February 17^th 2019.  Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 6:17, 20-26

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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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.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus proclaims the Beatitudes. Why does Jesus say that the poor, the bereaved, the hungry and the persecuted are blessed, whilst the rich, the satisfied, the contented and those who are much-admired are not blessed? When we are rich, satisfied and admired by others, we tend to consider ourselves self-sufficient. We are distracted by our success and do not turn to the Lord. But the poor, the bereaved and the persecuted turn readily to the Lord and acknowledge their need of salvation. When we are successful, we tend to be less aware of our own mediocrity. In the Magnificat, Mary expresses the same sentiments – like mother, like son! Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit she sees that the rich and powerful do not turn to their merciful Father in heaven. In the spiritual life, our misery is actually our strength. It is the avenue by which our Redeemer can enter and save us. Here we are confronted by a radical inversion of the usual order of things by the Gospel. The happiness that derives from Christ is not available to the one who has his stomach full. The salvation that Jesus brings is not for the healthy, the well-off, the rich. The one who is satisfied, entertained, and compensated tends not to be aware of his desperate need for God. One of the psalms has the following sobering words: “Man in his prosperity has no comprehension; like the animals he perishes”. Preaching to the rich and powerful is often a waste of time. We must be humbly aware of our misery before we can embrace salvation.

Why is the version of the Beatitudes in Luke different from the version in Matthew? Any great preacher will repeat some central teachings, expressing the same teaching in different ways depending on the context in which he is preaching.

On this sixth Sunday of ordinary time we hear the account of the Beatitudes as found in the Gospel of Luke. This is different to the version given by Matthew. In Luke there are only four Beatitudes, and they are put in opposition to four corresponding denouncements, none of which is found in Matthew. Furthermore, the preaching of the Beatitudes in Matthew occurs at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, whilst in Luke’s Gospel the Beatitudes are found in his so-called “Discourse on the Plain”. So how many Beatitudes did Jesus really give? Four or eight? This question is a little ridiculous. Do we really think that Jesus said things only once? Every teacher finds that he has to repeat himself. And the same teaching can be delivered in different ways in different contexts. Jesus preached many, many times, and it was natural that he would return sometimes to the same subject matter. The eight Beatitudes of Matthew were delivered in a very particular context. The four Beatitudes of Luke were delivered in a very different context and in a different manner. The place in which we find ourselves throws a completely different light on our situation. In the successive passages, we find that the plain in which Jesus is speaking in Luke’s Gospel  is close to Capernaum. Capernaum was located on an important crossroads along what was known as the “way of the sea”. It was a hub on the way south towards Judea and Egypt, and it was also on the route from Syria and the east towards the Mediterranean Sea in the west. The area was often called “Galilee of the Gentiles” and it was an area in which many people of diverse nationalities lived. So here we have Jesus speaking to a great throng in an area in which many people were moving.

Why are the hungry, the bereaved, and the poor blessed, whilst the rich and satisfied are not blessed? Because our misery makes us open to listening to the Lord. The satisfied and contented fell they have no need of God

In the preceding part of the Gospel, Jesus had chosen the Twelve after spending the night in prayer. It is interesting that Jesus comes from a state of solitude and immerses himself in the multitude. He comes from a situation of intimacy with his disciples and finds himself in the middle of a huge crowd. And then he begins his discourse. “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of heaven is yours”. And further on he says, “Woe to you who are rich for you have already received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, who laugh now . .” Why is there such emphasis in the text of what is the case right “now”, at this moment? Whether we are blessed or accursed depends on our state in this precise moment. If we are contented in this moment, then we are in trouble, but why? Among those who are reading this homily from Vatican Radio, who are most blessed? According to what we have just read, it is those who weep, those who are hungry. The one who is satisfied and contented is not blessed, according to the text. In the next line of the Gospel that comes after the passage that we read on Sunday, Jesus says, “To you who are listening to me, I say . .” The ones who are not blessed, in fact, are those who do not listen to Jesus. This is what really distinguishes those who are blessed from those who are not: whether or not we listen to the words of Jesus. Those who are poor, who are hungry, who weep, these are the ones most ready to listen to Jesus. The rich are distracted because they already have their consolation. Here we are confronted by a radical inversion of the usual order of things by the Gospel. The happiness that derives from Christ is not available to the one who has his stomach full. The salvation that Jesus brings is not for the healthy, the well-off, the rich. The one who is satisfied, entertained, compensated tends not to be aware of his own mediocrity, and is blind to the traps that life has in store for him. One of the psalms has the following sobering words: “Man in his prosperity has no comprehension; like the animals he perishes”. This psalm challenges us to wake up and to acknowledge our limits, our tears, the unresolved issues in our lives. It is very important that we be in tune with reality and not with self-delusion.

Within each one of us there is a part that is poor, that weeps, that is incomplete. This part is the doorway for the Lord to enter and save us.

These beatitudes can be read in an external or intrapersonal sense, and be understood in terms of those who are rich or poor, satisfied or hungry. But they can also be read in an interior way. Inside each one of us there is a part that is poor, a part that weeps, a part that is incomplete. This misery is the door for the Saviour to enter. Prayer arises as a result of this poverty. Our poverty is the window by which Jesus can finally enter and be our Saviour. The perception of our insufficiency is the truth about ourselves. We are being honest with ourselves when we feel impoverished and incomplete. However, this poverty is what prompts us to accept our redeemer. Just think that in this same Gospel of Luke, the virgin Mary says, “He has pulled down the rich from their thrones, he has raised up the lowly and filled the hungry with good things, but sent the rich away empty”.  This is the same logic – like mother, like son. They have the same vision, the vision of the Holy Spirit, of a God who has no difficulty in dedicating himself to his children, even though these children think they can get on without him. This is our tragedy: when we consider ourselves rich, when we consider ourselves to be doing all right. From a spiritual point of view, our misery is our strength: it is the space for God to enter into our lives. And to think that we hate our weaknesses! Experience teaches us that to preach to the rich, the full and the satisfied is a waste of time; it is a battle lost before it has begun. Those who are “winners” are convinced of their own sufficiency and power. They delude themselves because their own strength is transitory and very limited in its scope; the Lord wishes to give us something much greater. The book of Proverbs tells us that pride comes before the fall, and arrogance comes before pride. Before salvation, by contrast, comes humility. Before Christ comes to visit us, there are our tears, our sense of poverty. When we are aware of our misery, then we welcome salvation!