A Reflection on the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Deacon John Kren

Last week, Jesus called his apostles after what we think was 33 years of living at home, Jesus leaves home, raised under the law of the Mosaic covenant and he begins calling apostles and disciples

This week, Jesus tells of the beatitudes.  Brief reminders that the world is good, what it means to be good.  Jesus reassuring the apostles and disciples encouraging them to see a vision of perfection in the new covenant, a way of life that exists in His new teaching if they “come and follow me”.

But these sayings could also be somewhat discouraging as we read “Blessed are the poor in Spirit” and hold up a mirror or examine the video of our life.  Here is me, a mere mortal, stumbling every day to fulfill God’s commandments.  The truth is we want to be good, but we somehow continually struggle and fail.  And it is our fault of course, but we are on the right path if we keep trying.

Jesus’ delivery of the Sermon on the Mount is a call to action, a call, like that of Moses to obey the Law, yet Jesus offers us something more human, more profound than the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments.  Jesus offers us a vision of love and peace, of goodness and kindness, of welcome. The responsibility for bringing all these beatitudes about was passed to us at creation and baptism, for God saw that it was good and we were good.   Responsibility is ours and not to be passed to any other agents/ good luck, everybody does it, the dog ate my homework, a slithering snake.

The lack of will is in us, the human person.  Temptation surrounds us but we don’t want to own it.

If the internet is offensive to you, who logged on? If you drink too much, who opened the bottle?

If you eat too much, who bought the case of Velveeta shells and cheese at Sam’s?

If you are offended by the program on Netflix, who paid for the subscription?

Blessed, blessed, blessed are you!