Beatitudes

23rd Week in Ordinary Time - Wednesday (12 September 2018)

1 Corinthians 

Luke 6:20-26

“How blessed are you who are poor, the reign of God is yours.”

Luke’s version of the beatitudes sounds like an echo of Mary’s Magnificat when she meets Elizabeth. They both express a hope to be realized in the future. But not everything in Jesus’ message about the coming reign of God can be explained simply in terms of the future. It is in the present time, in our “now,” in the present, that he asks us to address God as our Father, and to pray for the realization of God’s reign. It is in the “here and now” that we have to forgive those who sin against us. It is in the here and now that those we have sinned against should forgive us. It is in these, our days, that we sit with Jesus at the table, where he breaks his bread with us and shares his wine as a sign and pledge of sharing, with him and each other, the final banquet in heaven. It is here and now that the poor, the hungry, and those who weep are happy, not only because they have Jesus’ sure promise of the reversal of their lot in God’s reign, but because his disciples are reorganizing their own lives and the world in which they live to bring them into line with that reign to come.

The reign of God (kingdom of God) is in some sense already with us in word and deed, not only because of Jesus’ presence among us, but also because of the presence of those who follow in his footsteps.

“Blessed are the poor.” Jesus did not say, “Blessed are those who care for the poor.” Unless I become one among the poor, one among the marginalized, I don’t get my blessing. It is they who bless me. I may give Christ to them, but eventually it is they who will save me. I am asked to identify myself with the disadvantaged, those who weep, those who are persecuted, those who are hungry. My work is not so much doing great things for others, but about being one with those who need me. It is about sharing my kindness and my goodness with those around me. Am I attentive to the needs of those who are with me, those around me?