Br. Justin Mpuruta sx
Dear brothers and sisters, Shalom! Today we are celebrating the sixth Sunday in ordinary time. As a tree that is planted by the riverside grows and bears fruits in due season (cf. Ps 1, 2), in the same way, those who trust in God are truly blessed (Jer 17:5-8). The prophet Jeremiah, in the first Reading, by his poetry wisdom contrasts the life of the wicked with that of the righteous. St Paul in the second reading stresses the reality of Jesus’s bodily resurrection and the meaning of that resurrection for us Christians (1Cor.15:12.16-20). And in today’s Gospel (Lk 6:17.20-26), through Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, Jesus proposes us his programme of life, he invites us how to imitate his identity and how to avoid unfortunate ways and decisions in our pilgrim life.
In the Gospel, “Jesus came down with the twelve apostles” (Lk 6, 17). He came down from his divine comfort to our weak life even to join people who were experiencing wretched life. He set out to meet people who were waiting for him at the level ground so that he could console them and heal them from their illnesses.
Today, he comes to meet people who need his comfort like those in the East of the D.R. Congo (Beni, Goma, Minova, Kalehe…) who are experiencing miserable situations of war caused by cowardice, betrayal and selfishness of others. He comes to meet the people of Sierra Leone who are facing many life challenges and he comes to meet each one of us. Does God allow extreme violence, evil, extreme material poverty, and miserable life to test our faith? What can we do against material, psychological and anthropological poverty? What is disappointing our relationship with God? Is it for my fidelity to Christ that I am often hated, rejected and criticized or is it because of my selfishness and search for my own image?
Jesus does not invite us to cry, to be hungry or to be excluded, shortly to seek a miserable life. He puts accent on our spiritual relationship with God and with the world. When we live the situations of our journey life as opportunities to meet God, then we experiment poverty. Mysteriously it is by being this kind of poor that we possess the Kingdom of Heaven. Some situations in our life help us to realize our dependence on God, and ultimately foretaste his Kingdom. Then we can pray with the psalmist that “Our help is in the hands of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth” (Ps 124:8). “But alas for you who are rich” (Lk 6, 24) when you are self sufficient, you don’t need any help either from God or from others. Then you become godless because of selfishness and pride that make you incapable of welcoming God’s gifts. You who are rich today, this is the occasion to give up your selfishness, your pride, your melancholy that deprive of your happiness in the Lord. You who are going through challenges and miserable life, “Be strong and take courage, all you whose hope in the Lord” (Ps 31, 24) and do not stop doing good.
Jesus announces to us happiness based on our personal relationship with God and on the hope given to us owing to our friendship with his Father by saying “blessed are the one…” cf. Lk 6, 20. If we put our trust in God, we will be able to overcome all challenges we meet. From our weakness will raise our strength if we remain in a deep relationship with God. We will be able to fight alongside Jesus against material, psychological and anthropological poverty. Also, we can fight against impurity, pride, injustice, violence, war, coward betrayals and lack of perseverance in times of horrible difficulty.
As today’s Gospel invites us in a spiritual awakening, let us ask for the grace to let ourselves be shaken by the Word of God. Jesus wants us to make a radical choice between what the world values (love of money, pleasure, popularity, power, prestige, laziness) and the values of the Kingdom of God (poverty of spirit, purity of heart, capacity to show mercy, gratitude, ability to suffer in the cause of right...). Let us ask him for the grace of discernment in our life journey. May the Lord grant us the grace of generosity, perseverance and endurance as pilgrims of hope. May his love be upon us as our hope is in him” cf. Ps 33, 32. Blessed Sunday to you all!
Dear brothers and sisters, Shalom! Today we are celebrating the sixth Sunday in ordinary time. As a tree that is planted by the riverside grows and bears fruits in due season (cf. Ps 1, 2), in the same way, those who trust in God are truly blessed (Jer 17:5-8). The prophet Jeremiah, in the first Reading, by his poetry wisdom contrasts the life of the wicked with that of the righteous. St Paul in the second reading stresses the reality of Jesus’s bodily resurrection and the meaning of that resurrection for us Christians (1Cor.15:12.16-20). And in today’s Gospel (Lk 6:17.20-26), through Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, Jesus proposes us his programme of life, he invites us how to imitate his identity and how to avoid unfortunate ways and decisions in our pilgrim life.
In the Gospel, “Jesus came down with the twelve apostles” (Lk 6, 17). He came down from his divine comfort to our weak life even to join people who were experiencing wretched life. He set out to meet people who were waiting for him at the level ground so that he could console them and heal them from their illnesses.
Today, he comes to meet people who need his comfort like those in the East of the D.R. Congo (Beni, Goma, Minova, Kalehe…) who are experiencing miserable situations of war caused by cowardice, betrayal and selfishness of others. He comes to meet the people of Sierra Leone who are facing many life challenges and he comes to meet each one of us. Does God allow extreme violence, evil, extreme material poverty, and miserable life to test our faith? What can we do against material, psychological and anthropological poverty? What is disappointing our relationship with God? Is it for my fidelity to Christ that I am often hated, rejected and criticized or is it because of my selfishness and search for my own image?
Jesus does not invite us to cry, to be hungry or to be excluded, shortly to seek a miserable life. He puts accent on our spiritual relationship with God and with the world. When we live the situations of our journey life as opportunities to meet God, then we experiment poverty. Mysteriously it is by being this kind of poor that we possess the Kingdom of Heaven. Some situations in our life help us to realize our dependence on God, and ultimately foretaste his Kingdom. Then we can pray with the psalmist that “Our help is in the hands of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth” (Ps 124:8). “But alas for you who are rich” (Lk 6, 24) when you are self sufficient, you don’t need any help either from God or from others. Then you become godless because of selfishness and pride that make you incapable of welcoming God’s gifts. You who are rich today, this is the occasion to give up your selfishness, your pride, your melancholy that deprive of your happiness in the Lord. You who are going through challenges and miserable life, “Be strong and take courage, all you whose hope in the Lord” (Ps 31, 24) and do not stop doing good.
Jesus announces to us happiness based on our personal relationship with God and on the hope given to us owing to our friendship with his Father by saying “blessed are the one…” cf. Lk 6, 20. If we put our trust in God, we will be able to overcome all challenges we meet. From our weakness will raise our strength if we remain in a deep relationship with God. We will be able to fight alongside Jesus against material, psychological and anthropological poverty. Also, we can fight against impurity, pride, injustice, violence, war, coward betrayals and lack of perseverance in times of horrible difficulty.
As today’s Gospel invites us in a spiritual awakening, let us ask for the grace to let ourselves be shaken by the Word of God. Jesus wants us to make a radical choice between what the world values (love of money, pleasure, popularity, power, prestige, laziness) and the values of the Kingdom of God (poverty of spirit, purity of heart, capacity to show mercy, gratitude, ability to suffer in the cause of right...). Let us ask him for the grace of discernment in our life journey. May the Lord grant us the grace of generosity, perseverance and endurance as pilgrims of hope. May his love be upon us as our hope is in him” cf. Ps 33, 32. Blessed Sunday to you all!