Homily — 4th Sunday Of Ordinary Time
St. Anthony of Padua Church and Furman University
Sun, January 30, 2011 — 8, 10, 12 Noon & 6:30 PM
May our Lord Jesus give us His peace.Buy HP, Boast gladly, blessed are thee.
Buy HP. No not Hewlette Packard, though they may be good. HP here stands for humble people. The Prophet Zephania speaks for God, "I will leave in your midst a humble, a lowly people. " Seek humility and justice. God's justice is that all will be made one. Does my race to the top, my ranking people, my quest to be ahead, make me outside of God's people? Yes. So buy HP. We allow ourselves to be shaped by the wise and the humble around us. Any wise person will say, "The more I know, the more I realize what I don't know. "
So we are encouraged by the Prophet to guard our zeal against a potential we have to consider ourselves above others, or that they are second class. We buy into humility and acknowledge that God is at work in it all.
Boast gladly. Paul says that generally speaking, we are not wise, of noble birth or powerful. Well, what are we going to boast about then? Huh? The weak, the foolish and the lowly boast of Jesus. The poor do it easily, we might not mention His Name so as not to offend. How awful. Instead, the weak are chosen by God to shame the strong. The lowly, to bring down the lofty. The foolish to shame the wise. They all boast gladly that it has little to do with them. And it has little to do with them.
It has to do with JESUS. He is righteousness, He is the sanctifier, He is the redeemer. Through Him, with Him, In Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all boasting, all glory and all honor is HIS. So boast gladly. Jesus is in the house. Jesus is on the job. Jesus is calling. So we follow.
Blessed are thee. 9 times we hear the word "blessed" in Matthew's version of Jesus' sermon on the mount. The following is a list of all that is blessed; the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the hungry for justice, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, and thee.
I got to thinking what is the religgy language saying? I chose other words. Blessed are the humble, the sad about separation, the slow to anger, those zealous for justice, the confident healers, those who exclude vengeance, the reconcilers, the protectors, and the patient.
There, 9 positive do's. They can be found stuffed in your bulletin. If you are at work or school or home, you can look at your list and be blessed. Just a little practice, and you'll be too blessed to be stressed.
Oh yes, by HP instead of "big me. " Oh yes, boast in Him, thank God! Isn't God good? He's an on-time God. And blessed are thee. That's you. When you find a good list, buy everything on it. Instead of a sermon on the mount, it's a sermon you can count!
—
Fr. Patrick Tuttle, OFM