Saint Rita Catholic Church and School in Webster, NY - An Introduction to the Sunday Scripture Readings

“Blessed Are You Who Are Poor, For The Kingdom Of God Is Yours”

Our readings this Sunday teach us that with the Kingdom of God, up is down and down is up. The poor are rich and the rich are poor. We are given a simple choice — Put your trust in mankind and you will be like a “barren bush in the desert.” Put your trust in God and you are like a “tree planted beside the waters.”

In our first reading (Jeremiah 17:5-8), the prophet Jeremiah paints a very clear choice—”Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings” vs. “Blessed is the one who trusts in God.” One turns our hearts away from the Lord while the other turns us toward the Lord.

In our Epistle reading (1 Corinthians 15:12,16-20), St. Paul also gives us a clear choice—Do we believe Christ was raised from the dead or don’t we? Do we believe that we will also rise with Christ? If we do not, then Paul says that we are ”the most pitiable people of all.”

In our Gospel reading (Luke 6:17, 20-26), we hear Luke’s account of the Sermon on the Plain, similar to Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew Chapter 5-7). Here, Jesus lists four beatitudes or blessings and four woes or opposites. It can be said that the beatitudes are the countenance of Jesus. Jesus was poor, Jesus was hungry, Jesus wept, Jesus was persecuted. He was preparing us for the life of following Christ. But the rewards in heaven are joy and blessedness for eternal life. Jesus contrasted this with being blessed in this life and thus being distracted from the things of God and of the next life. Is it possible to be blessed in this life and blessed in the next? Yes, but it is more difficult when the blessings of this life lead us away from God. The answer is to detach ourselves from anything that distracts us from God.

Often in life, we are presented with choices -- Do we put our trust in God or do we trust in humankind? Are we detached from the things of this world or do we cling to wealth and possessions? Do we believe Christ rose from the dead? Do we believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist? We are defined by our choices. Our choices define our actions and our actions define our destiny. Straddling the fence is not a luxury we have.