Hi everyone, and welcome to Weekly Homilies with Father Mark Suslenko, Pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. We are part of the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. I'm Carol Vassar, parish director of communications, and this is Episode 10 of Season 6 for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Jan. 29, 2023. Our Gospel reading is from Matthew Chapter 4, verses 12 - 23.
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."
The Gospel of the Lord
“What Have You Done?” by Father Mark S. Suslenko, Pastor, SS. Isidore and Maria Parish, Glastonbury, Connecticut
Not a day goes by when we're not bombarded with some form of advertising. Whether it's something we see on a billboard, read in a newspaper, an ad that comes across the screen of our computer, an email pinging us to the latest product that's being offered, or a text, advertising is everywhere. And all of it is directed by companies convinced that they can sell us happiness, that they have what we need to live better, to function better, and to feel better about ourselves.
This can be anything from the latest designer sweatshirt that has a particular logo on it, or the newest pair of sneakers that's just a little bit shinier than the already good pair that's in our closet, or the latest model car that's going to bring us places we never could imagine we could go, or the pharmaceutical company that now has developed a product that might just diminish these little lines and wrinkles that we develop under our eyes. But it might make you sick. It might cause a rash, and you could die. But the lines will be gone, and you'll look good.
We buy into all of this advertising, and it causes us to begin to live an illusion and almost a lie. That the quality of ourselves, how we feel about who we are? How productive we are in the world is all related to these exterior non-essentials. That we're, were continually trying to be convinced of actually needing. And whether we give heed to it or not, it sends messages to us and convinces us of this illusion of a self-created world. But does any of it, anything we can accumulate or find outside of ourselves, really lead us to happiness?
What is happiness?
Well, Jesus gives us the blueprint for it today when he lays out the teaching of the Beatitudes. And we listen to what he says, and it rings very true in our ears as something that is attractive to us. There's something in there that makes sense. But to fully understand the teaching he rolls out, we have to look to other things that Jesus said and did and to the fuller body of scriptures, even the Old Testament, where themes of this kind echo.
The Beatitudes bring us back to that day when Jesus was just a young lad and he went into the synagogue and broke open the scroll of Isaiah and proclaimed liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, a year of favor for the Lord, and good things for the poor. The Beatitudes echo back to Jesus' primary commandment to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Beatitudes take the whole body of Jesus' teaching and frame them into action. They really are designed to set the relationships of our lives in order, to set things on proper course so that things begin where they ought to with one's relationship with God.
The first Beatitude, blessed are the poor in spirit, speaks so clearly to that, that my inner being, my happiness, starts not with looking outside of myself but with realizing my utter and complete dependence upon God. It is only there that I recognize that I am nothing without God and that I am, in fact quite poor indeed and in need of his assistance and his life force to keep my life moving.
The physically poor know this so well. They deal with the agenda of each day. And trying to meet the needs that are present before them. They don't care about what the latest pharmaceutical company has to offer. They're not worried about the latest pair of shoes or whether they have the designer clothes. They can't afford any of those things, and one realizes very quickly just how unimportant all of that really is.
And so we listen again to Jesus directing us and teaching us, and then we look out at the world, and I guess we can do a bit of reflecting today to see just how good we've done over the years.
We've had over 2000 years to put what Jesus said into practice. Christians have existed since that time. After the Ascension, the early disciples went out and preached and taught and formed communities, and we read in the Acts of the Apostles how they took care of each other's needs. They held things in common. They looked out for one another, cared for the poor, healed the sick, and did all of those things that Jesus had directed. And it looked like things were moving along pretty well. Did it continue?
As we look out at the world, we have to be honest and wonder why there is so much famine and starvation. Why millions and millions of people today, right now, today, cannot find food while millions of people go without, and some have so much? We have to stop and think while there is so much mental illness abounding, how many lost, conflicted souls walked the streets with no place to go and no one to really reach out and help? We have to stop and wonder and think why so many people over the years have been abused. Why people are sold for profit and human life is exploited? We have to stop and think why human life can so easily be disregarded, snuffed out in a minute, without ever the notice or a glance, simply because we want to. How many countless children have suffered and died in endless and needless wars? How many countries are right now in conflict fighting those same unnecessary wars? How many people over the years Have been tortured? How many people have been persecuted?
There is no end to the greed and the anger and the suffering. People are still the victims of injustice. People are still being wounded and hurt. Tyre Nichols is the latest among them. Mass shootings still occur spontaneously throughout, for whatever reason. Who knows? There's so much anger and apathy and violence and greed. And don't get me wrong, as we look at the picture of humanity; there is so much good that is happening. It happens here in our community. We have these wonderful collections for those less fortunate. We respond to needs. And so there is this goodness that humanity rises up and does, especially when humanity is kicked down and in pain. But there is this undercurrent of unsettledness, this unrest, this unhappiness, this agita, this ill will that is alive and brewing. And it raises its head every once in a while and we see it come to the fore, which speaks of people who are lost and people who do not know where to look for the happiness they seek.
But Jesus has given us that answer. The Beatitudes are here to help us put our relationships in proper order.
And so, as we look around at the world and where we've come as people, how did it go so wrong? If the Son of God came into the world to bring peace and the love of God's kingdom, how did it go so wrong? How did we get so off track?
Well, as you and I sit here today, we're certainly not responsible for the big picture of it all, I don't think, but we all bear some responsibility because we're all in this same boat together. And I think in order for the Beatitudes to even stand the chance, for the Gospel to even stand the chance, we have to really ask that question of how did this go so wrong? What led to all of this conflict? What is leading to all of the pain? What is causing all of the inequity and injustice?
Have the Beatitudes simply gone out of favor and fallen into the vat of irrelevancy? You know, if Jesus were to come and walk among us today, and he were able to find a place where he could reach the greatest audience of the world, what would his address possibly be? What words would come from his mouth? Would he reiterate again this very beautiful Sermon on the Mount and remind us of the Beatitudes that he already placed before us? Or, might he venture back to another a time when he got angry, a time when he was frustrated, a time when his true human sensibility and compassion came out? And it was when he went to the temple, the synagogue, and there found people changing money and he overturned their tables and he got angry at the injustice that he witnessed in front of him.
Would he be like that today with us and stand and say, what have you done? What have you done to my father's house? It was supposed to be a place where people lived in peace. It was supposed to be a place where harmony and justice reigned. It was supposed to be a place that reflected God's glory and grace.
What have you done?
Father Mark Suslenko is the pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Learn more about our parish community at www.isidoreandmaria.org. And follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Our music comes free of charge from Blue Dot Sessions in Fall River, Massachusetts. I’m Carol Vassar. Thanks for joining us.