Gospel for Sunday, February 16: VI Sunday C: Luke 6:17. 20-26
THE BEATITUDES
17 He went down with them and stopped at a level place. There was a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, from Jerusalem and the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and be healed of their diseases; even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were being healed. 19 The whole crowd sought to touch him, for out of him came a power that healed everyone.
20 Lifting up his eyes to his disciples, Jesus said, “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who now hunger, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men will hate you and when they will banish you and insult you and reject your name as wicked, because of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice in that day and exult, for, behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way did their fathers do with the prophets. 24 But woe to you, rich men, for you already have your consolation. 25 Woe to you who are now full, for you will hunger. Woe to you who now laugh, for you will be afflicted and weep. 26 Woe when all men say good things about you. For in the same way did their fathers do with false prophets.Lk 6:17. 20-26
Dear sisters and brothers of Misericordia, I am Carlo Miglietta, a doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Also today I share with you a short thought meditation on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
For Luke, the Sermon on the Plain (Lk 6:17,20-26) is a proclamation of the Kingdom of God who has come to save mankind; what Matthew (5:1-12), on the other hand, sees in the parallel Sermon on the Mount that he places in his stead, is primarily a program of life, a moral teaching for the church. If in Luke the beatitudes are a proclamation of consolation and deliverance for the unfortunate, for Matthew they are a catalog of virtues for use by the early communities, defining the conditions for entering the kingdom of God.
Both texts, Luke’s and Matthew’s, are God’s Word to us: both therefore speak to the believer’s heart today. Pope Francis wrote, “Although the words of Jesus may seem poetic to us, nevertheless they go very much against the grain of what is customary, of what is done in society; and, although this message of Jesus attracts us, in reality the world leads us toward another way of life” (Gaudete et exsultate, nn. 65).
Blessed are the poor: The Beatitudes are an invitation to always be on the side of the poor, the last, the marginalized, the oppressed, concretely. They expose our hypocrisies, which often mitigate the harshness of Jesus’ words by understanding them in a spiritual sense. Pope Francis writes, “I desire a poor Church for the poor. They have much to teach us. Besides participating in the sensus fidei, by their own sufferings they know the suffering Christ. It is necessary that we all let ourselves be evangelized by them” (Evangelii gaudium, no. 198).
Blessed are those who mourn: “The world proposes the opposite to us: entertainment, enjoyment, distraction, leisure, and tells us that this is what makes life good” (Gaudete et exsultate, n, 75).
Blessed are the meek: The meek (praeis) are the meek, the submissive, the helpful, those who do not claim to be right, serene, optimistic. Jesus offers himself as a model of meekness: “Learn from me who am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29).
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice: “Justice with the helpless: ‘Seek justice, succor the oppressed, do justice to the orphan, defend the cause of the widow’ (Is 1:17)” (Gaudete et exultate, no. 79).
Blessed are the merciful: The Hebrew term that generally designates mercy is rehamin, which properly expresses the bowels, the seat of the emotions, our “heart”: it is a plural form of réhèm, the womb. In Latin misericors (gen.: misericordis) is derived from misereor (I pity the wretched) and cor (gen.: cordis (heart): it means to have a heart that pities the wretched. Being Merciful is not an ethical imperative, but arises from our call to imitatio Dei, to seek to be like God (Lk. 6:36), who is only mercy (Ex. 34:6).
Blessed are the pure in heart: To be pure in heart means to have a new heart, of flesh and not of stone (Ez 36:26-28), not sclerotic. It means being honest, transparent, loyal, without pretense (Jn 1:47).
Blessed are the peacemakers: Eirenopoiòi, “peacemakers,” indicates not only the attitude of one who seeks to have no conflict with anyone, but the active behavior of one who truly becomes a peacemaker, a man of reconciliation and communion with all.
Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness’s sake… Blessed when they insult you: Those persecuted for righteousness’s sake are thus those who are persecuted because of their Faith in Jesus or their Charity toward their brothers and sisters. This can even lead to martyrdom: martyrìa means “testimony” (Jn 9:22; 12:42).
The prize (misthos: Mt 5:12) is certainly friendship with God, the blessedness of his love at the end of time. But those who live the Beatitudes have “full joy” (Jn 16:24) “already at the present time a hundredfold” (Mk 10:30),
The Beatitudes “are a kind of self-portrait of Christ, they are an invitation to follow him and to commune with him” (John Paul II, Veritatis splendor, no. 16). Jesus is the model of the Beatitudes: Jesus is the poor (Lk 2:11-12; cf. Mt 8:20), the afflicted (Mk 1:41; 6:34), the meek (Mt 11:29; Is 53:7), the righteous, the mercy of the Father (Phil 2:5-11), the pure in heart, the Peace (Eph 2:14-17), the persecuted (Mk 3:21; Lk 4:28-29).
May we all know how to love our brothers and sisters in a “visceral” way, to be for all a real experience of Christ the Savior.
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.