Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
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Today’s readings invite us to follow a lifestyle focused on humility, righteousness, integrity and mercy, challenging the worldly ways of success and happiness. They encourage us to trust in God's protection and the promise of reward in heaven.
In the Gospel, Jesus teaches the Beatitudes, revealing his own core attitudes and values. He expects his disciples to have these same qualities, which lay out the way to follow him.
Zephaniah (First Reading) urges people to be humble and do what is right; to be people of integrity and humility. The Lord will protect those living honest and just lives.
The Psalmist celebrates the Lord’s faithfulness and concern for the poor and oppressed. God acts by giving food, freedom, sight, and hope, bringing justice and lifting up those bowed down.
The Second Reading reminds us that God’s ways are different from human ways. God often works through those who seem unimportant, for human strength and status do not matter to God. Real wisdom comes from following Christ. St Paul reminds us to ‘boast in the Lord’, not ourselves.
This week, we pray for a greater trust in the Lord, asking God to help us remember always that true happiness comes from following the ways of Jesus. We also continue to remember those impacted by conflict, poverty and hunger throughout the world.
(c) International Sunday School
Here’s a text if you’ve only a minute …
Seek the Lord … seek righteousness; seek humility.
First Reading
It is the Lord who preserves fidelity for ever, who does justice to those who are oppressed. Psalm
God chose … and because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God. Second Reading
Further Reflection
Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1: 26–31
Last week, Paul was speaking to the Corinthian Church about their disagreements and divisions. He appealed to them to be reconciled; to be united in ‘the same mind and the same judgement’. He was speaking of his mission to preach the Good News brought about by the crucifixion of Christ. This week Paul entreats the Christians of Corinth to look at themselves. Who are those making up their Church? The answer is the lowly and poor; slaves; Gentiles; those whom most people would call foolish and weak. Being a Christian is a new way of being human; it is not a reward for a privileged life, nor a compensation for a deprived one. It may seem paradoxical. Our social status in the world is meaningless compared to our standing before God. In Christ we are set apart. We have wisdom: we are not controlled by evil. We have righteousness: we are at one with God. We have sanctification and redemption. All these achievements do not come from any particular effort we have made; they are God-given graces. Paul is well aware that these were the very accomplishments which both Greek and Jews yearned for. It is his way of answering the self-important cliques which caused disunity in Corinth. No one needs to boast; all they have comes from God through Christ.
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Gospel Matthew 5: 1–12 The Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is the first of the five discourses which are a central part of Matthew’s Gospel. The beginning of the Sermon, which we now know as ‘The Beatitudes’, summarises the values of the Kingdom of God.
Matthew has nine Beatitudes, in contrast to the four from Luke’s ‘Sermon on the Plain’ (Luke 6: 20-22), though Luke has a rather different emphasis. Matthew here focuses on the spiritual qualities of all who enter the Kingdom, and the rewards of true discipleship, suggested in the second part of each verse.
Jesus sits down to teach This is a significant detail: when a Jewish Rabbi was teaching officially, he sat down. When Matthew uses the word ‘taught’ he uses a particular past tense, which in Greek means that Jesus’s teaching was repeated and habitual. The Sermon on the Mount was not one sermon, but rather the essence of all that Jesus taught throughout his ministry.
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The Beatitudes The word ‘beatitude’ comes from the Latin beatus, meaning blessed or happy. This comes from the Greek makarios, which specially describes the gods. Thus there is a godlike joy in the people Matthew is describing. It is something they already have, rather than something they hope to achieve in the future. In effect, Jesus is saying that there is great joy in living out the values of the Kingdom, values the world finds difficult to accept and understand.
Matthew was writing for a Jewish-Christian audience where those in his community lived by edicts and rules of the Jewish Law. The Beatitudes point to awareness of spiritual need, humility, peaceful living, moral living, and compassion as the keys to happiness.
Most of all, Matthew’s Beatitudes see Christian witness as the core of a happy life.
To aid our reflection on the Sunday readings each week we are reproducing, with permission content from St Bueno's outreach.
if you would like to know more about them or access their guided prayer resources, 'prego', you can contact them via their website
Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit ,reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth. To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever. Amen
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Pope Francis, Jubilee Prayer