Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Last week we heard about the call of Peter and this unusual request that Jesus made: to throw out the nets into the water in the middle of the day. Peter obeyed even though he thought it was useless and there was a huge catch of fish that filled two boats to the point of sinking. Peter seeing this miracle says this beautiful prayer: Lord, depart from me for I am a sinner, I am not worthy to be part of this.
Today we also hear in the first reading from Jeremiah that the Jews at the time were adopting the false idols of the people around them, hoping that these relationships would save them. Many people today do the same. They follow the false idols of money, or sports, or health, or work, or many other things. These are not bad things in themselves but when we put them before God we deceive ourselves. Material things or even people can never complete us; we are made for something far greater.
The reading says that trust in false gods will turn the land into a desert and those who trust in God their land will become like a fruitful garden. The bible doesn’t say that those who trust God will never experience any difficulty; however, they will be like a tree whose roots stretch out to the water and in the heat of the day their leaves will stay green. Given the sins and crimes of priests and bishops it is only by trusting in God that we will not become parched earth. A Christian needs to have deep roots that sustain them in times of crisis.
Jesus’ sermon on the beatitudes (Luke 6: 20-26) must have been very shocking to the people; it was the opposite of what they expected to hear. The gospel is an invitation to become what God created us to be. The Word became flesh so that we could become like God. The beatitudes are a picture of the new man or woman that he invites you to be.
It is good that we want to help the poor by giving them food and assistance. However, the help that changes lives is to bring them to Christ. You can give your kids many things, but the only important thing is to transmit faith to them, not by what you say, but by how you live your life.
The poor in spirit are not necessarily financially poor. They are the ones who see that only God can help them. Without him they are bankrupt; they have nothing. The beatitudes are not a program to make you strong or disciplined. The disciple of Christ is blessed when he lives in this way. When you suffer or are persecuted because of Christ, for love of him, then you will leap for joy. Jesus wants you to experience the joy that he has. He has this joy only for one reason: because he loves. He loves to the point of dying for us. He suffers not to be a masochist but he suffers for love of us, in order to lead us to the Father. There is nothing that he will not do for us.
Jesus is not telling us just to keep the commandments but to live a divine life. It Matthew’s gospel the beatitudes don’t have a verb. Blessed poor, blessed hungry…why is it written this way? Because it is not what we do that is important but who we are. It is not about our circumstances but how we react to them. The heart of every problem is our heart; how do we react to the difficulties of life. The things of the world: wealth, popularity, fullness of life, are not bad, but in the end that is all you get. God wants to give us so much more. He created us for something everlasting, to be with him here and now, and also in heaven.