Blessed Are You/Woe to You

Today’s Scriptures for Wednesday of the 23^rd Week in Ordinary Time are filled with wisdom, beginning with the first reading, the responsorial psalm and the Gospel.  In 1 Cor 7:25-31, Paul says to the Corinthians and to us:  “…the world in its present form is passing away.”  Therefore, he says,  when you buy something do so “as not owning” it and use “the world as not using it fully.”  The only thing that truly matters is “faith, hope and love” and “the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). Is love the dominating force in my life, the ultimate motivator of my choices and the actions in which I engage?

Jesus says to us in the Gospel, Luke 6: 20-26, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.”  Poor, that is, in realizing our total dependence upon God; humble and meek as we stand with Jesus, interacting with others humbly, lovingly, justly and thereby being a source of their healing and trust in the Lord’s goodness. Why?  because of the choices you and I make on their behalf.  Jesus goes on to say: “Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you shall be satisfied.” Hungry for what? Right relationships, justice and acting justly, love and loving tenderly, humility and acting humbly as a servant of God; for living honorably and respecting life, for truth and holding to truth.

Jesus also says to us: “Woe to you who are rich,” that is rich in self-righteousness, rich in pride, filled to overflowing with disregard for others, disdain of any discipline, looking down on the less fortunate and clinging to “anything goes” and to “I do what I want when I want, where I want, how I want with no regard for the welfare of others, the common good, truth, justice and love.”  “…You are filled now,” for you will be hungry later when you stand before God without a heart filled with virtue that lasts forever.