Liturgical day: Sunday 6th (C) in Ordinary Time
Gospel text (Lk 6,17.20-26): Coming down the hill with them, Jesus stood on a level place. Many of his disciples were there and a large crowd of people who had come from all parts of Judea and Jerusalem and from the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon. Then looking at his disciples, Jesus said, «Fortunate are you who are poor, the kingdom of God is yours. Fortunate are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Fortunate are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Fortunate are you when people hate you, when they reject you and insult you and number you among criminals, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. Remember that is how the ancestors of this people treated the prophets.
»But alas for you who have wealth, for you have been comforted now. Alas for you who are full, for you will go hungry. Alas for you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Alas for you when people speak well of you, for that is how the ancestors of these people treated the false prophets».
«Rejoice in that day and leap for joy»
Fr. Enric RIBAS i Baciana
(Barcelona, Spain)
Today, , we review again the “beatitudes” and the “misfortunes: «Fortunate are you... when people hate you because of the Son of Man; But, ...alas for you who laugh now for you will mourn and weep». Fidelity to Christ and to his Gospel may make us to be rejected, insulted by the media, hated, as Christ was hated by those who crucified him. Some may think this is due to lack of faith, but maybe, after all, is just lack of reasoning. Indeed, it seems our world refuses to think or be free. We are immersed in a lust for pleasure and riches; immersed in consumables; blinded by the libertarian indoctrination full of vain and empty words, which darken our personal standards and values and scorns the Church's and Christ's teachings, which is the only line of thinking that, right now, truly goes up stream. But, in spite of this, the Lord-Jesus still encourages us: «Fortunate are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Fortunate are you when people hate you, when they reject you and insult you and number you among criminals, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven» (Lk 6:22-23).
John Paul II The, in the encyclical Fides et Ratio, wrote: «Faith impels reason to leave its isolation and to advocate gladly for what is beautiful, good and true». The Christian experience, in its saints, show us the truth of the Gospel and of these words from Holy Father. Confronting a world that indulges in vice and selfishness as the only source of happiness, Jesus shows us another way: the happiness of the Kingdom of God, which our world finds so difficult to assume to the point of hating and rejecting it. Christians, in the midst of all temptations that this “easy life” offers, know the only way is the love Christ has shown for us in the Cross, the way of fidelity to the Father. We know that difficulties should not discourage us. If we truly seek our Lord, «Rejoice in that day and leap for joy» (cf. Lk 6:23).