"My God and My All"

Scripture Reflection for the fourth Sunday in ordinary Time (january 30, 2011)

Scripture Readings:
Zephariah 2:3, 3:12-13
Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9a, 9b-10
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 5:1-12a

“My God and My All,
How I long to love you,
And give you my heart
And give you my soul”

That song/prayer, “My God and My All,” was written by David Haas and is inspired by the life and message of St. Francis of Assisi. Much more than a lover of animals, St. Francis had a passion for life, a passion for God, which is expressed in every one of his prayers and writings, and in the way he lived his life. That man of God truly longed for connection with the divine, and most definitely gave God his whole heart and soul. And what Francis learned in the midst of his prayer of longing is that the desire for God leads us to places and situations in life which we would never have chosen on our own.

It is a paradox, and also a great truth, that the heart-felt desire for God, and our honest attempts to respond to God’s call in our lives, leads us to our own personal experience of the paschal mystery, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Take Francis for example: his deep desire to give his heart and soul to God -- his own powerful need for God -- led him into such an overwhelming love for all of creation, and especially for the poor, that his life was completely turned around.

And that is what today’s Scriptures are trying to teach us. What some might call the central message of the Gospel, or at least the Gospel of Matthew, is what we find in today’s reading - the famous Beatitudes. Like the paschal mystery of death as the only path to resurrection, there is something fundamentally paradoxical about this passage. When Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit... (and) the sorrowing... (and) those who suffer persecution,” etc. there is a call for us to be converted, to see and interpret life differently, to take another look at what really matters. The first reading too, from the prophet Zephaniah, is a call to conversion, to become “less”, to seek justice, to seek humility. When you think about it, this message is downright un-American in some fundamental way! We are all about more, not less... winning, not losing... conquering, not suffering. And yet, as St. Paul tells the Corinthians and us in today’s second reading, “God chose the foolish of this world to shame the wise...the weak of the world to shame the strong.” He goes on to tell us that “whoever boasts should boast in the Lord.” Try telling that to a Pittsburgh Steelers or Green Bay Packer fan this week and see how far it gets you!

Perhaps the best way to understand this paradox is take a second look at a popular phrase with which we all probably agree, at least at first glance: “God helps those who help themselves.” Really? Do you believe that? I must say that I don’t any more. Think about it. People who help themselves don’t need God; in fact they are just fine without God, unless of course they have some kind of a crisis. What I have come to believe is that God helps those who depend on God, not just once in a while, and maybe that’s what the message for this Sunday is all about. Just the other day I heard a new and different translation of the first Beatitude. Instead of “Blessed are poor in spirit,” this version (the New English Version translation) says, “Blessed are those who realize that they need God.”

And that is my prayer for all of us this weekend - that we might acknowledge and grow deeply in our need for God, now and for the rest of our lives.

Paz y Bien,

Father Ed, ofm

Image: Sermon of the Beatitudes, by James J. J. Tissot: freechristimages.org