S2 E4 "The Consummated Amendment.", Matthew 5:1-12

The Ordinary Times

Besides reading the NYT, I've been known to consume a lot of cable news. Regarding that news consumption, there are channels I watch (like MSNBC), channels I don't watch (like FOX News), and channels I should watch (like CSPAN). Why should I be watching CSPAN you ask? Well because it features pure, boring, unfiltered documentation of Congress. That setting is also the backdrop to a New York Times opinion piece from Dec. 20, 1865 entitled, "The Consummated Amendment." In it the author describes the history and ratification of the 13th amendment (that ended America slavery). It was also the beginning of the three Reconstruction Amendments and the Reconstruction Era. They were new rules centered on the least, the oppressed, the "outsiders." They aimed to reconstruct how we Americans both think and act. A strong parallel intention can be found in the Gospel reading of Matthew 5:1-12. In his Beatitudes, Jesus aimed to reconstruct how we think and act. His central focus is centered around the least, the oppressed and the outsiders.