Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13
Psalm 146: 6-10
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 5:1-12
Greetings! I have had a long hiatus. But I’m pleased to be back. I am hoping to continue this blog a little more regularly again. I apologize for my absence. I am here to talk about and reflect on the readings for this Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Advent and Christmas Season began a new liturgical year in the Catholic Church. So now we are in the Fourth Sunday back in Ordinary Time. If you remember, there are three cycles for the readings in the Catholic Church. We are now in Cycle A, so we will be reading mostly from Matthew’s Gospel. Additionally, today’s Gospel reading is one of my favorites from Matthew. It is where Jesus delivers his sermon about the Beatitudes during his Sermon on the Mount.
As always, I am using The Great Adventure Bible, Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition.
The readings today center on the theme of humility and that is what I will focus on today. In the First Reading, the prophet Zephaniah calls the people to “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,” (Zephaniah 2:3, The Great Adventure Bible, Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition). As I have mentioned before, it is good to praise God. One must do that with humility. Those that do, God promises to leave a remnant to a “people humble and lowly,” (Zephaniah 3:12, The Great Adventure Bible, Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition), and will find refuge in His name.
The Psalm today reflects the idea to give glory and praise to God for the wonderful deeds he has done. God gave sight to the blind, food to the hungry, and looked out for the lowly and needy, among other great things. Therefore, as always, praise God.
St. Paul, in the Second Reading, observes that God purposefully chooses the foolish, weak, and lowly of the world to shame the wise and strong, ensuring that no one may boast except in the Lord. He writes, “God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing to things that are, so that no flesh might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:28-29, The Great Adventure Bible, Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition). This reinforces the idea that God is all-powerful, all-good and deserving of our love and praise. No one, or nothing, should take the place of God, so being humble and accepting God’s will is a just thing to do. We are all children of God. Let us be like good sons and daughters to him.
In the Gospel today, Matthew gives us the Beatitudes as delivered by Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. As I mentioned, this is one of my favorite passages from the bible. As we are active partakers of the faith, or at least we should be, we receive the grace of God through our faith and works. Doing good works keeps us active in the faith and therefore keeps faith alive. By doing so, we produce good fruit from the Holy Spirit. In this manner, I believe, living out and acting on the Beatitudes is a great way to live the faith. In this way, we truly can receive God’s love, not that we don’t already have it, but through the Beatitudes we may feel undeservedly blessed.
Let us keep the faith. Let us grow more in faith by living a life through works that fully express our fath. In the world now, we need Peacemakers. Being a Peacemaker requires standing for human dignity and refusing to dehumanize others. This radical selflessness is what turns our lives into something for the glory of God.
I will leave you with this scripture. Everyone have a blessed day!
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.” (Galatians 6:18 – RSV – 2nd Catholic Edition)
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