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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Blessed are you who are poor…

Blessed are you who are poor…

Published Sep 10, 2024 04:08 pm

REFLECTIONS TODAY

Gird your loins

Luke’s version of the Beatitudes is penetrating. In this account, Jesus addresses his disciples in “direct speech”: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours” (v 20). He also makes the conditions “instantaneous”: “Blessed are you who are now hungry… who are now weeping” (v 21). He leads us to examine the condition of our hearts “now.” 

 

Material poverty, hunger, grief, and persecution for the sake of Christ are conditions of extreme insufficiency. But it is in recognizing our inadequacy that we are led to be open to the wonder of God’s fullness, the blessedness of being provided for, consoled, commended by God who is the source and origin of all good. 

 

The opposite is also true: to go through life trusting only in one’s riches, powers, and in the empty flattery of others leads to the painful illusion that “I am enough for myself and I don’t need God.” Sooner or later, that bubble will burst, and all our woes follow. 

 

What is the condition of your heart? Is it open enough to accept God’s blessings amidst the painful challenges you go through now? Or is it still in a state of struggle to assert its own criterion of happiness based on pleasure, fortune, and fame?

 

Gospel • Luke 6:20-26 

Raising his eyes toward his disciples, Jesus 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. But 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.”

 

Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.

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