Hearing The Word

A weekly newsletter delivering context and insight into the Sunday Gospels.

The Divine Reversal

~ Rev. Jordan J. Kelly, O.P.

Chaplain to the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters at the Convent of Divine Love + Philadelphia, Pa.

Isaiah, Chapter 61 proclaims:

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me…

To comfort all who mourn;

to place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes,

to give them oil of gladness instead of mourning,

a glorious mantle instead of a faint spirit.

Isaiah’s Principle of divine reversal is shown to us again in today’s Gospel through Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain. Different than Saint Matthew’s recounting of blessings that will be given to those who follow Jesus, the woes given to us by Saint Luke reference the reality of Missionary Discipleship, the transformation offered to us through the Cross, and the conditions of our own hearts and times. Matthew speaks to us in the third person; Luke in the second: blessed are YOU; woe to YOU. This divine reversal is about the very transformation of our hearts and lives.

Luke’s predilection for the physically poor greets us in the first blessing he lists. Luke’s poor are the economically disadvantaged of his day. Perhaps this should cause us to reflect upon the plight of the immigrant, those without proper healthcare, and the homeless of our own time? 

Through the list of woes, Luke speaks directly to those who have created blessings of those who are suffering: but woe to you rich… the Gospel afflicts the comfortable of Luke’s day and our own, to step back and examine carefully the state of hearts that shape and direct our actions.

What are we to do if we are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, and insulted? Luke tells us to “leap for joy”, or in another translation “…dance and exult…”. Why? In our poverty, hunger, mourning, and being overlooked, we know the Divine Reversal of the Kingdom of God ... we have been conformed to Christ!

Prophets for the Gospel of Hope

~ Conor Donnelly

Saint Maron's Maronite Catholic Parish + Norristown, Pa.

A friend in Montreal posted a meme on social media with a quote that challenges us to live out the Kingdom of Heaven today rather than focusing on how to get to the Kingdom of Heaven when we die.

I wonder what it must have been like to sit in the crowd of today’s gospel and hear Jesus speak about the Kingdom of Heaven. His is a strong message of hope with four unequivocal statements: even if you are poor, hungry, mourning, or ridiculed, your reward will be great in Heaven. Some might misinterpret Jesus’ words as a statement that we must live a life of suffering to earn a heavenly reward. That is not Jesus’ message to us.

When we speak truth, when we give witness to Christian life, when we give a voice to those who are poor, hungry, and suffering, we are doing the work of God’s holy prophets. Such witness may not be well received by others.  The prophets of the Old Testament didn’t get a great reception when they called out the behavior of sinful kings or when they rebuked an entire nation for its lack of charity towards the weakest in society.  But we understand that the work of a prophet, then and now, does not reflect popular values and beliefs.

Jesus follows his message of hope with sharp rebukes for those who follow what today we might call a “gospel of prosperity” … endlessly seeking wealth and excessive consumerism, fake laughs and an insincerity of endless social media “likes” in constant distraction. Living like that doesn’t bring the Kingdom of Heaven to the world today, or help achieve it when we die.

Today’s gospel challenges us to go and bear witness to the true Christian life. Let us be a channel and a model for this gospel of hope.