Blessings And Woes

Blessings. We bless our food.  Blessings are offered in this Church for marriages, engaged couples, for the dying, for children, for many reasons. When we sneeze, we might hear, “God bless you.” We bless dogs and just about every kind of animal. We are very ecumenical. Today we focus on blessings – the Beatitudes that begin with “blessed are you or blessed are they.”

New England sports fans are blessed especially with the Patriots and Red Sox.  Most important, those living in America are truly blessed with freedom, liberty, and opportunity.  That’s all of us who will celebrate President’s Day tomorrow honoring and celebrating the life and achievements of George Washington, the first President of the United States and the Father of our country.

We are a blessed great nation under God made quite clear to us through the pledge of allegiance: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

The Statue of Liberty reminds us of this pledge, and frankly, the beatitudes, such as: blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied; blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh for you are in America where, as the Statue says, “You may breathe free and are no longer tempest-tossed.”

Lady Liberty and our Pledge remind us to trust in God, and when we do, we are blessed. In our first reading Jeremiah says: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.  He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: it fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.”

Our responsorial psalm says much the same, but offers a warning. “Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent...”

Our psalm introduces us to the Gospel and the Beatitudes.  Here’s the first blessing: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” The poor are the “little ones” who have no one to trust in but God.

According to one well-respected priest and author, Father Flor McCarthy: “The rich tend to rely on their riches. For them, it’s this world that matters. God is more-or-less redundant, and the other world remote and hazy. The poor, on the other hand, turn to God instinctively.As a poor old lady said to a priest: “Isn’t it great that we have God to lean on.”

Father McCarthy said: “It’s not that poverty in itself is a good thing …The poverty that is blessed is the poverty of those who put their trust in God rather than in material things. Only God can fill our emptiness; only God can satisfy the hunger of the human heart…But often God is the last one we turn to rather than the first.” so says Father.

Yes, God can satisfy the hunger of the human heart, but not the hunger of the human stomach. That’s where we come in.

Blessed are the poor and hungry who come to our Food Pantry staffed by so many Christ the King parishioners who bless those people through their compassion for those in need.  Blessed are you who were hungry, for you were satisfied by good-hearted, self-sacrificing men and women of this church.

Blessed are those helped by St Vincent DePaul volunteers who aid those suffering from loss of jobs and misfortune.  This includes our Hospital and Friendly Visitors and St. Joseph’s House, to name just a few.  Blessed are they who were weeping, for our volunteers try to make them laugh.

Said another way and more to the point of the Gospel where woes are also listed. Woe to us if we are not merciful. Woe to us if we exclude and insult. Woe to us if don’t speak well of others. Woe to us if we hate.

Pope Francis’ recently issued a new list of six Beatitudes for modern Christians: (1)Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart; (2) Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized and show them their closeness; (3) Blessed are those who see God in every person and strive to make others also discover God; (4) Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home; (5) Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others; and (6) Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.

Now the Emily Dickinson poem.

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain.
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain, 
Or help one fainting robin 
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live I vain.

We can add:

If Christ the King parish can stop hearts from breaking through generosity, kindness, compassion, welcoming and inclusion,
We, its parishioners, shall not exist in vain.

Deacon David Pierce