Karl Marx (!) once said that that the mistake philosophy makes is to treat as abstract that which is concrete. Perhaps St. Luke’s community had a similar memory of Jesus’ words in the beatitudes. If you remember, when St. Matthew reports them Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice.” When Luke reports the beatitudes Jesus speaks concretely: “Blessed are you who are poor, who mourn, who hunger.” This is a good reminder that as Christians we don’t love “the poor” but John and Mary and J.J. who are poor. We don’t comfort “mourners” but our friends, relatives, neighbors who are grieving. We must put a name on those we care for.
