Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Parishioners,

    We read Luke’s version of the Beatitudes in today’s Gospel (Lk. 6:17-26).  When we hear this reading we might say to ourselves that these are not the beatitudes that we know.  That is because we most often read the Beatitudes as written in Matthew’s Gospel.  When we read that version, every beatitude is a blessing.  In Luke’s version, half the statements are blessings and the other half speak of woes.

    We could say that the woes refer to sins of omission.  For instance, Luke writes, “Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.”   Jesus seems to be saying that if we have plenty of resources, but we fail to share this, in the end, will lead to woe in our life.

 If we are happy and avoid those who are in sorrow and fail to comfort them, we are not fulfilling our Christina vocation.  If we revel in success in worldly things we need to be careful, because that is not how God measures success.

The blessings we enjoy in life are not always due to our merits.  The crosses others bear, are not always brought on because of mistakes they have made.

The truth that we should take away from this Gospel is that we always need to be aware of what we can share.  We might have blessings, but can we pass those on?  The downtrodden must be lifted by the prosperous in Christian Community. 

Blessings,

Fr. Mark

P.S. Thanks to all those who helped with the Mass in celebration of Marriage last week.  The meal afterwards was well received.  It is important that we have role models as we live our Christian vocation. Married couples who have great fidelity to married life are examples of holiness to us all.

P.P.S. I liked to thank Jerry O’Keefe, Sandy Madison, David Wrath and Colleen Rafferty who witnessed about the Today Tomorrow Together Capital campaign last Weekend.  It takes courage to do faith sharing and they did a fine job.  Keep in mind that if you have not donated yet you can give your gift online. Just to the website at www.catholictogether.com