June 7, 2010
Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:3-12
Piety
“Blessed” by Paul Simon
(Performed by Simon and Garfunkel on the album Sounds of Silence)
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit.
Blessed is the lamb whose blood flows.
Blessed are the sat upon, Spat upon, Ratted on,
O Lord, Why have you forsaken me?
I got no place to go,
I've walked around Soho for the last night or so.
Ah, but it doesn't matter, no.
Blessed is the land and the kingdom.
Blessed is the man whose soul belongs to.
Blessed are the meth drinkers, Pot sellers, Illusion dwellers.
O Lord, Why have you forsaken me?
My words trickle down, like a wound
That I have no intention to heal.
Blessed are the stained glass, window pane glass.
Blessed is the church service makes me nervous
Blessed are the penny rookers, Cheap hookers, Groovy lookers.
O Lord, Why have you forsaken me?
I have tended my own garden
Much too long.
Study
Last weekend, I watched a recent PBS broadcast on the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, the great architect. After a turbulent childhood and adulthood, Wright settled down by the time he had married his fourth wife in his mid-fifties, and then began the most prolific part of his career. About the time our thoughts turn to beefing up our IRA and 401K for retirement, Wright was embarking on the construction and completion of his greatest iconic designs at Fallingwater (1935), Bear Run, Ohiopyle, PA; S. C. Johnson Administration Building (1936), Racine, WI; and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1956), New York.
He died in 1959 just shy of the completion of the Guggenheim. At his funeral, his favorite quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Self-Reliance was read: “Whoso would be a man, must be a non-conformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”
If Emerson (and by extension Wright) encountered today’s Gospel on the beatitudes, would they have been dismissive of the theme that “our help is from the Lord?” Would they opt for the more individualistic focus on from where our assistance comes? Like the New England warden portrayed in The Shawshank Redemption, would they agree that “Salvation comes from within?” Can we reconcile these “to-thine-own-self-be-true” attitudes with the issues raised by Jesus today?
I think we can when we recognize that our selves and our natures come from God. If we think we are apart from the world and disconnected from it on some Planet Self, then perhaps there can be no reconciliation. After all, the Prodigal Son was considering himself to be quite self-reliant when he asked for his inheritance and left the family homestead. However, our formerly self-reliant brother realized he could not cut himself off from his father and family and turned his life around and returned home.
Changing the direction in which we seek happiness is not just a biblical theme but also seems to be one in which Wright recognized. In our iconic architect, there also was a strong thread of religion because he also designed many churches and temples. The Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois was constructed in 1905 and is said to be one of Wright’s favorite projects.
You enter the Unity Temple “for the worship of God and the service of Man” from outside the west entrance. To get to the main worship center, you have to go through a series of sharp, right angle turns through dark passageways before you emerge into the main area. You have to change the direction in which you are pursuing life. These seem to be to be acknowledgement that we have to turn away from the dark forces that propel us to selfish pursuits in order to emerge on the other side, like our prodigal sibling, in the light of God. (For an online tour of the temple, go here http://www.oprf.com/unity/tour/index.html.)
Action
Instead of spending too much time tending our own garden, we must tend to the garden that benefits all people. When self-reliance merges with faith and service, whose footsteps are we following but that of history’s most significant nonconformist but Jesus Christ himself?
Whether in the words of sacred scripture, the works of Emerson, the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright or the poetic lyrics of Paul Simon, we must recognized what is blessed in life and turn away from selfish ways. This compels the Christian to action and service. When we look above, our eyes and neck can not remain in that posture forever. Eventually we have to bring our head and eyes back down and look around at the plight of others and how we can improve that.
After all, these beatitudes seem to be describing the actions called for by a nonconformist who by her or his very nature is going against the grain of mainstream society.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The anawim (the poor, the widows and the orphans) did not possess much earthly wealth or property. Their salvation was not coming in some economic prosperity on earth but in the spiritual prosperity with the Lord.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Those who mourn are recognizing that their sadness is based on the loss of someone they love who extends beyond the self. If I mourn, then I am, as the poet John Donne recognizes, a "part of all that I have met."
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. The land was only inherited by the oldest son of a family. This again implies turning (or overturning) the existing social order.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. The population was seeking a Savior who would deliver it with vengeance from the domination of the belligerent Roman army. Instead, Jesus blessed those who seek and share in the perfection of merciful love of others.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied… Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If the world persecutes those who pursue righteousness, then the pursuits of the world must be focused on the opposite – on evil, wickedness, inequity or malice (other words for sin).
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me. How much more directly can Jesus portray the effects of nonconformity and foretell his own passion than by directly stating that the world will reject those who follow Him?
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Jesus leaves them and us with the final thought that this faith is handed down by a long line of nonconformists throughout biblical history.
Go out today and be countercultural!
