Commentary on the Mass Readings for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time,

Year C:
The First Reading is from the Book of Jeremiah 17:5-8. Jeremiah lived through
one of the most troubled periods of the ancient Near East as he witnessed the
fall of Assyria and the rising of Babylon. In the midst of this turmoil, the kingdom
of Judah, came to its downfall by resisting this overwhelming force of history.
The lesson that Jeremiah wished to teach the people of Judah must have been
crystal clear to them. They did not heed it and they suffered the consequences.
They had abandoned God; their human allies in whom they trusted abandoned
them; they ended up slaves in a pagan and foreign land. Jeremiah has a very
clear lesson for us, too, this morning. We are Christians and have a far greater
knowledge of our purpose in life and of God's infinite love towards us, as proved
by the Incarnation, than the people of Judah had. Yet how often do we not only
forget God but actually sin against him in arranging our temporal affairs?

The Second Reading is from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians 15:12, 16-
20. This reading continues the teaching we heard last week on the resurrection
of the dead. St. Paul addresses the Corinthian claim that there is no such thing
as resurrection from the dead. If, as St. Paul says, our hope in Christ were for
this life only, our religion, our Christianity, would not only be false, it would be
utter folly. Why should a man not have all the pleasures, all the wealth, all the
comforts possible, during his few years on this earth, is the grave is all that
awaits him? Any man who would strive to lead a Christian life, knowing that it
ended forever in death, would indeed deserve to be pitied as the Apostle says.
The few years that we have on this earth may be short but they are invaluable
because our unending future life will depend on how we use them.

The Gospel is taken from St. Luke 6:17, 20-26. What Christ said to his disciples
that day long ago in far-off Galilee applies equally well to every true Christian
today. We must never let the things of this world keep us from God. We may
acquire and use earthly goods, but we must acquire and use them justly,
charitably, and reasonably. While only a relatively small number of Christians
are called on to take a vow of poverty, all Christians are forbidden to take a vow
of wealth, i.e., to make the acquisition of wealth their purpose in life. While only
a few special disciples of Christ are asked to give up even the lawful pleasures of
the senses, all Christians are commanded to avoid unlawful indulgence in
sensual pleasure.

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No follower of Christ is forbidden to enjoy the legitimate joys of life, but every
Christian must be prepared to accept life's pains and sorrows as well. We are
pilgrims and strangers on this earth, weeding our way to heaven. The lighter our
pack the easier and faster we travel. But there are cares and responsibilities,
according to each one's vocation in life, which we may not and must not shirk. If
we face these responsibilities honestly and cheerfully, realizing that they are the
means by which God wishes us to gain our eternal reward then they will be less
burdensome and less heavy for us.

These Beatitudes are personally important to all of us. If we are true followers
of Christ and sincere Christians, we will take the rough as well as the smooth,
the poverty as well as the plenty, the sorrows as well as the joys. These are the
stepping stones which God has laid down for us to help us get across the river of
life to the eternal shore. "Ours is the Kingdom of Heaven."
—from The Sunday Readings, Year C by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

Things to Do:

 Read the more detailed, corresponding passage in Matthew 5:3-12 on the

Beatitudes. Choose a beatitude to focus on for the rest of this month.
Write it in conspicuous places throughout your house — desk, home altar,
fridge, bathroom mirror. Think of some small practical ways to put this
beatitude into action in your daily life. For some ideas on how to live the
poverty and detachment prescribed by the first beatitude (Blessed are the
poor in spirit), read this interview with spiritual director and writer Fr.
Dubay.
 Read a summary of St. Bernard's advice for living the Beatitudes, and the
Holy Father's exhortation to the youth at Toronto's World Youth Day to be
people of the Beatitudes.

The first statement of blessing summarizes Jesus' Beatitudes: "Blessed are you
who are poor." In contrast, he warns, "Woe to you who … have your
consolation."
What is this word, "Woe," in Greek, ouai? (It's pronounced sort of like a
combination of "ooph!" and "ay" and means something like "Look, it's awful!")
Jesus' woes describe people who are content with the status quo, who, like the
singer of "Nobody Knows You," base their self-worth on what they have and
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how their wealth could purchase all they think they need, along with celebrity
and companionship to boot.
Back to the keynote statement, "Blessed are you who are poor." What is this
word "blessed"? Makarios in Greek, it is usually translated as blessed or happy.
A good hint about its meaning comes from the first time it appears in Luke's
Gospel (1:45) when Elizabeth says to Mary, "Blessed are you who believed that
what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." To be blessed means to
have such hope in God's future that you gladly bet your life on it.
This summarizes each of Jesus' blessings and helps us to interpret them. Jesus is
not idolizing destitution, starvation, desolation or marginalization. He's talking
about a mindset that seems to come most easily to people who hope, not from
a position of strength, but from an awareness that God's future is better than
anything we could ask or imagine. These are the people who, in the words of
Pope Francis, are "waiting for something that has already been given to us,"
people who welcome the free gifts of God every day, knowing that every gift is
for the good of all. (See 1 Corinthians 12.)
The blessed poor know the truth that is best discovered from the underside of
society: nobody deserves what they have. No one earned the right to be born,
much less the privileges that came afterward. Those who can see from the
underside know this and see clearly the fragility of the position of those who
consider themselves powerful. They know that we will all die and that life is a
free gift.
The blessed people who are hungry or weeping are those who, like Mary and all
people of the Resurrection, know that evil and suffering are not God's plan and
that nothing can overcome the love of God. They know that the evil are "like
chaff that blows away in the wind"; in spite of their self-importance, they are
tragic, empty shells of what could have been a flourishing human life.
Whereas Matthew situates his version of this address on a mountain crowded
with people from all over, Luke tells us that the great crowd Jesus addressed
consisted of only "disciples." That sets a different tone, making this not a
general teaching but a direct address to those who would be his followers.
If we convert Jesus' statements into a survey, it offers some thought-provoking
questions for us as individuals and as communities about whether we are ready

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 to live this way. The survey might look something like, with an answerable scale
of 1-5:

 I/we rely on God and community over money, position or our own plans.
 I/we feel the suffering around us, to the point that our desire for solutions
creates a hunger that plagues us.
 I/we desire such solidarity with victims of war, injustice and impoverishment
that we weep with them, impelled to find solutions to the imbalances of our
world.
 I/we care little or nothing about the criticism, mockery or demotions we may
receive for standing with the most vulnerable.

What do we learn about ourselves — and our faith communities — through our
answers?