Posted by The WORD in other words (2009) by Msgr. Gene E Bacareza SVD – Catholic Trade Manila
Wednesday 23rd Week in Ordinary Time
I believe in the saying that the newspaper’s job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Jun Lozada’s case was a good example. Newspapers comforted him in the beginning, but when he became comfortable, they afflicted him.
The Beatitudes we heard in today’s Gospel seem to do the same thing. Whenever we hear the Beatitudes, with the ”woe” statements immediately following each one, we should be afflicted with a need to see what we can do to improve the lives of the poor.
Jesus calls us not only to be people of faith, but also people of action. We must recognize the poor and the afflicted and challenge ourselves to be, like Mother Teresa of Calcutta, one with them. Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you.” (Mt 26, 11). However, when we recognize the poverty in our society and in the world today, we must do something to alleviate their suffering.
I remember in my high school days, I was commanding a battalion of cadets. In my free time I was a member of the school band, playing a trombone! Many times we were invited to accompany the dead to the cemetery. After the procession, the band members, except myself, would receive l00 pesos. I used to ask my mother like that, but she would whisper to me smilingly: “Son, you have everything with you. You eat five times a day. The poor has nothing except this few pesos! Give them a chance to enjoy life!”
I really did not realize the meaning of my mom’s words, until I became a priest and was assigned in a leper colony for one year. The people I met there were not only sick and emasculated, but very poor. They could hardly eat three square meals a day. I had to ask my friends in Germany later to assist them financially and alleviate their sufferings instead of giving them fruitcakes. Remember Queen Marie Antoinette of France, on being told that the poor had no bread: “Let them eat cake!” (Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.)
Let this then be our prayer that God forbid, we may not be part of the “woe” verses, but rather, part of the “blessed” verses, so we can help the poor and the afflicted, and alleviate their sufferings a little bit! We are truly challenged today! Eine Herausforderung (challenge!)for all of us! Let us always accept that challenge, share our talent, treasure, and time with the poor and proclaim God’s Good News of salvation to them all!
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