Hôm thứ ba và cả tuần trước, chúng ta được nghe về cuộc đời của ông Tôbit trong sách Tôbia, chúng ta đã suy ngẫm về những sự khổ đau vì những chuyện không may, tai nạn lớn, nhỏ, vì những thất bại trong cuộc sống. Chúng ta chắn chắn đã tự hỏi những câu hỏi, "tại sao những điều xấu lại xảy ra với những người tốt?" đây là một trong những cẩm nhận rắc rối cho nhiều người trong chúng ta. Trong sự cảm hứng của mình, ngay trong phần đầu lá thứ thứ hai gởi cho các tín hữu Côrintô, Thánh Phaolô đã phản ánh về sự tương tác của đau khổ và niềm an ủi trong cuộc sống của chúng ta, đặc biệt là khi chúng ta cố gắng để sống cuộc sống trong Chúa Kitô. Mỗi ân sủng mà chúng ta nhận được liên quan đến một nhiệm vụ; nhiệm vụ là chia sẻ với những người khác những gì chúng ta được hưởng nơi bàn tay của Thiên Chúa. Thánh Phaolô gợi ý là chúng ta là hãy nên áp dụng những điều tương tự cho sự đau khổ: ". Nếu chúng tôi lâm phải gian truân, ấy là để anh em được an ủi, được cứu thoát" (2 Cor 1:6)
Lạy Chúa Giêsu, xin ban cho chúng con ân sũng của Chúa và sự khôn ngoan để chúng con có thể an ủi người khác với niềm an ủi mà chúng con đã nhận được từ bàn tay của Chúa.
On Tuesday last week, when we read an extract from the Book of Tobit, we reflected on the suffering caused by accidents great and small. The question, “why do bad things happen to good people?” is one that troubles many of us. In his very inspiring opening to his second Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul reflects on the interplay of suffering and consolation in our lives, especially when we strive to live our lives in Christ. Every grace we receive involves a mission; the mission to share with others what we enjoy from God’s hands. Paul suggests that the same thing applies to suffering: “if we are afflicted it is for your encouragement and salvation.”
Many Christians who suffer have the same approach: suffering engages them in the suffering of Christ for the salvation of the world and so even if in this life they enjoy the consolation of Christ, the consolation which he gives to those who suffer patiently and lovingly as well as the consolation of the Resurrection which he enjoyed after his passion, that consolation is an increase in faith, hope and love and joy in the things of the Lord (St. Ignatius).
Lord Jesus, grant us the grace and wisdom to be able to console others with the consolation which we received from Your hands.
Today we are given the incredibly high calling of the Beatitudes to ponder. These lessons were taught by Jesus on a hill just north of the Sea of Galilee. Many were coming to Jesus to listen to Him preach and to witness His many miracles. They flocked to Him in this remote location, and Jesus had them recline as He preached what is now referred to as “The Sermon on the Mount.” This sermon is found in Chapter 5 through 7 of Matthew’s Gospel, and it takes place shortly after Jesus began His public ministry.
What a way to begin His public ministry! This teaching of Jesus was brand new and must have left many people mesmerized. Jesus no longer taught only the precepts of the Old Testament, such as the Ten Commandments; He now elevated the moral law to a level never conceived of before.
As the people listened to this new teacher speak with new authority and wisdom, they may have been excited and confused at the same time. To hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful and clean of heart, and to be a peacemaker could have been accepted. But why was it that being poor, mournful, and meek were considered blessings? And even more challenging, why was it good to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness or insulted and falsely accused because of Jesus?
When Jesus’ new and radical teaching is clearly understood, it is not only His first disciples who may have been confused and excited at the same time. You, too, if you truly listen to His teachings and understand what He means, will find that you may be challenged to the core of your being. Jesus’ teaching must be embraced, fully, and without hesitation.
The Beatitudes are our call to perfection. They lay out for us the path by which we travel to the heights of holiness and obtain the glory of Heaven. They are our fine-tuned and detailed road map to the fullness of happiness and joy. But they also call us to a radical transformation of our minds and in our actions. They are not “easily” embraced, in the sense that they require that we turn from every selfish tendency we have and choose to live free of every earthly temptation, attachment and sin. Perfection awaits those who listen to, understand, and embrace the Beatitudes.
Reflect, today, upon the beginning of this challenging Sermon on the Mount. Try to find time to take each Beatitude to prayer. It is only through prayer and meditation that the full meaning of each of these invitations to holiness will be understood. Start with the call to interior poverty of spirit. This Beatitude calls us to complete detachment from all that is not part of God’s will. From there, consider the importance of mourning over your sin, of seeking purity of heart and humility in all things. Ponder each Beatitude and spend time with the one most challenging to you. Our Lord has much to say to you through this sermon. Don’t hesitate to allow Him to lead you to the heights of holiness through it.
Lord of all holiness, You are perfect in every way. You lived every virtue and Beatitude to perfection. Give me the grace to open myself to You so that I may hear You call me to perfection of life and so that I may respond generously with my whole life. Make me holy, dear Lord, so that I will find the happiness and fulfillment You wish to bestow. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I am blessed to be a member of the New Covenant People of God. Help me to appreciate and value what that means. Humanity walked in darkness for centuries but now has the light of Christ and his words of eternal life. I have received that light and those words, and I thank you.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Transforming Curses into Blessings: During the next twelve weeks our weekday Gospel will be taken from the Gospel according to Matthew. One of the characteristics of Matthew’s Gospel are the five discourses Jesus delivers. When Jesus ascends the mountain, he sits down and delivers the New Law in the Sermon on the Mount. In this first discourse and the other four, he is acting as the New Moses. In the Old Covenant, given by Moses, there were blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (see Deuteronomy 28). Moses promised things like material prosperity, numerous offspring, and victory over enemies to those who obey God’s voice and observe God’s commandments. He also promised frustration, disease, famine, plagues, exile, foreign invasion, and fruitless labor on those who disobey God’s commandments and statutes. In the New Covenant, Jesus transforms some of the old curses (poverty, mourning, persecution) into the path to New Covenant blessings. In the New Covenant, material wealth, prosperity, accomplishments, and bodily pleasure can be dangerous. They can easily lead a person to trust more in themselves and the things of this passing world than in their Heavenly Father. On the other hand, our suffering in this life and our good works (of justice, charity, and mercy), united to Christ and empowered by divine grace, lead to eternal blessings.
2. Christ our Exemplar: Jesus gives the supreme example of how to live the beatitudes. Jesus talks the talk and walks the walk. He is poor in spirit, with no place to lay his head (Matthew 8:30). He is the one who mourns as the man of sorrows. He hungers and thirsts for righteousness. He is the merciful one who calls his followers to practice mercy (Matthew 18:21-35). He is pure of heart and loves his Father with an undivided love. He is the prince of peace who is persecuted for the sake of righteousness. He is innocent and yet is insulted and persecuted as he is crucified (Matthew 27:39-44). Jesus not only models the New Law for us but also promises to give us the Holy Spirit and the grace to fulfill the demands of the New Law.
3. The Prophet Elijah: The First Reading, from the First Book of Kings, picks up the story of Israel’s Kingdom. Back in February, during the fifth week in Ordinary Time, we read from the First Book of Kings and learned how and why the Kingdom of David and Solomon was split into the southern Kingdom of Judah and the northern Kingdom of Israel. During Ordinary Time, weeks six through nine, and during Lent and Easter, the Liturgy of the Word breaks from the history of David’s kingdom but picks it up again in week ten. Today we encounter the figure of the prophet Elijah. He ministered in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of the wicked King Ahab (874-853 B.C.). His ministry of renewal aimed at fighting against Baal worship in the Northern Kingdom and calling the people back to the Lord. The First Reading reveals that the Canaanite god, Baal, who was the god of storm and rain, is really no god at all. It is YHWH, the God of Israel, who brings and withholds the rains. The feeding of Elijah with bread and meat recalls how God fed Israel with bread (manna) and meat (quail) in the wilderness (see Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The First and Second Book of the Kings, 49). In many ways, the life of Elijah shows how he is a new Moses figure. Jesus, however, is the ultimate New Moses.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I thank you for the gift of the New Law and for the grace of the Holy Spirit to fulfill it. You truly have the words of eternal life and have marked out the path that leads to eternal beatitude. Help me to choose this path always in all that I do.
Living the Word of God: When I examine my conscience before the Sacrament of Reconciliation, do I limit my exam to the 10 Commandments? How can I examine my conscience in the light of the Beatitudes and the New Law: Am I poor of spirit? Merciful? Meek and pure of heart? A peacemaker? Just in my dealings with others? Generous in giving to the poor?
REFLECTION
In today's Gospel, we enter into the very heart of Jesus' teaching. What the Ten Commandments are to the entire Old Testament Law, so the Beatitudes are to Jesus' teaching in the New Testament. We can study these alone and come to know all the rest. They show the very heart of Jesus Christ.
The Beatitudes fall in with the tradition of the Jewish literature of the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Sirach and Wisdom. But they go far beyond these with their new ideal of unconditional love. They call us to a morality higher than any other in the world. They motivate with love, not with fear. The Old Testament says, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord." But the New Testament says "Love casts out all fear."
Jesus says to the sinner, "Come to me. I will refresh you." The Beatitudes show Jesus' unfailing love for the crowd. Jesus looked upon the crowds, the masses of simple people and his heart was moved with pity. Here one sees the heart of words, "I have come to call not the self-righteous but sinners." He does not support sin, but he unconditionally loves the sinner. He knew their life; he knew their longings.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus gives us the rules, the prescription for happiness, for sanctity. There is no other way to be converted, to be really committed to following closely in the footsteps of Christ.
Comment:
Fortunate are those who are poor in spirit
Today, with the proclamation of the Beatitudes, Jesus helps us realize how forgetful we can be and how we tend to be like children, who usually forget their memories because of their plays. Jesus feared that the amount of his “good news” —his words, his gestures, his silences— would be diluted amidst our sins and worries. In the parable of the sower, do you remember the image of the thorns that sprang up with his seeds, and choked them? Well, this is why St. Mathew run the Beatitudes as fundamental principles, so that we do not never ever forget them. They are a compendium of the New Law presented by Jesus, basic points which help us living a Christian life.
The Beatitudes are intended for everybody. The Master is not only teaching his disciples around him, nor does He exclude any kind of persons, but He delivers a Universal message. However, He emphasizes the disposition we must have and the moral behavior He expects from us. While the definite salvation is not given in this world, but in the next, we must change, right now, while we are here, our mentality and our evaluation of things. It is necessary we get used to see the crying face of Christ, in those who mourn, in those poor of spirit, in the meek at heart, in those who yearn to become saints, in those who have taken a “determined determination”, as St. Therese of the Child Jesus liked to say, so that we can become Sowers of Peace and Joy.
The Beatitudes are the Lord's perfume participated in human history. But, also in yours and mine. The last two verses incorporate the presence of the Cross, as they invite us to rejoice when, because of him and of the Gospel, things go humanly wrong. For when the coherence of our Christian life is strong, we will then, most probably suffer persecution in a thousand different ways, amid unexpected difficulties and setbacks. St. Matthew's text is emphatic: so «Be glad and joyful, for a great reward is kept for you in God» (Mt 5,12).
Meditation: Matthew 5:1-12 - 10th Week in Ordinary Time
Blessed are you. (Matthew 5:11)
The Beatitudes are Jesus’ explanation of what it is to be well-off spiritually: to know God’s grace and protection and to feel his blessing, even despite what you are experiencing in life. “Blessed” means happy, or fortunate, and Jesus meant it. He is saying,
“Happy are you who are poor in spirit, you who recognize that life, even all the world’s riches, is not enough. God has so much more for you, and so you can raise your heart and soul heavenward, and cry, ‘Abba, Father, I need you!’ Blessed are you who know that my Father delights in answering that prayer. It pleases him to give you the kingdom.
“Happy are you who mourn. Your heart is like my Father’s. He saw the men and women he created, the apple of his eye, turn from him. He saw the darkness that crept in because of their sin, and he mourned over the way that darkness obscured the light he made. He mourned, too, as he watched me, his only Son, die in agony. My Father knows what it is to mourn, and he will comfort you. He will never abandon or forsake you.”
“Happy are you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for that hunger reveals a desire for me! I am your righteousness, and when you seek me, you will find me. I gave my life for you so that you could find me. I died so that you could live in holiness before my Father. Day after day, I send you my Holy Spirit to lead you in all righteousness.”
We can experience this happiness because God has made our hearts like his; he has set eternity in them. Because our hearts are made in the image of his heart, we also can become as he is: merciful, peaceful, pure, meek, humble, and gentle. He can satisfy us as no one else can—and he delights in doing it! Think about that. It makes God happy to make you happy! He is happy to bestow on you the riches of his kingdom. He is happy to comfort you. He is happy to bring you to maturity as you take on his very nature!
“All praise to you, Father! When I seek you, I know I will find you. Should I mourn, you will comfort me. You will satisfy my longing for righteousness. Happy am I indeed!”
Reflection:
Even though most of us Catholics learn the beatitudes in our early years, it takes a lot to fully understand what they mean. While listening to lectures, homilies and readings may help us see their meaning more clearly, identifying people who are living them out is the best way to learn how to put them into action.
The life of the Jesuit martyr St. James Bertheiu (1838 – 1896) is one such example.
Already a diocesan priest Frenchman Fr. James Berthieu joined the Society of Jesus to be a missionary. A few years into his life as a Jesuit, he was sent to Madagascar where he oversaw the construction of churches and schools. He promoted education and was a very dedicated catechist. Berthieu's life as a missionary in Madagascar was not an easy one. Berthieu and other missionaries were caught in armed conflicts between the French and the Malagasy people during that time. These hostilities did not stop him from carrying out his mission, even if he had to relocate several times for his safety.
Even after he was captured, he continued his mission of spreading the faith. He was tortured and killed because he did not renounce his faith as demanded by enemies of the Church.
Looking at the life of St. James Berthieu, we can see that the beatitudes ask of us to share ourselves, to give. Berthieu was one who shared himself and gave. He gave amidst the hardships that hurt him, amidst the armed conflicts that hurt him more and until he was martyred and it hurt no more. In the process, he became poor in every sense of the beatitudes.
Lord, give us the grace to truly understand the beatitudes, and to live them fully.
