The Beatitudes
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January 27, 2023“The Gospel this weekend is what we commonly call as “the Beatitudes”. While the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai provide a series of “Thou shalt nots,” Jesus presents the Beatitudes in a positive sense, as the virtues in life which will ultimately lead us to the rewards of salvation. They are poverty of spirit, hunger and thirst for justice, compassion, meekness, mercy, integrity, peace-making, and the willingness to suffer persecution for the sake of justice.
Being poor in spirit is the fundamental condition for becoming blessed and happy. We are blessed when we know our need for God and do His will every day. We are poor in spirit when we surrender our plans to God and ask for His help. We are poor in spirit when we admit our sins, mourn for them repenting, ask His grace and forgiveness for them, and promise to “sin no more and avoid the near occasions of sin.”
Jesus also tells us that if we are to be happy, we need to be meek – gentle, self-controlled and Godcontrolled. The meek are those who have made a complete surrender of self to God, instead of becoming aggressive and demanding. True meekness allows us to fight for justice using peaceful means, as did Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. We are hungering and thirsting for righteousness when we have a profound respect for others and want to treat them with dignity.
Mercy is love extended. Jesus gave the example of the forgiving love of a merciful heart from the cross by praying for his executioners. As long as we hold something in our hearts against somebody, we are neither free nor happy. Happiness is gained when we allow only love, not hatred, to reign in the heart.
But as we long for peace in this world, we must be peace-makers in the little world around us. Peacemaking demands positive actions for reconciliation. Peace-making involves diplomacy, self-control, and a willingness to forgive and to promote the work of forgiveness among others. Peace-makers work for “shalom” – the wholeness and well-being that God wills for a broken world.
The Beatitudes, then, propose to us a way of life. They invite us to identify with the poor, those who mourn, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst after justice. They challenge us to be compassionate people, to be men and women who are pure in heart, and to be people who become the peace-makers in their dealings with one another, in their families and in the society at large.
This weekend, please take the time to reflect on how the Diocesan Development Fund 2023 can become the concrete pathway to living the Beatitudes in our Christian life. May you have the goodwill to faithfully commit and participate generously to this diocesan program. God bless your generous hearts!
