09-09-2026, Wednesday of Twenty Third Week in Ordinary Time
1 Cor 7: 25-31; Ps 45: 11-12, 14-17; Lk 6: 20-26
Μακάριοι/οὐαὶ (Gk) (Makarioi/Ouai) (Blessed/Woe) (Lk 6:20,24)
The Words to reflect today are from today’s Gospel passage according to Luke (6:20-26). The passage today is known as the opening of the Sermon on the Plain (Matthew’s beatitudes are part of the Sermon on the Mount) While Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount spiritualizes “poor in spirit,” “hunger and thirst for righteousness”, Luke addresses bodily, economic, and social reality. Jesus looks his disciples directly in the eye and announces a revolutionary inversion of the world’s order through four blessings and four paired woes.
Makarioi, often translated as “blessed” or “happy,” in Greco-Roman literature described the state of the gods—invulnerable, self-contained, and untroubled by mortal pain. Jesus’ usage, it is an eschatological blessing. It does not describe an emotion, but an objective divine blessing: “You are truly fortunate in God’s eyes.”
Ouai, translated as “woe,” is not a curse, but a cry of deep sorrow: “Alas for you,” or “What a heartbreak awaits you. It warns of imminent tragedy and disorientation: “Alas for you.”
The Four Beatitudes address “the poor”, “those who hunger”, “those who weep”, and “those who are hated, excluded and denounces”. They are promised the Kingdom of God, Satisfaction, Laughter and Joy.
The Four Woes address those who “are rich (blessed without lacking)”, “have their fill (insulated from any weakness or suffering)”, “laugh “, and “are spoken well off”. God’s kingdom flips our values upside down: the empty will be filled, and the self-sufficient will end up with nothing of lasting value.
Luke leaves no room for neutrality. He forces the question: What/Who do we treasure, the world, people or God? Whose applause are we waiting to hear?