The reading from Colossians and the Beatitudes puts them in a different perspective. The Beatitudes are really about choices, not about circumstances. In Colossians, Paul says everyone can choose Salvation by following Christ.

Anyone who chooses right and dies to his evil past - self-sufficiency - can be saved in Jesus. The circumstances of birth do not matter here - Greek or Jew, slave or free, everyone has the choice to follow Christ.

Anyone can choose charity over greed, can choose a spiritual path over a material path, choose love over anger, and can choose truth over lies. We must choose the right path, choose the way of the Lord, and choose to die to our old evil ways so that when we do die, we will have Salvation.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote of the Beatitudes: "It is the sermon which endeared Jesus to me."

Thus the words of the Gospel never allow us to live in self-satisfaction or selfishness. Indeed, they make us repeat the truth of Mary's choice: "Let it be done to me according to Your Word!"

To live the Beatitudes - which spring from Jesus' unshakeable confidence in God's promise (Is. 35:3-4) - is to let go of self. We aren't free until we are free of ourselves.

The "woes" attempt to pierce through all forms of self-sufficiency.