We are struggling in a world that seems bleak and dark.

Homily for 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

29th January 2023

Zephaniah 2:3,3:12-13

Psalm  145(146):6-10

1 Corinthians  1:26-31

Matthew 5:1-12a

The theme this week in the readings is about who our God's chosen. Many of us listening to the readings will probably say that we are poor in spirit. We are struggling in a world that seems bleak and dark. But Jesus said to those gathered around him, How happy are the poor of spirit? For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

I was born in 1962, and those of you who remember your history well know on the 13th of October 1962, everybody was in a state of fear due to the Cuban Missile Crisis. A U-2 spy plane had flown over Cuba, taking photographs showing the Soviets were building nuclear missiles on the island. The US President, John F Kennedy placed a naval blockade around Cuba and demanded any missiles on the island to be removed.

It was quite tense as the planet waited to see how Nikita Khrushchev would respond. Negotiations went on and secretly the Americans agreed to remove missiles they had in Turkey, and Khrushchev had the Cuban missiles removed. But this was the beginning of the nuclear arms race. That was scary. I remember parents were worried about bringing children up into a world like this.

The population of the planet in 1962 was 3.1 billion. Today, there are over 8 billion people living on this planet. You may be surprised to know, according to the United Nations projections, the peak of human population will reach 10.34 billion people by 2086, and then the numbers will start to decline. If I reach that point, I will be 126 years old and would be four years older than Jean Clement, who was 122 when she died in 1997.

The eldest person on record. However, being a man, the odds are against me living anywhere near that. But you can dream. In our world, it seems to be all about the numbers. Who has the most can influence what happens. At least that is worldly thinking. How many billionaires do you think there are in the world? According to Forbes, last year, there was just 2668.

That is around just 0.00003% of the current global population. Currently, they own $12.7 trillion. That is 12 with 18 zeroes after it. In 2021, the world gross domestic product was $96.1 trillion, of which the United States GDP was $19.5 trillion and China's was $12.2 trillion. So the richest people on the planet own more than China can produce in a year.

Wow. Amazing. Yes. In the eyes of the world. However simple asks how many of us, when we were called by God, were influences or came from noble families? And he would expect us to say none. Those who consider themselves to be wise using human reckoning are not the ones God is looking for. They have their price from God's perspective.

This small group of people have nothing to boast about. The ones that God has chosen to be made members of Christ Jesus. Are you. God has made Jesus our wisdom, our virtue, our holiness and our freedom. Zephaniah tells us to seek the Lord. All of us who are humble on Earth, who obey God's commands, to be honest, to have strong moral principles and see ourselves as being less important.

Because those God finds to be this way will find shelter on the day the Lord is angry. Last Friday was Holocaust Memorial Day 2023, and the theme was Ordinary People. What was being highlighted was that ordinary people turned a blind eye and believe the propaganda and facilitated other ordinary people being murdered by influential regimes that have at various times dominated not only the Nazis in the 20th century, but places such as Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and even today in Ukraine, the Middle East and other hotspots throughout the Bible.

There are many similar stories where when the Israelites followed their own path and turned from God, similar atrocities occurred. Those who stood up against the perpetrators were often in prison or lost their lives. The same as Paul Saint Peter and Saint Stephen. It is not hard to look about the world we live in from a Christian perspective to see how harsh things appear and why God might be angry.

The influences encourage us to think only of ourselves, but God wants us to think of others and how we can help as ordinary people. We can take extraordinary actions by being honest, merciful, to challenge abuses and perpetrators. We can be kind to others and help seek justice and satisfaction for those who are less able. We should not judge, especially when we do not have the whole picture.

We all need help at some point or other. Those of us who are faithful in confessing Christ Jesus as our Lord are often ridiculed, abused and persecuted for having such faith. But Jesus tells us to be happy and to rejoice because we will be given a great reward in heaven.