Blessed are you

The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

Collect

O God, who teach us that you abide in hearts that are just and true, grant that we may be so fashioned by your grace as to become a dwelling pleasing to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Jer 17:5-8

Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings; blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

Thus says the LORD:
Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings,
   who seeks his strength in flesh,
   whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a barren bush in the desert
   that enjoys no change of season,
but stands in a lava waste,
   a salt and empty earth.
Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
   whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
   that stretches out its roots to the stream:
it fears not the heat when it comes;
   its leaves stay green;
in the year of drought it shows no distress,
   but still bears fruit.

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6

R. :

℟. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Blessed the man who follows not
   the counsel of the wicked,
nor walks in the way of sinners,
   nor sits in the company of the insolent,
but delights in the law of the LORD
   and meditates on his law day and night.

℟. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

He is like a tree
   planted near running water,
that yields its fruit in due season,
   and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.

℟. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Not so the wicked, not so;
   they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
   but the way of the wicked vanishes.

℟. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Second Reading
1 Cor 15:12, 16-20

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain.

A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians

Brothers and sisters:
If Christ is preached as raised from the dead,
   how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,
   and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain;
   you are still in your sins.
Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,
   we are the most pitiable people of all.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead,
   the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

The word of the Lord.

Acclamation before the Gospel
Lk 6:23ab

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

Rejoice and be glad;
your reward will be great in heaven.

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

Lk 6:17, 20-26

Blessed are you who are poor. Woe to you who are rich.

✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Jesus came down with the Twelve
   and stood on a stretch of level ground
   with a great crowd of his disciples
   and a large number of the people
   from all Judea and Jerusalem
   and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
   “Blessed are you who are poor,
      for the kingdom of God is yours.
   Blessed are you who are now hungry,
      for you will be satisfied.
   Blessed are you who are now weeping,
      for you will laugh.
   Blessed are you when people hate you,
      and when they exclude and insult you,
      and denounce your name as evil
      on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
   But woe to you who are rich,
      for you have received your consolation.
   Woe to you who are filled now,
      for you will be hungry.
   Woe to you who laugh now,
      for you will grieve and weep.
   Woe to you when all speak well of you,
      for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

At the end of the Gospel, the Deacon, or the Priest, acclaims:

The Gospel of the Lord.

All reply:

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Reflection

The Word of God for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary time is a message of happiness and joy, which reveals to us the way that leads to the same joy for which humanity ceaselessly seeks throughout life. The road that we must take, which leads to this joy, is not a road that we are used to taking. It is the way that Jesus reveals to us in the Beatitudes.

As St Ambrose observes, the Beatitudes in Luke’s Gospel are a concise version of the same discourse on the Mount, which is found in greater detail in Matthew’s Gospel. Luke was writing for the Gentiles and therefore left out what could only be understood by the Jews. While Matthew combined a number of Jesus’ teachings into one discourse, Luke spreads Jesus’ teachings throughout his Gospel.

Today’s account begins with Jesus, who after spending the night in prayer and having chosen His Twelve Apostles, goes down to the plain. Jesus’ popularity was apparent. The people were attracted to Him; they longed to hear Him and be healed of their sicknesses. They came from all over Palestine.

“Then He looked up at His disciples …” The verses of the beatitudes come forth from Jesus’ gaze on His disciples, which describe their condition. They were poor, hungry, sorrowful, hated, and persecuted. The beatitudes were aimed at qualifying those who followed Jesus.

In the first Beatitude, the Kingdom of God belongs to the poor. Every type of poverty is included: social inequality, those who are marginalised, those who are lonely and so forth. In the second Beatitude, those who hunger are also blessed because, in the future, they will be filled.  

In the third Beatitude, those who weep because they have been mistreated, rejected, and are powerless, will be blessed. The fourth and final Beatitude is for those who are insulted and reviled: Jesus enthusiastically encourages them to leap for joy because their reward will be great in Heaven.

Jesus now switches to the condemnations. Above all else, when Jesus speaks these words of woe, He does so with a sense of discontent towards those who trust in themselves. When He speaks about the rich, Jesus feels irritated by those who trample on the dignity of other people. It is a tragedy for those who humiliate others and leave them hungry. The same can be said for those who ridicule other people or treat them as being inferior to themselves.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us to choose the road that leads us to eternal joy even though, presently, this road could be one of suffering, heartbreak, insults, and hatred. Jesus also warns us to stay alert so that we do not take the road the world proposes to us.

Prayer

Jesus, may our hearts be open to Your Word and enlightened with the values and ideals you revealed to us today in your discourse. Help us to discover what truly lies in our hearts. Give us a new heart, purified from egoism, pride, the desire to dominate others, pleasures of the senses, and the craving for success, so that we may obtain the joy which truly satisfies our heart. Amen.

 

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