OMELIE / Omelie EN

26/6/2016

29/01/2017 – 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year A

29/01/2017 – 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year A 

1st reading Zeph 2,3; 3,12-13 * from Psalm 145 * 2^nd reading 1Cor 1,26-31 * Gospel Mt 5,1-12°

The words of Saint Paul addressed to the Christians of Corinth are indeed surprising. He exhorts them to consider the fact that those who have believed in Jesus, and therefore assembled to celebrate Him, are not only those who have graduated, doctors, professors, persons who play a role in society, but those who are simple, non-educated or degreed in the schools of this world, more even those who are disrespected and those who are considered ignorant and despicable. The Lord is surrounded by poor, weak, fragile. He wanted this for himself: did he not choose the shepherds to be the first to adore his son Jesus Christ born in Bethlehem and the fishermen to be the first to form the first community? Wasn’t Him the one who allowed, rather wanted, that the ideal place to welcome the King of the Kingdom of God had to be the poorest and the most simple even more than one can imagine?

As this is Jesus’s way of acting, His Kingdom faces a lot of obstacles in a world dreaming only at big things, riches, ambitions and power. Even the wise people of God have forgotten and did not want to consider the announces of their prophets.  Today in fact we can listen to one of them, Zephaniah, who declares that God’s project is the one to populate His world with “people humble and poor”, a community trusting not in riches or coziness but only in the Lord. The poor folk is not used or trained to commit serious injustices as those committed by rich and powerful people.

Then “they will do no wrong; they will tell no lies. A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths”.

The poor and humble people can easily profess their faith with big trust in God.

Christians therefore will never dare to despise their own Churches and individual communities: they are valid places, not because attended by the 'big' of the world, but because in them it is present even Jesus Christ, even though they are poor and miserable, saved from their sins.

Jesus continued to live and speak this way, from his first mayor teaching: He started it just proclaiming “be the poor be blessed”. His word scandalizes today, as it was during His days.  Men have lived and continue to live with a pressing desire, not even hidden, to become rich, thinking, nowadays as in the past, that from richness come peace and joy. But richness deceives: it gives you the worry, makes you insensible to the sufferings of others and does not come with you when you pass away. For this reason he calls this attitude dishonest and  wrong. The rich or those who desire to be rich are not “blessed” because they trust in the richness which deceives. The Lord repeats for nine times the word
“blessed” speaking to his disciples, while the crowd listen to him with attention. Because the poor live always in constant suffering, He declares “blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted”.

The poor usually do not revolt, they are quiet: this is another motivation for they are blessed. The poor are used to be merciful, and are persecuted, even in the tribunals where it is declared that justice is equal to everyone: even for this reason they are blessed, and so it is for those pure in heart. The poor infact do not have reasons of being double-face in God ‘sight: their own heart is not divided. They do not love richness, because it is richness which pushes the oppressors to overpower, the bully to corrupt, the judges to be corrupted: we do not want to become like them. They only see God’s face, in which they hope. Last but not least, Jesus sees and declares blessed all his disciples, because they will all be his companions of suffering: they all meet him on the Calvary. Because of His name, without any reasonable cause, they will be persecuted, derided, insulted and heavily slandered. They participate thus to His exaltation, to His beatitude, so that since already from now they can rejoice and exult!

We listen this homily every year during All Saints celebration Day (1. November). In their life we can contemplate the true poverty, the one that me and you wish for ourselves, the one which is immensely loved by God our Father. In order for us to be able to live that poverty, we know how to renounce to the well being, to the money, to hereditary, rather than abandoning and betraying our savior Jesus Christ. We will try during this week to be enlightened by the words of the prophet Zephaniah, who told us: “seek the Lord, you poor of the earth, who obey his commands, seek the justice, seek humility”. In this way we will not let ourselves be deceived by the recurrent temptations neither by the desire for money which want to possess our soul, and so we will experience the joy of being “blessed” because “poor in the spirit”!