“The greatest artists and thinkers are the simplifiers”

Perfection is attained, not when no more can be added, but when no more can be removed.

Antoine de Saint Exupéry

(Gospel Text: LK 6:20-26)

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."

For centuries, many people have admired the Beatitudes. This doesn't mean that they try to live them, but you don't find many people bad-mouthing the Beatitudes. However, Luke's Beatitudes are extra-hard to take. They could even surface a negative attitude and elicit a less than polite reaction.

Luke's Beatitudes are not addressed to "them" but to "you."

He has four Beatitudes instead of eight noted in St Matthew’s gospel, and then he gives four woes to drive home the radical, prophetic challenge of his four Beatitudes. Luke is "in the face" of the rich, the full, the laughing, and the popular (Lk 6:24-26). Tell someone who's laughing that they are going to weep (Lk 6:25). Announce to someone who's reveling in their popularity that they are similar to the false prophets of old (Lk 6:26). If Luke's Beatitudes don't make us hot or cold toward Jesus (see Rv 3:16), we must be spiritually asleep or dead (see Rv 3:1).

Sometimes a bad attitude towards the Beatitudes is better than a polite dismissal of them. The cold have a better chance of becoming hot than do the lukewarm. Live the Beatitudes or, if you insist, strongly reject them, but please don't give them lip-service (see Mt 15:8).