REFLECTION
Gospel
Jesus came down with the Twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”
Luke 6: 17, 20-26
Reflection
The Gospel from Luke is Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain. This passage is very similar to the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew’s Gospel, although the number of Beatitudes differs, and Luke’s Gospel includes “woes”. Many scripture scholars believe that these are two accounts of the same event.
If we can imagine ourselves as part of Jesus’ crowd, I think that we would find ourselves confused. In Jesus’ time there was a common belief that bad fortune was due to sin on the part of the individual or the individual’s ancestors. I am led to think that Jesus is dispelling this notion and empowering the downtrodden with dignity. Even today people mistake wealth, success, and social standing as signs of being among the elect in God’s eyes. Jesus goes on to invoke woes to those who trust in the trappings of their good fortune.
My first thoughts, when I looked at today’s readings, were that there was a common simple message: Trust in God, do good, avoid the temptations of this world and you can have faith in eternal life. Perhaps we are moved toward a more subtle message in these scripture passages. Rather than as signs of “earning” heaven, we may see how easily the distractions of good fortune can work as an impediment to our spiritual growth. In the First Principle and Foundation, St. Ignatius points out undue attachments to the gifts that we have received can displace what is truly important.
These days as we move forward in our journey in life, it is not clear which path will open, but we can see that it is time to move forward. In the transitional phrase, we begin to realize how much “stuff” we have acquired. We are faced with decisions about what moves with us and what can be left behind. It is becoming clear that the more of this “stuff” that we carry with us, the harder it will be to move forward. We find ourselves weighing how much of what we thought was connected to our identities really is part of us. We consider what will enhance and sustain our mission and what is no longer needed.