Sunday 14th February, 2010
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time. G. Jeremiah 17:5-8. Happy are they who hope in the Lord—Ps 1:1-4. 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20. Luke 6:17, 20-26 [Ss Cyril and Methodius].

  
Meditation: mp3 | podcast
Readings: Text | mp3 | podcast

He stood on a level place with a large number of his disciples.

These words set the first part of the scene in today’s gospel. The rest of the scene consists of the large crowd that had gathered to hear him and to be healed. It was then that Jesus introduces the Beatitudes.

He draws distinctions under the headings of ‘poor’ and ‘rich’. The poor are hungry now and they weep now. Their reward is in the after-life at peace in the presence of God. Their hunger will be satisfied and their weeping will be replaced with laughter. The rich on the other hand are not hungry now, they laugh now. At another time in another place, they will go hungry and they will mourn and weep.

The mission of Jesus and his disciples was focused on the poor. When on mission, they themselves were of the poor. Lord, we pray for the grace that the lives of the poor will be our shining lights.