Wednesday of Week 23 in Ordinary Time
Col 3:1-11
Lk 6:20-26
Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth…
The verse above is taken from Colossians. It is a good reminder to us all and ties in very nicely to the Gospel of today.
In the First Reading, it tells us that we should keep our sights on heavenly things, because we have a new life in Christ; therefore, we must ‘kill’ or give up on all things in us that belongs to the world. We need to get rid of all the undesired traits like pride, greed, anger, etc. from our lives and replace them with traits more in the image of our Creator. But more than that, this reading also points out the old behaviour before our renewal, and the way we used to live, surrounded by people who do the same thing, which is displeasing to the Lord. After knowing what not to do, perhaps we can look into how to behave.
The Gospel of Luke today lists the four Beatitudes with its corresponding woes (as to the Gospel of Matthew that lists eight Beatitudes). These are ‘attitudes to be’, if you will. They are the teaching of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount, and it ties in so very nicely to the First Reading.
The Beatitudes in Luke’s Gospel are telling us to let go of greed and pride. These vices can become false gods to us if we get trapped into that lie. Sure, we can say that we are neither greedy nor prideful. Let’s be really honest with ourselves, these can creep up on us without us becoming aware of their proximity until they are upon us.
Let’s define greed. It is a much broader term than we think. It is an inordinate attachment to worldly things such as money, people, places, and things (yes, food is included). The key word is inordinate, or excessive. There is a lot of misunderstanding in thinking that Catholics are prudish and puritanical. That is untrue, if you read in the Old Testament — people sang, danced, drank and made merry. The key word is that the joys of enjoying such things do not exceed the need for God, nor replace the need for God. If we replace God with material objects, they become idols, and we become idolators. In our lives as Christians, God is irreplaceable.
The next thing is pride. Pride is not just thinking that we are better than others, be it a better Christian, or knowing better…you get the idea. Pride is saying that we can affect our outcome all on our own, that we do not need God. Pride is denying a Creator and creature relationship. It is true that God gave us free will and we can choose, but we can not change a single thing if God did not allow it. We would cease to exist if God did not hold us in the palm of His hand. Take for instance, a parent and a young child baking a cake together — it is the parent who does most of the heavy lifting, the child may participate and help in little ways. It would be false for the child to claim that they made the cake all on their own. Likewise, it is incorrect to think that we can fully control our lives, that we do not need our God.
The Beatitudes are golden rules to live by, and reinforce the need to keep our eyes and minds on the things of God, to become more like the image of God. Then, and only then, will we be able to join our Lord in Heaven.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Winnie Kung)
Prayer: My saving Lord, please help me to keep my eyes on You only, follow You closely and have faith in Your love completely.
Thanksgiving: Heavenly Father, we thank you for loving us and giving us Jesus as a guiding light in this journey of life.
OXYGEN 
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