“Man is God’s image; but a poor man is Christ’s stamp” (G. Herbert)
Zeph 2:3; 3:12-13; Ps 146:6-10, I Cor 1:26-31, Matt 5:1:12
Angle of thought
GOD CHOOSES THE POOR
The three readings of this Sunday are all linked by the angle of poverty. The beatitudes could all be summed up in the first “Happy the poor.” To be poor, however, does not mean to possess nothing.
One has to be “poor in spirit”, which means that one must choose to surrender the accumulation of goods for one’s self, to surrender the use of one’s capacities and qualities selfishly and to place anything one possess at the service of one’s brothers and sisters.
This idea is also found in the first and second reading.
Psalm 146
GRATITUDE FOR LIFE
Strike up, in thanksgiving to the Lord, with the harp’s music praise our God; / the God who curtains heaven with cloud, and lays up a store of rain for the earth, / who clothes the mountain-sides with grass, with corn for man’s need…
AT FIRST THOUGHT, gratitude seems to be something we give away, a kind of return we make for favours received. Thus the psalmist asked, “What return shall I make to the Lord for all He has given me?”
But to the psalmist, as to the poet, there are;
Two kinds of gratitude'
- the sudden kind:-We feel for what we take.
- the large kind:- We feel for what we give.
Our larger thanks should be for the larger gratitude. What we give in appreciating God, creation, ourselves; the joy of recognizing what we have, what we are, what is constantly being given us. While it is true that all who done us genuine good deserve something of ourselves in return, we really do not give anything away in being thankful.
Truly, Lord, this is the mystery of giving. That gratitude we feel for what we have given, as well as for what others have given, that gratitude we cannot give away. It is rooted in the heart, where it remains, the secret of all happiness.
Without gratitude, no one could ever be truly happy. That is why the church has given much of the text of the Mass to thanksgiving. Our whole life ought to be a miniature of the Mass, just as Christians are miniature Christ. And therefore it is we, not You, Lord, who suffer from our lack of gratitude. When you showed sadness at the ingratitude of the nine lepers. You were not feeling sorry for yourself. You were distressed at the loss suffered by nine men themselves, who had missed the greater happiness of the one grateful Samaritan. The true blessing of the miracle was joyous thankful heart of the receiver, and this greater grace the nine others had rejected.
What you said, Jesus, was not “why have the nine not returned to thank me,” but “Has no one been found to give glory to God except this stranger?” That glory is an interior quality of heart.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
This is the famous sermon known as the Sermon on the Mount. This should not be seen as one day’s proclamation and in the same place. The evangelist has simply compiled the eight beatitudes into one, so as to emphasize the point of Jesus’ teaching. The mountain is very prominent here because of the symbol the Jews put in it. God used the mountain as a place of communication, very vivid and full of meaning to the Jews. But now Jesus is no longer looking at the Mosaic perspective but speaking with an element of universality embracing- races, cultures and religions (Mt 4:25). Jesus had to be in a placed to communicate well to his audience.
The first beatitude is to read in the context of detachment from goods and sharing with the poor. We need sometimes to be poor in our words. We talk about others in bad taste, there are times when the Lord is calling us to control our tongues, close out lips and simply mean our own business. It can be as simply as this prayer: Lord! Help me shut my mouth until I know what to say. Being poor in ideas can lead to greater blunders in life. The emphasis should be on poverty of the heart not physical poverty. Don’t mourn because of stupid attitude, but mourn with Jesus for fighting for the voice of the voiceless.
Being gentle is does not mean that you accept to be stepped on and you can’t complain because you are God fearing person, that is wrong. When solving a problem do it gently so that the devil/Satan can be ashamed in his scaling/schemes. Gentility destroys the power of evil. One should not use the means of the devil to justify his or her actions. One will experience the coming of the world where justice will reign.
Correcting a son, a daughter, a wife, a husband and all those others entrusted to you with compassion, love, and understanding and in full creativity. Mercifulness is not use of power, but listening to vibes of the heart. If in life one has never been shown mercy it is always difficult to be merciful, you lack the qualities mentioned above.
Pure in heart is what we think say or do. Is it beneficial to me to s/he is listening to me and does it really bring proper welfare to the whole community, family or corporation. We sometimes put on many faces which are not authentic, full of pretence and many other defense mechanisms to keep us safe and zeroed in our comfort zones, no go areas.
Today we need more peacemakers who are peaceful. It’s not enough to be a peacemaker, anybody can be one, but a peacemaker who is calm, serene, and composed is very rare. People come for peace talks amidst guns blazing and with dazzling carrot on the stick, very conditional. If you are not listening to me then whatever is between I and you it over, it’s ended. Go your way and I go my way. It can be very nasty sometimes when there is a heated argument. The spirit of the Lord is always calm and serene. We pray for the mediators in our countries to emulate the qualities of calmness, composure and serene in their negotiations.
Jesus tells us that this struggle is not to be taken as failure, but a success and a reason to be joyful. Even the Master was treated thus. Persecution will not stop the coming of the new world. The progress of the Kingdom will be slow but irresistible.
“Whoso stoppeth his ear at the poor cry himself/herself will be unheard”
(Hebrew proverb)
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