Lk. 6: 17, 20-26
“Sharing is caring.” One of the prominent principles of the Marxist ideology is that of ‘halves and halve notes.’ This principle invites us to reflect upon the alienation that the labourers face in their day to day life. The labourers are deprived of their rights by the producers; as a result the labourers are loaded with the burden of economic poverty. Marx proposes a way out from this yoke of slavery by fighting against producers through the revolutionary means until we establish a social and economic equality in our society. We need to appreciate Marx’s compassion for the working class and we owe him a great deal for the rights that the labourers enjoy today. However, the ideals that Marxism proclaimed would not be put into practice due to its inadequate ideology that proposes: ‘end justifies the means.’
In today’s gospel Jesus speaks about this perennial problem of the humanity, the problem of poverty. However, the teachings of Christ lead us to a broader perspective. At the very outset, we may think that Christ glorifies poverty, hunger, hatred etc. by giving us hope for the other world. Instead, he states the reasons for this inequality and calls us for a prompt action by disturbing our conscience. The means that Christ shows us is the path of love and sharing. It is a solution that appears to be foolish always. It is novel because it involves a total surrender to God. Today’s first reading presents to us the view of Jeremiah on this regard. He says: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.” It is this assurance that makes a poor person blessed; it is this care that empowers a person to meet the challenges of poverty with hope. It is this comforting presence that mends the broken hearts. It is this inner strength that gives strength for a person to remain as a witness for Christ.
St. James in his letter exhorts us that ‘faith without good works is dead.’ The witness that you and me are called to live, demands this faith working in action. We may not be able to bring drastic changes in our society but if we can be the hands of Christ that recognize the hunger, poverty, brokenness and pain of our brethren around us, then we are living the spirituality of these beatitudes. Let us live Christ…