Would You Like To Be Fortunate?

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
03 February 2008

First reading Zephaniah 2:3 - 3:13
Seek the Lord,
all you, the humble of the earth,
who obey his commands.
Seek integrity,
seek humility:
you may perhaps find shelter
on the day of the anger of the Lord.

In your midst I will leave
a humble and lowly people,
and those who are left in Israel will seek refuge in the name of the Lord.
They will do no wrong,
will tell no lies;
and the perjured tongue will no longer
be found in their mouths.
But they will be able to graze and rest
with no one to disturb them.

Second reading 1 Corinthians 1:26 - 31
Take yourselves for instance, brothers, at the time when you were called: how many of you were wise in the ordinary sense of the word, how many were influential people, or came from noble families? No, it was to shame the wise that God chose what is foolish by human reckoning, and to shame what is strong that he chose what is weak by human reckoning; those whom the world thinks common and contemptible are the ones that God has chosen – those who are nothing at all to show up those who are everything. The human race has nothing to boast about to God, but you, God has made members of Christ Jesus and by God’s doing he has become our wisdom, and our virtue, and our holiness, and our freedom. As scripture says: if anyone wants to boast, let him boast about the Lord.

Gospel Matthew 5:1 - 12
Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them:
‘How happy are the poor in spirit;
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy the gentle:
they shall have the earth for their heritage.
Happy those who mourn:
they shall be comforted.
Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right:
they shall be satisfied.
Happy the merciful:
they shall have mercy shown them.
Happy the pure in heart:
they shall see God.
Happy the peacemakers:
they shall be called sons of God.
Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right:
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.’


Reflection
By Anabelle Payod-Balla

Of course, I’d like to! That will be my answer to above question. I have a feeling that your response is also along this line and I am hoping there’s no BUT to it.

How can we become fortunate? The answer is being detailed in this Sunday’s Gospel. To be fortunate, Jesus is telling us to be gentle, to hunger and fight for justice, to be merciful, to have a pure heart, to work for peace, and to have the spirit of the poor. His promise,” you shall possess the land, you shall be satisfied, you shall find mercy, you shall see God, and you shall be called Children of God. It is also said that, “Blessed are the poor in spirit and those who are persecuted because they follow God, the kingdom of the Heaven is theirs.” To reach the kingdom of heaven is the greatest fortune we can ever achieve.

The road to become fortunate in the eyes of God is not easy to travel. It will take a lot of courage, self control, trust, faith, and love to make it to the journey. We need to be well prepared and it is always a good move to start from within, from ourselves. Do we know and trust God? Do we believe in His power and His promises? If the answers to these questions are yes, then we now have a solid start. We can improve this futher if we establish our relationship with God, strengthen our faith and trust through constant communication with Him. If we are successful in doing this, I believe we’ve already covered halfway of the journey.

Some of you may already feel fortunate and I pray that you are now happily boasting God’s power and might to everyone around you. To those of us who are still on our way, let us continue to seek the Lord and follow Jesus' teachings so we will find refuge on the day He comes to judge the world.

Father, how lucky we are to be loved and guided by You. Please help us to become worthy of the greatest fortune of all. Please continue to inspire us and give us the courage to keep the spirit of the poor within us and to be bold to proclaim Your name to the world. Amen.

Let’s aim for the greatest fortune of all. Stand firm and proclaim God in anyway you can, anywhere, anytime!