Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Racial Justice Sunday

You may have heard of the Sermon on the Mount. Today we hear the

beginning of what is sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain, and that’s plain

as in a flat area of land, not an aeroplane. But with all that in mind, the Sermon

on the Plain can sometimes cause a bit of confusion, including if you live in

Thame.

Why Thame? Well, we’ve got “Blessed are you who are poor”

counterbalanced with “woe to you who are rich”. There are a few ways to

interpret this to get the fuller meaning.

The first is to look at the last beatitude: “Blessed are you when people hate

you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and spurn your name as evil

on account of the Son of Man!” It is through being faithful to the Lord that we

can encounter all sorts of persecution and marginalisation. An example in this

country would be those politicians who said they didn’t agree with the

redefinition of marriage back in 2013; in some other countries you can

experience even worse treatment just for being a Christian. In that way, you

can end up being poor, hungry and in tears. Meanwhile, if you’re a politician

who takes the opposite view, or if in other countries you deny Christ, then

people speak well of you, and you can be rich, dine on fine foods and laugh.

So that is one way in which the Sermon on the Plain works.

Another dimension to it is to look at it in a deeper, spiritual way. We are to be

poor in the sense of not depending on material goods for our happiness; we

know that our true happiness and fulfilment lie in God, not in things or money.

It also means that we are not attached to riches, in the sense of hoarding them

up and refusing to use them to help others. So the amount that we own is not

the issue, it’s whether our heart is dominated and ruled by them, or whether we

are free and generous with our money, time and talents to help those in need.

We could own almost nothing, but still be consumed by greed for riches; we

could be hypnotised by worldly things and think that they are the only things

that matter, even if we can’t afford them. That is not the kind of “poverty” that

the Lord wants. St Augustine said to those who prided themselves just for

being poor, that they had grabbed the wrong end of the stick. He put it this

way:

“Do not despise rich men who are merciful, who are humble: ... do not despise

poor rich men. ... Be truly poor, be devout, be humble. ... Abraham was a very

wealthy man when he was on earth: he had abundance of money, a large

family, flocks, land; yet that rich man was poor, because he was humble. ...

[As it says in the Scriptures:] ‘Abraham believed God and he was reckoned

righteous.’ ” (Sermons, 14)

We can also distil from these four beatitudes and woes general warnings against

vices and therefore the virtuous behaviour we should model instead. The woes

warn us against avarice and attachment to the things of the world; excessive

care of the body and gluttony; empty-headed joy and general self-indulgence;

flattery, and disordered desire for human glory. Instead, we are called to be

what is sometimes described as detached, rather than attached, to the things of

this world. We live in this world, we have to use the things of this world, but as

the saying goes, you can’t take it with you. To be detached from riches means

that we use them in moderation and, as God’s gift to us, we are happy to use

them for the service of God and neighbour.

Instead of excessive care of the body and gluttony, the good Christian also

thinks of the good of the soul, and makes good use of the sacraments, prayer

and the reading of Sacred Scripture. We can still enjoy food, but we avoid

wasting it, or spending to excess on it.

Empty-headed joy and self-indulgence: we are not called to be miserable. We

can enjoy ourselves. God’s creation is given to us as a gift. But pleasure is not

the be-all and end-all of life; we do not misuse our bodies; we use them for the

glory of God.

Lastly, flattery and disordered desire for human glory. We always have to be

on our guard. A priest once said to me that when he was a curate, his Parish

Priest noticed that, when things went well, he was really encouraged by it, but

if they went wrong, it really got him down. Pursuing what is good is different

to seeking praise. Sometimes we have to grit our teeth, knowing that it’s going

to be tough. Difficult decisions might have to be made. We can’t please

everyone.

The Sermon on the Plain: there’s a lot there to think about, and a real call to

conversion. Riches do not exclude us from the kingdom of God; but they do

mean we have additional responsibilities.

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk