Pastor's Weekly Message

Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, 15-16 Feb 2025

HS
JMJ

Dear Fellow Saints-in-the-Making,

Greetings in Christ Who blesses us!

As we celebrate the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we hear in the Gospel the familiar Beatitudes, where Jesus preaches to the crowds saying that the poor, the hungry, the mournful, and the persecuted are blessed. 

Maybe we have heard the Beatitudes so often that we tend to overlook some critical elements about them and about the level of discipleship Jesus is calling you and me to.

For example, for St. Luke, Jesus preaches the Beatitudes “on a stretch of level ground”, that is, on the plain. For St. Matthew, Jesus preaches His sermon on the mount. In Luke’s Gospel, there are only four Beatitudes; in Matthew’s, eight. In Luke’s version, the Beatitudes are addressed to the listener directly, e.g., “Blessed are you who…”; for Matthew, the Beatitudes are addressed in a general sense, e.g., “Blessed are those who…”

But an even more arresting difference should be particularly noted. Unlike Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount”, Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain” presents a series of contrasting blessings and curses: “Blessed are you who are poor…But woe to you who are rich…”

We tend to overlook these “woes”. But recognizing them now, we might think that the Lord is telling us that we may NOT be “rich”, be “filled now”, “laugh now”, or be spoken “well of” and remain a faithful Christian disciple.

Jesus is teaching us not to desire what this world esteems, namely, to be rich at the expense and neglect of others. Nor are we to consider satisfying our own hunger pangs while refusing to help others be fed, especially those who cannot help themselves. Nor are we to laugh as if there were no social sins to overcome in this world, as if this were the only world we are called to live in without ever giving eternal life a second thought. Nor are we to seek public approval to the point of being self-centered. Jesus preaches against all of this when the rich and gluttonous man overlooks the poor and dying Lazarus lying at his very door. We are called to share the blessings we ourselves have been given by God.

We become blessed by serving those who are Christ in disguise, because it is then that you and I become more and more like Christ.

Let us be attentive this week to sharing the blessings the Lord is offering to us in abundance, for you and I are indeed abundantly blessed.

God love you! I do.

Fr. Lewis

PS: Each year, Church Law requires that a Priest make a retreat, a time for spiritual growth, renewal, and deepening as a means of serving all the better the people he is so blessed to serve. As I will not be able to make a retreat at any time the rest of the year due to obligations at the parish and the Diocese, I am presently making my canonical retreat and will return to my beloved parish family next weekend, eagerly looking forward to praying the Mass for you and bringing you our Eucharistic Lord. Please keep me in prayer during this time, and please know that you are in my prayers, as you always are.