Jesus said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for the kingdom of God is yours.
…
But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
6th SUN ORDINARY TIME Cycle C
The Jews of the past both blessed and cursed. In fact, they blessed with the right hand and cursed with the left hand.
Our elders bless us too whenever we take their hands (either left or right it does not matter) in the customary “mano po”. In fact anyone can bless, not only priests, after all blessing is just a prayer.
We are familiar with the Matthew’s sermon on the mount where Jesus gave eight beatitudes to five thousand before feeding them from five loaves and two fish.
As an alternative today we hear a different version of Luke’s sermon on the plain. Jesus went down with the apostles to a level ground and instead gave four blessings and four curses.
We might be surprised to hear Jesus cursing. But that is what Jeremiah tells the people in the first reading. “Thus says the Lord: Curse is the one who trusts in men. Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.”
Obviously whether God blesses or curses us does not depend on Him but rather on us. Whatever happens to us in life is only the consequence of the choices we make. Listen well to the beatitudes. Why is man blessed? It is because he chose to trust God. Why is man cursed? It is because his choice was to believe instead his wealth and the people around.