Blessed are you… woe to you

Two contradictory statements from Christ in today’s Gospel reading (Lk. 6: 17, 20-26). He was apparently addressing two groups of people: His converted disciples, and the much bigger crowd of non-disciples. The smaller group were committed to follow His way of life, and he called them "blessed." They were the poor — either actually poor or poor in spirit (cf. Mt. 5: 3). Those who were hungry for God’s ways, those who would suffer for the love of God, and would be hated and persecuted for following Christ.

But the much bigger crowd of non-disciples were there with self-serving motives. Some were there simply out of personal curiosity. Others were there to be healed from their illnesses — and after that, go back home to their old, unconverted ways. Many were disciples, not of Christ, but of their wealth, power, and ego.

At a much later time, one historical figure who experienced both of the above was St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was originally a vain, worldly captain of the Spanish army. He went through a life worshipping power, wealth, honor, and self. Until he was seriously wounded in a battle. During his period of convalescence, he went through a spiritual conversion that changed the rest of his life. From then on, God became the only absolute in his life. Everything else was relative. As an Ignatian disciple said in more recent times: Everything is precious because it comes from God. But everything is relative, precisely because everything is precious only in relation to God.

It is to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius that we owe the prayer-meditation on "The Two Standards" — the Standard of Christ, and the Standard of the Antichrist, as linked to today’s Gospel reading and Ignatius’ own life-experiences.

Let us start with the Standard of the Antichrist or Satan, since after all, we are more familiar with this, especially in today’s increasingly Godless culture. Satan attracts and mobilizes innumerable disciples and sends them to all parts of the world, so that no nation, no culture, no state of life is overlooked. He then sends his followers to trap us — in three, progressive ways. Nearly always the first step is to seduce us to an inordinate love for money and what money can buy. This Satanic love of money is insatiable. One never has enough. The more one has, the more one wants. And this can happen to individuals, families, communities, nations.

Ignatius continues: "After that, they can be rather easily led on to ambitioning, in the spirit of the new paganism, some form of control in positions of power, prestige, influence, command, or prolonged tenure of the same, and so on into the final depths of arrogant and disdainful self-centeredness." Such is the triple temptation of the Antichrist: money, power, and arrogance.

Against all this is the Standard of Christ, centered on the love for God and neighbor. Christ’s triple counter-strategy is as powerfully relevant today as in Ignatius’ time. The initial counter-strategy is poverty — actual or spiritual. Even a materially wealthy man, if committed to this value, considers himself as God’s steward, and not an owner of his own resources. He thus discerns God’s will as to how he will use his riches. His "disponibility" before God.

This leads him to an utter readiness for insults and contempt for the sake of God’s "kingdom," ultimately leading him to humility, which is the very opposite of Satanic arrogance.

Take this man who runs a medium-sized business. He sells one of his two cars so that he could start a self-help program for his employees. A friend tells him what a stupid move this was. "Blessed are you…"

A very wealthy factory owner is looked up to by his friends as a man of stature and prestige. He hires casual workers and changes them every six months so he could give them just the absolute minimum wage that is simply inadequate for a family living wage. A friend tells him that what he is doing is unfair labor practice. "On the contrary," he arrogantly retorts, "In fact, I give a chance to different shifts of workers who would otherwise be unemployed." "Woe to you…"