Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Feb. 16, 2025 Yr. C     Dcn. Bill Kenney

Readings: Jeremiah 17:5–8 • 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16–20 • Luke 6:17, 20–26

          Great anticipation builds and crucial decision-making takes place before the Superbowl even begins;  of course, I’m talking about the ceremonial coin toss. The coin, identified by various symbols, markings or words is designated heads or tails.  With a fair coin, the chances of calling the toss correctly are 50/50. Statistics and strategy indicate that there’s an advantage to winning the coin toss, yet the game, with its many subsequent choices, must still play on.

     Throughout our lives we have daily coin toss choices to make, some are easy, almost automatic, such as, What time will I get up? What do I need to do to get myself ready for the day? Do I go to work or school or other activities today or not? Oftentimes, many of our choices are not so clear-cut, not as simple as a “coin toss”. Our choices are influenced by a number of factors: our upbringing, our values and morals, our faith, our roles and responsibilities and obligations to others in our lives, by our vocation, and by our ever-changing life circumstances and priorities.

     The coin may not always be “fair” either. For example, our coins can be weighted or biased on one side due to our needs verses wants, humility vs. pride, and charity vs. indifference.  Holiness verses sin is a choice we make every day and either one can be biased by our life-style, by the thoughts, words, and actions we choose to make. We may win the toss, due to our good or bad biases, but we must still play on and accept the associated consequences or opportunity costs.

     In our first Scripture reading, the prophet Jeremiah explains that we are either cursed or blessed based on our choice to follow and trust in the ways of man or in the ways of God. “Cursed” and “blessed” are strong, in-your-face words- two sides of the same coin. God gives US, his children, free-will to make our choices. The ways of the flesh are temporal and fleeting, vanishing all-for-nothing in the end. The ways of God are life-giving, fruitful, and have lasting hope. We make the call, cursed or blessed.

     In our second reading from 1st Corinthians St. Paul presents another coin toss to call: our belief or unbelief in the resurrection of Jesus. Either our faith is in vain, all for nothing, if we don’t believe; or we believe and choose to follow Christ, the firstfruits of the resurrection, into eternal life. The call is ours to make.

     In our Gospel reading, known as Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, Jesus echoes Jeremiah’s message but with his own blessings and woes to inherit or not inherit the Kingdom. Jesus speaks to a great crowd of his disciples, not from a hilltop or open amphitheater from a boat, but directly to their faces, “on a stretch of level ground”.

      In Luke, Jesus tells us both sides of the coin: YOU the blessed who are needy now will enjoy great rewards later in heaven and YOU the woeful who enjoy worldly pleasures now will endure sufferings afterwards. A two-sided coin with a two-sided message. As opposed to Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, which addresses the varied titles of the blessed, “…blessed are the merciful, the peacemakers, the meek…”, in Luke, Jesus speaks in-your-face, directly to his listeners, to even US- here and now: blessed are YOU! and woe to YOU! We can personalize these words as an after-effect to the choices we make.  Our choice to believe, trust, and hope in the Lord determines that we not only win the “coin toss”, but, as Paul says, “…in Christ shall all be brought to life”.

        In many of the choices we face we should first consult with God to understand his will for our lives. St. Padre Pio urges us, “In all the events of life, you must recognize the Divine will. Adore and bless it, especially in the things which are the hardest for you.”  We heavily bias the coin toss call by knowing the Lord’s will, which is always given in love and benevolence.  Through prayer, fasting, the Sacraments, Adoration, and careful Scripture reading, we develop a sense of God’s will for us. How do you best learn to know God’s will for your choices in life?

     May all our coin toss calls be biased in favor of the Lord’s will, love, and goodness in our lives; that we may be blessed and joyful, not woeful or cursed in our choices. May our good, free-will choices help us to become faithful witnesses in our mission to lead others to the Lord. And as we partake in the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, may we choose to build upon our relationship and belonging with him and each other, for the glory of God.