Word to the Wise
Wednesday, September 7, 2022 - Wednesday in the 23th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Cor 7:25-31 and Luke 6:20-26]Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are 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." [Luke]
If the words in today's gospel passage from the Gospel According to Luke seem familiar, they are Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel According to Matthew [chs 5-7]. However, the Lucan version has four beatitudes instead of eight and they are balanced by four "woes." Luke is preaching to a community under persecution and wondering when Jesus' would return to establish his "kingdom." [We see that same concern about Jesus' return in St. Paul's words about marriage in the first scripture today.]
The "beatitudes" challenge us to ask ourselves (and one another) what really does make us happy? Which set of standards do we choose to "measure" happiness? Are they economic? Physical? Psychological? Spiritual? Emotional? - All of the above? What does "living" mean if we are asked what "standard of living" we want. What do we really need, in contrast to what we "want?" Looking at the list of "woes" that follow the "beatitudes; "Woe to you who are rich...who are filled now....who laugh now...when all speak well of you....", do those look like "unhappiness" to us? How DO we need to live if we have an eye on Jesus' "kingdom," not knowing when he will return? Gospel standards are not the ones our consumer-oriented American society offers. [I recommend highly Fr. J.F. Kavanaugh, SJ's little book: FOLLOWING CHRIST IN A CONSUMER SOCIETY - THE SPIRITUALITY OF CULTURAL RESISTANCE].
In the Gospel According to Luke, Jesus' words today are called "the Sermon on the Plain." This straightforward context can, itself, be a challenge to look around and see what real happiness truly is. AMEN