The Gospel According to Luke 6:20-26
Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in Heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”
Reflection: Our family just recently lost our dear sweet Jenny, our niece, to cancer that she had battled for many years. Shortly after that news I read an article from Fr. Richard Rohr. As some of you know, I have followed him for many years and his words bring me tremendous peace. Today I would like to share with all of you one of his articles. It’s a letter from Kate Bowler an author and theologian after being diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. Here are some of her comments.
Dear Body,
Sometimes, I hate you. You ache. You get tired sooner than I’d like to admit. You wake me in the night for no good reason. Your cells duplicate at unpredictable rates. New gray hairs and fine lines and silver stretch marks show up out of nowhere. You let me down just when I need you the most…
Sometimes, I want a break from living with you. I’d prefer to trade you in for a newer model…
She continues… With you I am fragile…
But God knows what it’s like to live in the flesh…If God too lived in a body, then God knows the ache of growing pains and the feeling of goose bumps on a brisk day and the comfort of a warm embrace. He felt the gurgle of a hungry stomach and the annoying prick of a splinter after a day of hard work. He wept over the death of a friend. Ours is a God who sneezed and rubbed His eyes when He was sleepy…
This is a God who knows my humanity inside and out…Not simply because the Word formed us, knit us together in our mother’s wombs, was there from the beginning…but because God wore our skin.
By embracing the wisdom of the incarnation, Bowler learned to listen to her body’s message and be kind to herself.
Bowler concludes.
Dear, dear body, I get it. Or at least I am starting to. You do not have an unlimited supply. You run out, and I need to listen. Maybe I really should go to bed a little earlier or let you off the hook for craving those extra salty chips. I need to sense when you are struggling, and gently acknowledge that you are actually changing. That time and love and grief and life have worn themselves into my skin. Day by day. This is the terrible, beautiful evidence that we have lived.
Action of the Day: Live your life the way God intended us to live it.
Apologies, no audio of today’s reflection.
