A God's-Eye View
the sermon on the plain
Announcements for February 12, 2022:
This week Mr. Minson and I were guests on From the Kitchen Table, the podcast of Sean and Rachel Duffy, to talk about OLMC School and classical Catholic education. Check it out here.
Speaking of classical Catholic education, we have two opportunities to discover the OLMC educational difference. Join us and invite your family and friends:
Lumen Gentium Academy hosts and open house the evening of Thursday, February 17th.
OLMC School will hold a Light of the World tour the morning of Friday, February 18th.
Our Young Adult Group (ages 18-39) will meet the evening of Friday, February 18th. Send me a note for more information.
Visit the OLMC Parishioner Portal for all of our recent announcements.
If you need anything at all, please be in touch with me.
Dear Saints,
This weekend's Gospel passage presents Saint Luke's account of the Beatitudes.
In his address to the crowd, Jesus gives four blessings and four curses: Blessed are you who are poor, hungry, weeping, and hated; woe to you who are rich, filled, happy, and honored.
Isn't this totally backwards? I mean, how many of us feel blessed when we're down or on the outs?
There are at least two ways, I think, we can make sense of this. Let me try:
If the world is upside down (it is), then putting it right-side up (as Jesus is doing) likely means a reversal of fortunes. More to the point, if you have become rich, filled, happy, and honored by taking advantage of an upside-down world, then you will lose out when the world is put to rights.
When we make ourselves the center of our respective universes, we pursue beatitude (makarios = happiness/blessing) via money, pleasure, and power. This might mean short-term riches, satisfaction, and honor, but this happiness is fleeting and insecure. With God as the center of our hearts and lives we might find ourselves poor, hungry, and the rest, but we find ourselves truly happy nonetheless.
What does this mean for us? Simply, we must prioritize God and his mission. Check out our mission statement again to see whether or not we're living for God's purposes: In prayer and sacrament God enkindles our hearts that we might might bring the fire of his love to everyone we encounter.
God wants to love the world through us. This is our happiness, our beatitude: to commit to God in every practical way, to join him on mission with everything we've got.
I love you, my friends, and I look forward to seeing you very soon.
Christ's Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sermon on the Mount
Cosimo Rosselli, c.1481