Peace and grace to you!
As we listen to Jeremiah’s lamentations and hard-earned wisdom about the frailty and fickleness of human beings, we are given a stern reminder that in the end, God is the only one where we can place our ultimate trust. Luke’s Gospel is the sermon on the plain in which are included the blessed and the woes.
Jesus gives a message of hope for those who experience a lack or deficit in material things like possessions or wealth and he also includes the lack of friendship and emotional comfort. Jesus shows how compassionate God is. God cares about every person’s human needs!
While expressing a message of hope to those without, Jesus seems to be warning those who have possessions, wealth, comfort and friendship that they are enjoying what will not last. There will come a time when they must give an account of their stewardship of how they used what they had.
Stewardship is an invitation to partner with God and make God the priority and director over all that one has. The greatest gift that we have is divine love. God gifts us with his own life and love in the Eucharist. We are stewards of this!
“Woe to you” can be turned around and become “blessed are you” when we are good stewards!
Blessed, fortunate and happy are you who are rich in money, power, influence, time and talent because we can do much for the poor, the marginalized, the alien, mentally ill, the prisoner and the lonely! We can lift their burden! But only if we have the heart and mind of Christ to recognize them as God’s children and act to care for them. We need them as much as they need us! We can experience the blessedness of the kingdom when we place ourselves and our possessions in God’s service. May God continue to enrich you in every way! +++ Fr. Peter