Daily Gospel Reflection
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September 11, 2024
Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for the Kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil
on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets
in the same way.
But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for their ancestors treated the false
prophets in this way.”
The Beatitudes represent one of the most widely known passages in the Bible and are often pointed to as the basis for much of Catholic social teaching. As in the Parable of the Sheep and Goats (Mt 25:31-46), here in Luke’s Gospel, the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable is clearly established as a requisite for good Christian living.
Those who are impoverished, who are hungry, who are sorrowful, who are persecuted, these are the people whom we are called to treat with dignity and respect, and to alleviate their burdens as much as we possibly can. And those who are hurting in these ways demand our attention and care now, today.
Just because their “reward will be great in heaven” in the future does not mean that the less fortunate are to go without any reward on this earth here and now. Christ even tells a parable about the poor man Lazarus on the doorstep of the rich man to remind us of our responsibilities to our brothers and sisters during our Earthly lives.
It is up to us as good and faithful believers to care for those who have been cast aside, the downtrodden and destitute, in any way we can. And when we do so, this passage tells us, such direct service to the poor and vulnerable will be met with rejoicing by those in need, by those who provide, and indeed by the Lord.
And so, as we mark this day of national remembrance and mourning in the United States, let us begin right away to contribute to the rejoicing that a preferential option for the poor, vulnerable, and mourning requires—with joy in our hearts and minds as we work to create a more just world.
Prayer
Loving God, you sent your Son as your gift of peace to the world, and he remains in our hearts the peace that the world cannot give. As we remember and grieve the tragedies of September 11th, 2001, fill us with your Spirit so that we might bring your peace to a world in strife. Raise up in our memory our beloved departed who now rest in your embrace. Bless and shield from harm all those who serve and protect us. Give us the courage to pursue justice for all, and remind us that your harvest of righteousness is sown in peace. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. John Gabriel Perboyre would never have considered becoming a priest until he accompanied a younger brother to the seminary and decided to stay, himself.
He was born to faithful farming parents in 1802, in the shadow of the French Revolution and its devastation of the Church. Five of the family’s eight children eventually entered religious life.
As an adolescent, John displayed no extraordinary signs of holiness, but that changed when, in 1816, his parents asked him to accompany his younger brother, Louis, to a seminary founded by their uncle that formed Vincentians, priests who followed the example of St. Vincent de Paul. His parents wanted John to make sure Louis settled in and acclimated to the new life; John discovered that the new life spoke to him as well, and he joined his brother as a seminarian.
John proved to be a bright student, and was promoted to positions of responsibility within his order after he was ordained in 1825. He had a clear desire to serve in the foreign missions, especially China, where Christians were suffering and encouraging the faith. But the Vincentians in France needed him, and he was in poor health, so his requests were denied.
Louis was chosen for the missions in China, but died during his voyage there. John immediately asked to take his place, and received permission to go. He arrived in Macao in 1835 to study the Chinese language, and proceeded to Ho-Nan and Hubei regions to serve the poor there. He helped his order rescue and care for abandoned children—he taught them through stories he told in his broken Chinese.
In 1839, the provincial governor instituted a violent persecution of Christian priests and catechists, and the missionaries in Hubei went into hiding. John was betrayed, arrested, and questioned—authorities wanted him to trample a crucifix and reveal where the other missionaries were hiding. He refused and was tortured horribly, being branded on the face and cut deeply to his bones. On this date in 1840, after a year of captivity and torture, he was strangled on a cross with seven other common criminals.
As a result of his martyrdom, the British government negotiated a clause in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking that required any apprehended missionary to be handed over to the custody of his nation’s diplomatic representatives. John was canonized a saint in 1996.
St. John Gabriel Perboyre, you followed your passion to spread the Gospel and died with faith—pray for us!