Our Sacred Stories
Blessed Are You: Who Are We
Life is full of challenges. Just listen to the news on any given day. It seems that our world so often encounters “bad news”. We frequently seem to face threats of disruptions to the social and economic order, tariffs and unsettling trade disruptions, areas of the world broken by war and violence, a breakdown of law and order in so many areas of life. Where do we find the peace for which we long?
At the very beginning of our scriptures, in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis (1:1-31), there is a clear assertion of God’s vision of us and our world. The writer tells the story of creation. After each step in the process, the story relates: “And God saw that it was good.” As God completed the creation work, the author remarked: “God saw everything that was made, and indeed, it was very good.”
In the words of spiritual writer, Ron Rolheiser: “This tells us how God feels about us and our world, and it contains the implication that we should feel the same way about ourselves and the rest of the world: ‘good, very good’!” (Rolheiser. Against an Infinite Horizon 31)
God delights in us and all creation. So too, should we. This is the message we see in Luke’s Gospel this Sunday. Luke tells the story of what is sometimes referred to as the “Sermon on the Plain” (Luke 6:17, 20-26). Matthew relates a similar account as the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5:1-12). Both these stories begin with what we have come to call beatitudes, blessings, although Luke contrasts these blessings with woes when they are lacking.
Blessings are acknowledgements that we take delight in someone. In parts of Canada, there is a New Years tradition of parents blessing their children as the year begins. As they enter the New Year, their parents explicitly tell them of their delight in them. What a wonderful way to begin a year.
To bless someone is an expression of our love for them. We need such affirmations, and our world needs this vision of promise. It is no small thing that our faith offers us a vision that God sees us all as good. Beatitudes are at the core of who we are as disciples of Jesus.
We are not about commandments, judgements and rules to follow. We are about recognizing the blessing each and every person is in our world and before God. Seeing and acknowledging such blessings are the foundation of every good relationship, whether with one another or with our God. They are the basis for a life-giving and loving faith.
As disciples, this is who we are, bearers of blessings to our world. If we really want to know what it means to be and to live as disciples of Jesus, we can begin with what we see in these blessings and how we can recognize them in ourselves, in one another and in all creation.
A few years ago, theologian Richard Gaillardetz commented that Pope Francis has a vision of the Church. The Church is a “field hospital” and that it must meet people where they are. This means, Gaillardetz points out: When considering those whose relational commitment falls outside the Church norms, he (Pope Francis) offers what might be a preferential option for mercy and inclusion. Pastors must discern which of the forms of exclusion currently practiced in the liturgical, pastoral, educational and institutional framework, can be surmounted. [Pope Francis] is convinced it seems, that in at least some of these irregular situations (e.g. divorced and remarried) a return to the Eucharistic Table may be pastorally justified.
As disciples, how might we bring compassion to our often-broken world? To do so, is to express the Good News of Jesus the Christ and reveal that our God is indeed a life-giving God of love for all. This is a revelation sorely needed when considering the many moral, ethical, social, political and economic issues we face in the 21st century.
John Jennings
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time