The Lasting Things of God
A Gospel reflection by Fr. Jim McDougall, St. Francis Parish, Ann Arbor

Lent begins soon. Wednesday February 25th is Ash Wednesday. I encourage you to make it a great Lent -- a time of opening a larger space in your life for God.

+ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

When Jesus came down the mountain, He stopped at a level stretch where there were many of His disciples; a large crowd of people was with them from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. Then, raising His eyes to his disciples, He said: "Blest are you poor; the reign of God is yours. Blest are you who hunger; filled you shall be. Blest are you who are weeping; you shall laugh. "Blest shall you be when men hate you, when they ostracize you and insult you and proscribe your name as evil because of the Son of Man. On the day they do so, rejoice and exult, for your reward shall be great in heaven. Thus it was that their fathers treated the prophets. But woe to you rich, for your consolation is now. Woe to you who are full; you shall go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now; you shall weep in your grief. Woe to you when all speak well of you. Their fathers treated the false prophets in just this way."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Two old friends are catching up over drinks at a sidewalk café. "How is it that you haven't yet married?" one friend asks.

"To be perfectly honest," the second friend begins " I must tell you that I have spent years looking for the perfect woman. In Barcelona, I met a very beautiful and extremely intelligent woman and, for a brief time, I thought I had found the ideal spouse. But soon I discovered that she was terribly vain and conceited.

"Then, in Boston, I met a woman who was outgoing and generous. Here is the perfect woman, I thought, But soon I discovered that she was flighty and irresponsible.

"I had just about given up on ever meeting the perfect woman until, one day in Montreal, I met her. She was incredible! She as beautiful, intelligent, kind, generous and had a wonderful sense of humor. She was perfect."

"So, why didn't you marry her?" his friend asked.

Fingering his glass, the man replied quietly, "Because she was looking for the perfect man."

In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus challenges everything that our me-first, consumer oriented, market-driven, bottom-line-centered society holds dear. Humility, selflessness and compassion -- not wealth and power -- are the treasures of the reign of God. This Gospel challenges us to embrace a new vision, a new attitude in the way we live our lives: to seek the common good before our own good, to bring compassion and forgiveness to others despite our own anger and humiliation, to free ourselves from the pursuit of the things of this world in order to seek the lasting things of God.