“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” (Lk 6:22).
This fourth beatitude shared by Jesus in Luke’s Gospel is so contrary to what much of secular America aspires to: seeking power, fame, wealth, pleasure, and celebrity. What is more, how many of us who proclaim to be people of faith resist the Gospel Message for our own anxieties, fears, and self centered reasons?
Jesus spent the night in prayer, called his Apostles, and as we read or hear in today’s account, taught them and his disciples how to attain the kingdom through five blessings and four woes. Jesus’ message is a universal message, it is an invitation for all as I have commented often in these reflections. Yet, his teachings challenge us to place our trust in him and not the things of the world. For that which is finite and material is fleeting and passing. By placing our trust in him we will truly be happy and fulfilled, but to live out our trust in him means we will receive opposition from those who will be challenged by the Gospel.
To live the in accord with Jesus is to identify as he said today with the poor, the hungry, those who mourn, and to speak the truth even when we risk being hated, excluded, insulted, and denounced as evil. We are to resist the lure and attachment to the false promise of security believed to be found in material wealth, thinking that we can have all the food, drink, clothes, friends,and joys that money can buy. Access to these are only limited and apparent goods, that if we seek to be fulfilled in and by, we will be left empty and wanting for more. In the pursuit of the material we can also become ensnared by attachment and addiction.
To be blessed, to be happy, to be fulfilled, is to anchor our life in building a relationship with Jesus. To look seriously at what he taught, to face within ourselves those areas in which we believe and act contrary to his teachings, to be open to God’s work of transformation, to apply his teachings to our lives, to commit to living as his apostle, and to proclaim the Gospel in our day and time, “we will rejoice and leap for joy” (Lk 6:23)! The key distinction is to realize that Jesus was not only an amazing teacher, he is the Son of God. The same “power that came forth from him” (Lk 6:19) to heal, to cast out demons, to teach truth, is still active in our lives today. May we have the courage to, “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.”
Link for today’s Mass readings:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/091317.cfm
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Spiritual Stepping Stones 