The Beatitudes

Monday, June 10, 2024

10th WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

THE BEATITUDES

Introduction

We have in the following days some readings from the cycle of the great prophet Elijah and his gigantic fight against the evils of his day. He is bold enough to face the godless king Ahab and the dreadful queen Jezebel, for he is sure that God sends him and that he is, therefore, in the hands of God.

What Jesus proposes in the beatitudes is a turning upside-down of values, (attuned with the message of Paul in Year I).  But we are not too eager to take them seriously; they are too uncomfortable... Many say they are utopian, but that can be said of many parts of the gospel, unless you believe. Followers of Christ are dreamers, of a brotherhood of all people, of a better world and a better earth.

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
when your Son spoke his good news
to people who were poor and blind, they understood him,
for they knew what its means
not to be satisfied and not to see.
Make us poor with the hungry,
groping with the blind, powerless with the defenseless
and small with the little people,
that we may experience the message of the Gospel:
to the marrow of our bones
and share it as good news with all those around,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Reading 1: 1 Kings 17:1-6

Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven."

Intercessions

– Lord, who call the poor blessed, give us people who know how to live soberly, who find joy in simple things, we pray:

– Lord, God of the gentle, make us peaceful, merciful and compassionate, that your kingdom may be ours, we pray:

– Lord, strength of those persecuted, give perseverance to those who suffer persecution, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
in the poverty and emptiness of our hearts
we place on this altar
a bit of bread and a mouthful of wine.
It is not much, Lord,
but we know what you can do with simple things
and with people aware of their indigence.
And so we pray you: turn this bread into Jesus Christ
and change us into men and women
rich with your life and enriching themselves
by giving away to others without measure
their time and attention and love.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
you write straight with crooked lines. 
Let the disturbing words of your Son
wake us up and help us to see
where to find your kind of happiness,
for it is the only one that lasts. 
And let your Son here with us
be our nourishment for the road
to you, our God for ever and ever. 

Blessing

The disciples of Jesus are called “blessed,” that is happy, if we are so open to God that we let

him fill us with something of his own happiness. We have to be poor, not filled with ourselves. Then the happiness of God’s kingdom will be ours, like a foretaste of the happiness of heaven. Put yourselves in God’s hands and ask him to bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Commentary

Jesus, the new Moses, goes up to the new Sinai, and proclaims the new commandments of the Gospel. But unlike Moses, who went up the hill alone to converse with God, Jesus goes up the hill, surrounded by his disciples and people who listened to him.

The new law is not a series of new precepts and obligations, but a formula for happiness: Jesus simply declares who are happy and blessed in the eyes of God. But these words indeed shock us, for they contradict our natural inclinations. It looks absurd to declare happy those who mourn, the hungry, those who suffer and are persecuted? Does it look like we have a God who desires for human suffering?

Let us pay attention: Jesus does not tell us to be happy even if you are poor. He is not telling us to be happy in spite of your suffering or even when you do not have a piece of bread to put in your mouth. Remember – we believe in a Jesus who fed the crowd, because he felt sorry for them and didn't want to send them away (cf. Mt 15:32). We believe in him, who cured all kinds of diseases and ailments, of the body and of the spirit. Therefore Jesus is not telling us to be content with our fate and what we have to do is settle for the pains and miseries of life and, above all, be happy!

José Cristo Rey García Paredes, a Renowned Spanish theologian and a Claretian Missionary explains the beatitudes and says, on the mountain, Jesus is talking about himself. He offers us his self-portrait and tells his listeners, that he is happy, because he is the beloved Son of the Father. But, by assuming the human condition, he takes upon himself all the sufferings, misunderstandings, hatred, persecutions that afflict human beings. But, being the Son of God the Father he wants to share his happiness with his friends, brothers and sisters, inviting us to participate in his divine sonship. God never lets us down; on the contrary, he looks at us with love, blesses us and welcomes us as his sons and daughters.

Furthermore, the Beatitudes imply attitudes that we have to freely assume: by being merciful, by purifying our own heart, working for peace, fighting for justice, even if we are persecuted for it. That is to say, actively participate in the building of a new world that Jesus has come to bring us.

The man who dedicates himself to this task by serving his brothers, by encouraging and comforting them, as St. Paul reminds us, is united with Christ and knows a deep happiness, a beatitude that no shadow of this world can obscure.

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10 June 2024

Matthew 5:1-12

The Blesseds of God

This text explains the blessed paths to holiness. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God,” thus begins the sermon on the mount.

This morning, I am reminded of two heroes of our world who were inspired by the verses of the Sermon on the Mount. Mohandas Gandhi, a man who discovered his path to nonviolent resistance against unjust political structures, and Martin Luther King Jr., who found his power in these very verses to begin the political and social reform that he led.

What is so transformative about these verses? The depth of these verses will only be understood by those who are poor or those who are willing to become poor to serve others. There are people who become anxious about finding shelter in the next rain or winter. They will understand what it means to be promised of a shelter in the kingdom of heaven.

Some are anxious about where the next meal for their children will come from. They will understand what it means to be promised of a time when they will not cry anymore. There are people who live under the scare of bombs and gunshots on a daily basis, where going to the shabby supermarket across the street is a walk between life and death. They understand what it means to have peace.

When we are spared from the miseries of poverty, war, and violence, we are indeed blessed on earth. However, the Sermon on the Mount calls us to action, not to ignore but to reach out to those who go through these miseries. It is through our empathy and action that we can become peace-makers and the Blesseds of God.

The paths of the blessedness are less traveled.  But “walk the blessed path, for its stones lead to the stars.”