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Dear Parish Family,
The Beatitudes are eight blessings recounted by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Each is a proverb-like proclamation, without explanation. Four of the blessings appear in this week’s Gospel of Luke in his account of Jesus’ declarations, followed by four woes which mirror as a contrast to the blessings. Essentially, they are a promise or a pact which Jesus is making with his burgeoning group of disciples.
In the dictionary, “beatitudes” is defined as “supreme blessedness” or a “state of utmost bliss”. To be “blessed” in the Bible means to have found favor with God for various reasons: one is chosen, one is forgiven, one is justified, one is chastened, or one has faith and keeps God’s Word. Blessings are in every case a glorious gift of God’s grace.
These seemingly simple teachings by Christ, which modern biblical scholars describe as His earthly ministry’s “mission statement” may be, however, the most difficult to understand, certainly the most quixotic and seemingly impractical to attain. Yet, a fundamental message of God’s love and enduring presence threads through all the life conditions described.
Jesus tells us that we are never alone in our despair, in our pain, in our poverty, in our setbacks and sickness. Trust in God’s love. Trust in God’s care. Trust in God’s promise of a heavenly reward and joy eternal. His Divine Mercy of love and grace will sustain us through any of life’s trials and tribulations which we may experience, just as Jesus experienced in his public humiliations and rejections by his own people, and ultimately his suffering and death on the cross for our sins.
On the flipside, Jesus sends a dire warning to those who have it all today, with little or no caring of those less fortunate. They in stark contrast will find a much different outcome if they don’t change their self-love ways. They need to turn their misdirected inward love outward – first to God and then to others.
Underscoring these teachings, Jesus is declaring that God’s people are called to be a genuinely holy people. Holiness must always encompass the communal dimension with which we are inextricably-connected in our own lives. Believing in God must greatly impact how we treat those around us. But our attitudes and behavior to others must come from a pure heart, a loving heart, a generous heart, a faithful heart. To quote Luke 12:48 – “to whom much is given, much is expected.” Think about it and how it applies to one’s own life.
It is only when we are modeling the Way and the Truth as Jesus taught us that we are truly following as He guides us on our path to God’s Kingdom. Yet, He proclaims “the reign of God is already upon us!” Don’t put off until another day the way we expect to be in Heaven. As Christians, we are called to make each day heaven on earth for everyone we meet.
Dcn John Cunningham