Sunday February 13, 2022

SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

 

Those Whom God Makes Happy

People who have everything they need, or have what they think they need, are not easily open to God, or even to other people. On the other hand, people in difficulties are generally more open to others, receptive to help and love from God and people, and, consequently, also more open to see the needs of others and to help them; for they know from experience what it means to be poor, troubled, sorrowing and dependent on others. Jesus asks of us today to become people willing to feel our needs and to depend on God. Then we will also be open to our neighbor, to receive and to give. We acknowledge our poverty and dependence before Jesus.

 

First Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-8

God’s Message:

“Cursed is the strong one
    who depends on mere humans,
Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone
    and sets God aside as dead weight.
He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie,
    out of touch with the good earth.
He lives rootless and aimless
    in a land where nothing grows.

7-8 “But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,
    the woman who sticks with God.
They’re like trees replanted in Eden,
    putting down roots near the rivers—
Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
    never dropping a leaf,
Serene and calm through droughts,
    bearing fresh fruit every season.

 

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:12,16-20

Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ.

If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.

 

Gospel: Luke 6:17,20-26

Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke:

You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.
God’s kingdom is there for the finding.
You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.
You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.

 “Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don’t like it, I do . . . and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.

But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
    What you have is all you’ll ever get.

And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.
    Your self will not satisfy you for long.
And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games.
    There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.

 “There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

 

Prayer
God our Father,
you appeal to us today through your Son
to choose freely and responsibly
the kind of happiness that endures.
Let the gospel of your Son shock us
into recognizing the emptiness and poverty
of material riches and human power
and fill our poverty
with the riches and freedom
of your truth, your love and justice,
which you offer us through Jesus,
your risen Son and our Lord for ever. Amen.

 

Reflection:

 

The Poor of God 

Today’s Gospel presents Saint Luke’s version of the Beatitudes’ and the subsequent ‘woe to you.’ It is addressed not to the crowds but to his disciples. When Luke wrote his Gospel, his target audience was the Christian community. Luke confronts the realities of poverty, hunger, oppression and persecutions, and brings the message of Jesus to encourage the suffering community.

 

Jesus proclaims the poor, the hungry, the suffering and the persecuted as “blessed”, and he admonishes those who are rich, satisfied, who laugh and are praised by people. The word “Blessed” refers to a message of appreciation. It means to say, “Congratulations on the choice you have made.” 

However, how can one be congratulated for being poor? Why does Jesus look at his disciples and tell them that they, in their poverty, are blessed? In what sense Peter, Andrew, John, and the other apostles were considered poor? Although they were not very rich, they still had their own house and boat! There must have been many others whose situations were even worse. What extraordinary thing have they done?

Not every poor is declared blessed. Jesus does not glorify poverty or hunger. Instead, his disciples, who gave up everything to respond to his call, are called blessed. Poverty, hunger and persecutions that they encounter result from their wilful and personal choice to follow Jesus. And that makes them blessed!   

After the miraculous catch of fish, “They pulled their boats to land, they left everything and followed him” (Lk 5:11). Similar thing happens with the call of Levi: “And leaving everything, he rose and followed him” (Lk 5:28). “Sell everything you have, give to the poor”—Jesus asks the rich young man (Lk 18:22). This voluntary poverty is what characterizes the Christian: “Any of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:33).

Luke also presents the admonitions on the disciples who refuse the spirit of the beatitudes. The “woe to you” – addressed to those who are rich and selfish – has the purpose of warning and waking them up from the dangerous deceit of selfishness.  It is a call to care for the other while they still have the time to amend their lives.

Does this mean that disciples of Jesus should throw away everything, reduce themselves to misery, and become beggars? It would be a foolish and senseless interpretation of Jesus’ words. The goods of this world are precious, essential to life. The Poor of God refuses the selfish use of their wealth, time, intellectual abilities, erudition, diplomas, and social position.

‘Blessed are you poor!’ is not a message of resignation, but of hope, hope in a new world where no one is in need (Acts 4:34).

 

Video available on Youtube: The Poor of God