
unobtrusively with the crowd, the conventional wisdom, and all the ways of this
world.
Blessings and
woes. Addressed to us. ¿Where are we as a community, as St Austin Catholic
Parish?
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