How many of you are happy about the weather? We have a few people that are. It’s 11° today and I thought, I don’t think it’s been above 11° for the last 10-12 days with constant snow. When we have sun it’s amazing.
There is one thing that is very happy right now. In the winter the kids are happy because they have off school but there is one thing that is even happier than children and it’s this: A bocci ball? It’s not a grapefruit, not a turnip, in Europe they call it a turnip. It’s a rutabaga. This thing is happy in the winter. Why? That’s a great question. Rutabagas are one of the few plants that are in Northeastern Ohio and in Europe, and they’re one of the few plants that do better after a frost. They do better when it is cold. Why do they do better? They do better because the cold and the frost change the chemical inside the rutabaga and they turn from bitter to sweet. They become sweet in the cold and in the frost. It’s a very humble plant. Rutabaga means bag of roots. That’s what this thing is.
In the Gospel today Jesus is revealing to us that we can be happy in every circumstance, and He tells us that we are more blessed when life becomes difficult. We are more blessed when life becomes cold and there is frost and there are days of darkness. We become sweeter; we become blessed.
Jesus is revealing something of the mystery of the Kingdom of God. He’s revealing to us The Beatitudes that we can be happy in the midst of all of life’s woes. The Beatitudes begin with this blessing, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” This can be kind of confusing for us. What does that mean and why would we be blessed to be poor in spirit and to not have the spirit?
To be poor in spirit is to desire and yearn for the Holy Spirit because we are at our limit. It’s like we can’t take any more and the only thing that we can do is beg for the Holy Spirit. When we beg for the Spirit, we’re blessed because God will turn our sorrow into joy. He will turn our bitterness into sweetness.
Now this thing was despised but it was a hero in 1916 to 1917. Anybody know what was going on in the world at that time? World War I and there was that potato famine in Germany. Food was cut off there, and they were dependent on potatoes. Nothing grew and everything died, including the potatoes, and the only thing that survived? The great rutabaga. They lived off rutabagas for an entire year and they despise them. But during that time the rutabaga came through. It was the rutabaga that gave them some form of nutrition. Rutabaga is kind of a superfood. It’s one of the few plants that provides protein, a great deal of fiber, and it was something that was there when everything else died. When they were in complete state of famine the rutabaga shined, this humble bag of roots. It was called the turnip winner because that’s what they called them over there.
I was thinking about that idea of turnip. When we are struggling, when we are suffering, when we think we cannot take life anymore, turn up, turn up, Come Holy Spirit.
I want you to think about your life right now particularly the struggles in life. A lot of times we think that we are blessed when we are healthy, we are blessed when life is good, but when life is difficult it’s often that difficulty that makes us turn up to God. Jesus says, “Blessed are you in the worst of scenarios. When people persecute you, when people want to kill you all for the sake of Me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven will be great.” What that means is physical difficulties make us blessed. We usually think that it’s the opposite case, but our physical difficulties make us blessed. Suffering makes us blessed. Emotional difficulties make us blessed, even spiritual difficulties make us blessed. Why? Because you were created to be like a rutabaga, you were created to get sweeter in suffering. We were made for suffering. It is not something that needs to be escaped. Suffering is something that can be embraced. When we join our suffering to Christ, when we suffer with Him, when we die with Him, we will also rise with Him.
What is that suffering in your life right now? What is that suffering in your life that you think is making you miserable, that you think is taking every last bit of energy that you have? What is that suffering that brings you to your knees? What is that suffering that you can do nothing else with but turn up to God?
He blesses us in our suffering. He takes our bitterness and He makes us sweet.
As we come to the Eucharist today, we receive the Body and Blood of Christ as bread and wine that have become His Body and Blood. These simple gifts are transformed into Jesus, and we receive Jesus into us. When we receive Jesus into us, He is completely united with us. Our sufferings are joined to his. Jesus says that he will actually complete his suffering in us. Our sufferings are a completion of Christ suffering.
Suffering does not have to make us bitter. Suffering can actually make us sweet. Suffering can actually make us blessed. So be like the rutabaga, the humble bag of roots, that actually does better in the cold and the frost and in the suffering.
