Beatitutdes

I am "gone" on "study week" this week. The idea is each year a priest gets two weeks to dedicate to study to be renewed and better able to provide pastoral care. In reality I am not sure how many do it. Most probably feel the pressure from the folks not to ("wow, Father, I wish I got a week to just read, where do I sign up?"), while some probably are not motivated. I try to take the time. Each year has been spent writing notes for my Bible study since I got her in '01. This year, after several years in the OT, I am doing the Gospel Parallels. Spending all day with Jesus and His words is amazing. Of course, the worries about getting as much done as I can (I am on page 23 of 190 and average almost two typed pages of notes per page of Biblical text) and trying to relay info means that I am not exactly pondering and meditating, savoring each text. That is a dilemma. Bible study can get in the way of Bible studying. Even so, there was something afoot in my soul last night that was absent the night before. I call it an echoing awareness.

Most of the day I worked on Beatitudes. Matthew and Luke have taken the information and done different things with it. Scholars debate what the shared source actually said and which of the two made the adjustments. Reading side-by-side, over and over, one does see that an editorial hand was at work in the Gospels. Briefly, Matthew has eight (plus one which expands on persecution) which speak of generic types of people: the poor in spirit, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, etc. Luke has direct address and only three. He says blessed are you who hunger now, you that weep now, you that are persecuted. However, he then includes three 'woes' to you who are rich, full and well-spoken of.

Luke is more concrete, at first reading, while Matthew seems to spiritualize, eg. poor vs poor in spirit. However, as one digs deeper (after all that is why I am paid so handsomely, to do the digging and bring back the nuggets) the differences melt away. Both sets point to an attitude of faithful dependence on God. Each says, "Focus on Him!" I used to worry about the dividing line. When are you poor and when are you rich. Obviously, in our culture the word 'poverty' describes a much different life experience than it does in India. And God certainly does not want us to focus on meeting some loweer income level to technically be part of "the poor."

Jesus' words were spoken, I assume, many times in many different settings. I assume in all His travels He had a certain set of things which He wanted to communicate. A solid background in Torah and familiarity with the Prophets (the books of Joshua through Nehemiah plus the collection which we refer to as prophets) would be the needed foundation for encountering Jesus' teaching. Much of what we find in the Beatitudes we also find there. Probably, Jesus was preaching and teaching on OT verses when He said what He said.

I have so much to share about my encounter with His words yesterday, but that would mean spending all day blogging. Instead, a reminder. God can be remembered or forgotten at each moment of our life. We can decide to live consciously out of our faith, or we can drift into another mind and live oblivious to His call. The values which He offer runs counter to our natural inclinations and the (faux)values of our culture. There is little which draws us to the radical mindset which Jesus calls us to. The teaching is there and we are all invited to search it and know it.  Receiving the grace of His life and love is hard work. But Jesus calls. He calls you and me. He calls and He calls. Pick up your Bible today and read.