Zeph 2:3,3:12-13; Psalm 145(146): 7-10; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12
About 630 BC Zephaniah strongly denounced the idolatry that had developed during the reign of Josiah. He prophesied “A day of wrath, … a day of darkness and gloom” – from which we have our hymn Dies Irae. But God would leave a remnant of humble and lowly people – from whom tradition believes Jesus’ and John the Baptist’s parents came, and also Simeon and Anna.The Psalm, echoed by Mary in Luke’s Magnificat, confirms that God’s justice will prevail: the hungry will be fed, the blind given sight, but the wicked will lose out.
Continuing his letter to the Corinthians, Paul reminds them “the world did not know God through wisdom”. God has made us members of Christ, who has become our wisdom. God’s plan works in ways that seem foolish and weak to us. We have nothing to boast about except the Lord.
About forty years after Jesus died, Matthew followed Mark in writing a gospel, which he arranged as five collections of sayings by Jesus, alternating with five collections describing what Jesus did. The first collection of sayings, the Sermon on the Mount, starts with the Beatitudes, which we hear today. Over the remaining Sundays before Lent we hear the rest of this Sermon, in which Jesus develops the Commandments given to Moses into positive ways of living. Although much of the promised happiness of the kingdom of God is in the future, it does extend to the present time in anticipation.
(Zeph 2:3,3:12-13; Psalm 145(146): 7-10; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12)