1. Those Whom God Makes Happy
2. God Is with the Poor
Introduction
1. 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.
2. God Is with the Poor
People who are clumsy and unfortunate, those who are suffering and persecuted are assured by the Lord: Consider yourselves fortunate, for I am with you! I will never abandon you. I will carry you, for you are aware of your poverty and you trust in me. We ask the Lord to count us among the poor who rely on him and to take us into his kingdom.
First Reading: A Curse or a Blessing: Your Choice!
Through the prophet, God asks his people to choose between two ways: human ways or God’s way. Only God’s way leads to happiness.
1 Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-8
Thus says the LORD:
Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a barren bush in the desert
that enjoys no change of season,
but stands in a lava waste,
a salt and empty earth.
Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:
it fears not the heat when it comes;
its leaves stay green;
in the year of drought it shows no distress,
but still bears fruit.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked,
nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
but delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
that yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Second Reading: If Christ Is Not Risen, Our Faith Is Worthless
Christ rose from the dead. His resurrection is the pledge that our sins are forgiven, that life is worthwhile, that we will rise with him.
2 Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Brothers and sisters:
If Christ is preached as raised from the dead,
how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain;
you are still in your sins.
Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,
we are the most pitiable people of all.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Alleluia: Luke 6:23ab
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad;
your reward will be great in heaven.
Gospel: Good for You… Alas for You…
Call yourself fortunate, says Luke, if you are poor and rejected, for then you are still open to God. The self-satisfied are the ones to be pitied, for they are not open to God’s future.
Gospel: Luke 6:17, 20-26
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.”
Commentary
What’s this? A diatribe against wealthy people?—a diatribe powered by the resentment of the poor? A diatribe from a strange mind that calls black white, rich poor, happiness misery? How could that come from Jesus of Nazareth? He did not hate the rich; he talked and shared meals with everyone, including the rich. This passage is not comparing the rich with the poor, coming down on the side of the poor. Aren’t we constantly trying to defeat poverty and make poor people rich? How could you say, “Blessed are you poor,” and then try to deprive them of their poverty, presumably making them rich and miserable? Nor is Jesus saying that the poor will be rich in the next life and the rich poor. He said, “Blessed are you, the poor,” not “You will be blessed.”
Blessing
Curse or blessing… Choose, said Jeremiah.
Good for you… Alas for you, said Jesus
through the evangelist Luke.
Let us be aware of our own indigence,
that before God, we are after all beggars
who have to open our hands
and to reach out to him
for happiness that can last.
May it not be alas or a curse,
but may God bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
May the Lord go with you
and fill your every need. R/ Thanks be to God.