Last Sunday, we celebrated the Word of God Sunday, which happened to be the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn, and the mid-point of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. As such we meditated on the Word of God as our light, our source of unity and our protection. Today, I would like us to ponder on how the beatitudes are truly our means to the happiness that we all seek. It is a given that no one seeks but to be happy. However, the world offers us many false means of happiness and unless we are able to discern the truth we shall remain dissatisfied. With the Beatitudes of Jesus, we observe that happiness is not what happens to us, but what we do with what happens to us with the
light of God. We told that “according to St. Augustine, the light of the first day created by God was not the light by which we see, but the ability to see the ultimate truth of things, which God conferred on the angels and then on man.” I would like to show that each of the beatitudes points us to a key attitude that leads to happiness in that particular circumstance or state in life. I would equally like to show that gratitude, our relationships, and seeking nothing but the glory / reward of the Lord are the three golden threads that run through the beatitudes. In a word, I would like to show that to be grateful, to be in good relationship with
God and our neighbor, and to seek the glory of God in all we do are the three keys to happiness.
The Beatitudes are addressed to all categories of persons undergoing all kinds of challenges and experiences in life. The beatitudes are a comprehensive framework for happiness. I want to say they cover the totality of our human experience. This is very clear from where Jesus preaches the sermon – in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, the place where the exile of Israel began in the eighth century BC, the place of brokenness – the territory of Galilee, a metropolitan city of commerce and diversity. In this place there are all kinds of people: those broken by poverty, wealthy merchants who give alms to the poor; the chaste who stand against the promiscuity of the day; those persecuted; those mourning; those seeking justice and mercy. The Galilean territory is a microcosm of our world today, and so I would like us to identify these persons in our midst today and proclaim those words of hope from our Lord Jesus Christ once more to each and all.
1) Dependence and Interdependence
The first beatitude is addressed to those who are poor in spirit, to those who acknowledge their dependence on God and interdependence on others. Are there any amongst us who are poor in spirit, who recognize that without God they are nothing; and without their neighbor, they are incomplete? I hope we all are. Today, our Lord reiterates: Blessed are you who recognize that you need God more than you need gold, and that no man is an island, for the kingdom of God is yours.
2) Tolerance and Intolerance
The second beatitude is an invitation to disdain what Jesus disdains. It is an invitation to reclaim the true understanding of tolerance and intolerance. Tolerance is always toward the person, and intolerance towards the evil such as violence. Jesus mourns with those who mourn nowadays: from California to Memphis, Tennessee; from Ukraine to Cameroon; from the streets of Los Angeles to the Synagogue in Jerusalem; from abortion clinics to mutilation
centers in the name of gender reassignments. Jesus mourns because we have refused to receive life as a gift from God but want to create our own reality. To those who mourn the death of a loved one or the death of the values of society, Jesus says today: be of good cheer for you shall be comforted by the victory of my Resurrection when justice shall be granted to all and our loved ones we shall see again.
3) Meekness and Goodness
The third beatitude is for those whose patience is drying out, who feel tired in doing good especially when their goodness is met with ingratitude or worse still hatred. To you, our Lord says today: “Resolve to see goodness in everyone and everyone situation, for the One who said it was all good is eternal. He has not changed, nor will he change. Blessed are you who remain good and strive to overcome every hatred with love, the Kingdom of God is yours.”
4) The Glory of God and Sanctification
The fourth beatitude is addressed to all who seek God with a sincere heart and strive for holiness understood as the glory of God and the sanctification of our souls. This beatitude in a particular way highlights the third key attitude of the beatitudes which is doing everything for the glory of God. Today, Jesus encourages us: “Blessed are you who do all for God’s glory, welcomed or unwelcomed, appreciated or rejected, you shall be satisfied by God’s reward.
5) Mercy and Misery
The fifth beatitude is addressed to us whenever we are in a position of a patron, like God, to give instead of the humble end of receiving. Our Lord encourages us to give generously and cheerfully, to see our blessings in blessing others as our means to salvation. Blessed are you who show mercy to others as if to Jesus Himself, for at the end of time He shall attend to you not as a Just Judge, but as a Merciful Savior.
6) Purity and Possessiveness
In a world where pleasure seeking is considered the highest good Jesus addresses us in the sixth beatitude to remember that our goal in life is to see God and the means is purity, for nothing impure can stand before God. To be pure is to love every person and thing as a gift from God to God. By so doing we become free and less possessive. Blessed are you who love other persons whether in virtual reality or in reality like you would love your spouses, and children, and family, and friends, for you shall always see the image of God in others and so be blessed in seeing God for all eternity.
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7) Peace and Gratitude
The seventh beatitude reminds us of our true identity as children of God. Whenever we strive to be instruments of peace rather than division, we are exercising our identity as children of God. However, we must remember that internal peace is the fruit of gratitude. When we are grateful for who we are and have, we are content and at peace. Peace, external peace, equally is the fruit of justice. Blessed are you who are grateful and just, for you are a true reflection of the Father who is merciful and just to all at all times.
8) Sacrifice and Salvation
The eighth beatitude addresses our greatest human challenge – suffering and death. Every moment in life is an occasion to love and most especially when we suffer innocently. The hope of this beatitude is that unearned suffering united with the cross of Christ is redemptive. It fills up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the salvation of souls as St. Paul encourages us (Col 1:24). Blessed therefore are you who accept your innocent sufferings and offer them up for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls beginning with those who persecute you, for your merits and rewards from the Father shall be immeasurable.
As we celebrate Catholic schools Week this week, I would just like to conclude by mentioning that the gift of catholic education is that it gives us the vision to see reality as God sees it. It prevents us from being presidents in the State of Denial as someone has said. To see things as they truly are which can be seen only from a divine perspective, can be seen only by going to Jesus in prayer like the disciples went up to Him to be taught by Him. The blessing of seeing things as such is that it leads to happiness and avoids false sadness, false negatives. As we receive our Savior Jesus Christ in the Eucharist with gratitude, who lived all these beatitudes to the full Himself, may He grant us His divine vision to see things only as He sees them – for the Glory of God and our good.