Daily Gospel Reflection
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September 9, 2020
Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”
The beatitudes from the Gospel of Luke really don’t hold back anything. They paint a stark portrait of life, suffering, and who is closest to God.
This is certainly a wake up call for those, like me, who have stable, well paying jobs, good housing, and plenty to eat. I should really count myself among those who have already received their “consolation.” No doubt, I stand firmly in the former camp of those who hear the “woe to you” message.
But, in a certain sense, we all experience the trials of life that Jesus addresses in this passage. We struggle financially, we mourn, and we are sometimes rejected even when we do the right thing. These experiences should not allow me to think that I am blessed in the sight of God in the same way as those who experience generational poverty, food insecurity, hunger, and systemic injustice. That would be disingenuous. But when I do experience these aspects of life, I often try to flee from them and return to my privileged state of comfort. What if I really reflected on these experiences and allowed them to draw me closer to God? When I mourn after the passing of a loved one, I could allow my sorrow to increase my reliance on God instead of rushing through the grieving process. When I struggle with finances, I could take that opportunity to give thanks for the good things that I have in my life. The anxiety of the struggle could prompt me to reflect on the experience of true poverty and motivate me to serve others in my community who are less fortunate.
I might not renounce all my possessions in an act of voluntary poverty, but I can change my perspective, inspired by this passage, and seek solidarity, justice, and support for those who God calls “blessed.”
Prayer
Loving God, Jesus formed His message in today’s Gospel around Your will and Your kingdom. May the poor, hungry, weeping, abused and those suffering from hate be held in compassion today. May all believers move beyond their fears and wants to be servants of love to those You honor as Your beloved. We ask this through Jesus, Our Brother and Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Peter Claver is known for tirelessly caring for victims of the slave trade.
He was born 1581 in Catalonia, Spain, and was a bright student. After graduating from university with honors, he followed a call to the priesthood, entered the Jesuit order, and was sent to care for people in the New World. He landed in Cartagena, Colombia, and was ordained a priest there in 1615.
When he arrived, the slave trade had been established for nearly 100 years; Cartagena was a port that received many slaves captured from Congo and Angola. The conditions under which slaves were transported to the New World were horrific—a third died on the voyage. In spite of all this, some 10,000 slaves entered the Americas through Cartagena every year.
Peter Claver attached himself to work with a priest who was caring for the physical and spiritual needs of those enslaved. Though Peter was shy and introverted, he was methodical and organized and he gathered people to help him meet slave ships when they arrived in port.
When the enslaved disembarked, they were herded into a confined space for sorting. They had spent weeks locked in the ship’s hold and suffered greatly from inhuman treatment and the easy spread of illness. Peter and his band of helpers would carry medicine, food, bread, lemons, tobacco, and anything else they could get their hands on to be of aid.
“We must speak to them with our hands, before we try to speak to them with our lips,” Peter Claver said. He called himself the “slave of the slaves forever.”
He found interpreters who knew different African native languages and dialects and taught the enslaved about the Christian faith and the love of God. He tried to restore in them a sense of their human dignity, even though they had been degraded by their captors. He visited plantations to advocate for better conditions and even worked for the conversion of the slave owners. He served some 300,000 slaves in 40 years of service.
Peter Claver also would visit hospitals in Cartagena to care for the sick and poor there, and paid special attention to the imprisoned. It is said that no one faced the death penalty in Cartagena without Peter Claver present to give him consolation.
He was a sought-after confessor and would sometimes spend 15 hours a day hearing confessions. He would travel through the countryside to preach missions at parishes but would make a point of staying in the slaves’ quarters, not in the comfortable plantation homes. He preached in town squares, and his words were accompanied by the gifts of miracles and prophecy.
In 1650 he fell ill with a plague that was ravaging the region. He barely survived and spent the last few years of his life in pain. Trembling shook his body so much that he often could not even celebrate Mass. He was confined to his room and was often neglected or forgotten in the confusion of the crisis of the epidemic.
He died on this date in 1654, and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. The image of liberated chains stands as a symbol for St. Peter Claver on the Eck Hall of Law. He is the patron saint of African-Americans and those who work for interracial justice.
St. Peter Claver, patron saint of African-Americans, you cared for slaves as they arrived from Africa—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Peter Claver is available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Last accessed April 3, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
