Jer 17:5-8
Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
1 Cor 15:12, 16-20
Lk 6:17, 20-26 Full Readings
Saint Giles Mary of Saint Joseph
Blessed Are You
Brethren, this Sunday's readings tell us that we are blessed. We are blessed because we put all our trust in the Lord, have followed his teachings and put into practice all the virtues and beatitudes he expects of us to live. But cursed and woe to those who have put their trust in the human beings and worldly pleasures of this world, says Jeremiah in the first reading and Jesus in the gospel. Perhaps, the very fundamental question for us today, according to the above conditions, is: Are you blessed or cursed?
Blessed in the Bible can also mean happy, joyful and all these mean beatitudes. We are blessed when we live the beatitudes as Luke presents them today in Jesus' sermon on the Plain and Matthew presents them on the sermon on mount. The Beatitudes are conditions of being blessed or happy but also conditions for entering the Kingdom of God and the standard of Christian life. But to be honest, they are very contradictory to the world living and pleasures. To be poor, to be hungry, to be weeping in sorrow, to be hated, excluded, insulted, and denounced as evil hardly seems like a blessing. In fact, when we experience any of these, we are more likely to feel cursed, abandoned, and forgotten by God. Few of us are spiritually evolved enough to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). In fact, our reaction is quite often the opposite; we beg God to change things around until they are more to our liking.
But Jesus says, such a person is blessed. Why? We need to understand on a deep spiritual level what Jesus means because, as Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D says, "not all the poor are blessed, for poverty is neutral. The poor can be either good or evil...blessed is the man poor in offense. Blessed is the man poor in vices. Blessed is the poor man in whom the prince of this world (John 14:30) finds nothing. Blessed is the poor man who is like Christ, although he was rich, became poor for our sake (2 Corinthians 8:9)." This tells us that we are blessed when we are hated, insulted, abandoned, excluded, and denounced when we make tough choices in order to follow Jesus instead of the world for Jesus is here to strengthen and console us and gives us the spiritual joy and happiness we need. Our only happiness is in Jesus Christ for, as saint Augustine says, the Lord made us for himself and our hearts are restless until they rest in him.
On contrary to this calling to live the beatitudes, the world entices us to find happiness in it. There is always that sweet worldly voice telling us that instead of poverty of Spirit, we should seek happiness in material things and popularity, instead of being merciful, we should foster revenge and resentment and unforgiveness, instead of being sorry and shameful of sin, we should rationalize sin, and many other contradictions to the beatitudes. For instance, the rich who are filled may be tempted not to see their deep need for a savior. Confident in their own superiority, they dismiss their own sin, rationalizing whatever behavior brings them pleasure. Replete with satisfaction in the things of this world, they ignore thoughts of eternity. But brethren, let us not be taken by these worldly pleasures as Jesus warns us with a 'woe.' Since we know that this life, however beautiful and precious, is not the endgame, we should stay focused on that time when “every tear will be wiped away” (Revelation 21:4). Remember, “Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal” (St. Thomas More).
Reflect today on where your happiness lies and where to find your happiness. Thomas Aquinas said: "No person can live without joy. That is why someone deprived of spiritual joy goes after carnal pleasures." As human beings, it is in our nature find happiness, so is your happiness found in Jesus Christ, which means you are blessed, or in worldly things, which means you have a big woe from Jesus?
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