Blessings, woes, and the Super Bowl: Sunday reflection

Cosimo Rosselli / Wikimedia Commons.

This morning’s Gospel reading is Luke 6:17, 20–26:

Jesus came down with the Twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

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Today, the entire nation comes together to celebrate a cultural event so profound that it will engage nearly everyone with any access to it. Is it the Mass? We wish. No, of course I’m talking about the Super Bowl, the NFL championship game that almost takes a back seat to the Super Bowl of advertising that will engage more people than the game itself.

And hey, I’ve sat through almost every Super Bowl that’s been played. More than a few times, the ads were the only real competition the entire day. I mean I sat through the entire Super Bowl XXIV, when Joe Montana and the 49ers made John Elway and the Broncos look like a farm team in a 55-10 beatdown. You’d better believe the ads were all that were worth watching that day — and I hate TV ads.

Is there anything wrong with enjoying a few ads that interrupt a football game, or vice versa? Not in and of themselves, no. If it brings you some joy and fellowship without interfering with your love of the Lord, then enjoy away. So for instance, today my wife and I will spend the evening watching the Super Bowl with new friends in our new parish here in central Texas. These are very kind people who enthusiastically welcomed us into their circle of friends. For them, the game and the pageantry is both enjoyable on its own merits as well as a way to strengthen bonds within the parish and community. It’s a pot luck, but as anyone knows who’s hosted these events, it takes considerable time, effort, and expense as a sacrifice for these kinds of parties. They are indifferent to that because they are prioritizing hospitality, welcoming of new members to the community, and fellowship. I’d say their priorities are in fine order.

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Ignatius spoke about the need for spiritual indifference in formation, a grace that allows us to prioritize salvation above our worldly needs and/or desires. It is not a pathway to apathy or acedia, but instead a manner of setting priorities in our lives. Life is all about setting priorities, after all. The priorities we set reflect the values we hold in our hearts.

Sometimes, as Robert Doud writes at the link above, it’s not even the priorities themselves that matter as much as the reason why we set them. In one example, a mother chooses to play a game with her child rather than watch a favorite TV program or socialize with her friends. If she’s choosing the child because she loves him and prioritizes forming him, that’s a form of spiritual indifference to more worldly matters. If, on the other hand she’s choosing to play the game because she can beat the son at it (a hypothetical not given by Doud, I should note), then her priorities are way off the mark and her indifference is directed to her son and his formation. What truly matters is what takes place in our hearts; the actions we take are reflections of the choices made between our intellect and will, and those reflect our commitment to either the Lord or the material world.

With that in mind, let’s spend the last quarter (sorry!) on the Gospel reading itself. In Luke’s representation of the Beatitudes and Woes, Jesus lifts up the poor while warning the rich and celebrated of the danger in which they find themselves. This is a sermon aimed at reorienting everyone’s priorities to that of equal status before the Lord. Laughter is not evil, nor is abundance on its own. Indeed, Jesus often told stories that would have amused his audiences, and also provided abundance when needed (such as the wedding feast at Cana, when poverty wasn’t the explicit issue at hand).

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In this sermon, Jesus praises those who keep their faith in the Lord and orient their choices in that manner. This teaching is about our priorities and why we choose them. Do we put our abundance to work to lift up others and to bring the light of the Lord into their lives? Or do we hoard more than we help, because we do not trust the Lord? If we turn away the truly needy out of fear of our own loss of economic power — or even worse, because we prioritize buying new and shiny objects rather than helping others to survive — we fall short of the glory of God.

That is sin, and sin abounds, but avoiding sin doesn’t mean digging a hole and climbing into it. You don’t have to watch the Super Bowl to get tempted into meaningless consumerism, after all, but getting some entertainment from clever Super Bowl ads isn’t the same thing as meaningless consumerism. If you watch the ads and appreciate the talent and art but remain spiritually indifferent to their consumerist pressure, you have taken a step in the right direction. If you enjoy the game while putting community and hospitality first, then those are choices which put us on goal line of salvation (sorry again!).

We feel blessed to have found a community that has welcomed us, and we are looking forward to the event — not for the game, but for the fellowship. May all our readers have an enjoyable time today whatever they choose to do, and may we all meet in the Great After-Game Party that awaits us.

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The front page image is a detail from “Sermon on the Mount” by Cosimo Roselli, 1481-2. Fresco in the Sistine Chapel. Via Wikimedia Commons

“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature, looking at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.  For previous Green Room entries, click here.

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