The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today connect us to the urgency in Paul’s preaching to awaken us to contemplate the blessings and setbacks in life and how they impact our neighbours.
Blessings
In the reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians his directions concerning marriage and the life that the Lord has assigned to the unmarried and the widows reflects his belief that “For the present form of this world is passing away.”
* [7:29–31] The world…is passing away: Paul advises Christians to go about the ordinary activities of life in a manner different from those who are totally immersed in them and unaware of their transitoriness.1
Psalm 45 is an ode for a royal wedding.
* [Psalm 45] A song for the Davidic king’s marriage to a foreign princess from Tyre in Phoenicia. The court poet sings (Ps 45:2, 18) of God’s choice of the king (Ps 45:3, 8), of his role in establishing divine rule (Ps 45:4–8), and of his splendor as he waits for his bride (Ps 45:9–10). The woman is to forget her own house when she becomes wife to the king (Ps 45:11–13). Her majestic beauty today is a sign of the future prosperity of the royal house (Ps 45:14–17). The Psalm was retained in the collection when there was no reigning king, and came to be applied to the king who was to come, the messiah.2
The Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke begins with blessings and woes of the Beatitudes.
* [6:20–26] The introductory portion of the sermon consists of blessings and woes that address the real economic and social conditions of humanity (the poor—the rich; the hungry—the satisfied; those grieving—those laughing; the outcast—the socially acceptable). By contrast, Matthew emphasizes the religious and spiritual values of disciples in the kingdom inaugurated by Jesus (“poor in spirit,” Mt 5:3; “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” Mt 5:6). In the sermon, blessed extols the fortunate condition of persons who are favored with the blessings of God; the woes, addressed as they are to the disciples of Jesus, threaten God’s profound displeasure on those so blinded by their present fortunate situation that they do not recognize and appreciate the real values of God’s kingdom. In all the blessings and woes, the present condition of the persons addressed will be reversed in the future.3
Jeanne Schuler comments that we are on God’s good earth trying to keep things together.
Luke admonishes us: “Go to the margins. In the company of the hungry and sorrowful, those reviled and abandoned, there you find our God.” Swaddled in comfort and well-insulated from weary faces, my vision is impaired. I am in trouble. To be freed from emptiness, we follow Jesus into the world to relieve suffering and challenge injustice. Here is our home. Walls built to hide from the poor cannot contain us.4
Don Schwager comments that the beatitudes strengthen us in virtue and excellence. He notes that Ambrose (339-397 A.D), an early church father and bishop of Milan, links the beatitudes with the four cardinal virtues which strengthen us in living a life of moral excellence.
"Let us see how St. Luke encompassed the eight blessings in the four. We know that there are four cardinal virtues: temperance, justice, prudence and fortitude. One who is poor in spirit is not greedy. One who weeps is not proud but is submissive and tranquil. One who mourns is humble. One who is just does not deny what he knows is given jointly to all for us. One who is merciful gives away his own goods. One who bestows his own goods does not seek another's, nor does he contrive a trap for his neighbor. These virtues are interwoven and interlinked, so that one who has one may be seen to have several, and a single virtue befits the saints. Where virtue abounds, the reward too abounds... Thus temperance has purity of heart and spirit, justice has compassion, patience has peace, and endurance has gentleness." (EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 5.62-63, 68).5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 6:20-26 comments that Jesus does not look down on rich people. He was simply saying that wealth can be an obstacle to living a life of loving dependence on your heavenly Father.
God most certainly cares for the rich as much as he does the poor. Jesus is simply exhorting them, and us, to elevate our thinking beyond the here and now. To be generous toward those who have less and to trust God wholeheartedly for what we need. To use our wealth to show those who have less what the Father’s love and care might look like. It’s our preoccupation with selfish desires, our attitude of independence that has no need of God, that grieves him. After all, it’s his nature to bless and satisfy and delight, whether we are rich or poor.6
Friar Jude Winkler connects the directions of Paul to the concept from Vatican II that married people who work for their family are also doing God’s work. Luke’s version of the Beatitudes is close to the Jewish mode of teaching about Covenant. Friar Jude notes that Luke’s original and more material teaching drew response from the anawim who depended on Providence.
A post by Franciscan Media is on Saint Peter Claver, who moved into the infested hold of slave ships in Cartagena to minister to the ill-treated and exhausted passengers. After the slaves were herded out of the ship like chained animals and shut up in nearby yards to be gazed at by the crowds, Claver plunged in among them with medicines, food, bread, brandy, lemons, and tobacco. With the help of interpreters he gave basic instructions and assured his brothers and sisters of their human dignity and God’s love. During the 40 years of his ministry, in the first half of the 17th century, Claver instructed and baptized an estimated 300,000 slaves.
The Holy Spirit’s might and power are manifested in the striking decisions and bold actions of Peter Claver. A decision to leave one’s homeland never to return reveals a gigantic act of will difficult for us to imagine. Peter’s determination to serve forever the most abused, rejected, and lowly of all people is stunningly heroic. When we measure our lives against such a man’s, we become aware of our own barely used potential and of our need to open ourselves more to the jolting power of Jesus’ Spirit.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Fania E. Davis, a civil rights attorney, writer, scholar, and the founding director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth. In the African worldview, when something happens to one, whether blessing or burden, it happens to all. A newborn baby is good fortune for the family and also the entire village. Marriage unites two clans, not just two individuals. The deeply communal ethos among African and other indigenous traditions also holds true when wrongdoing occurs.
If an individual steals from or kills another, they damage the relationship between their respective lineages or villages. In the wake of harm, making it right is not solely the responsibility of the individuals directly involved; it also the responsibility of communities. The focus is on repairing and rebuilding relationships with the intent of bringing social harmony. African indigenous justice seeks to strengthen relationships by fashioning win-win outcomes.8
Our practice of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance prepares us to be servants in blessing and woe.
References
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