Matthew 5: 1-12
Dear Friends,
Today, on this Fourth Sunday of Ordinary time, we have the first of five Sundays in which we will be invited into the Sermon on the Mount. These three chapters (5-7) in Matthew are a summary of the Gospel message. Today’s passage on the Beatitudes is a summary of the Sermon on the Mount.
The Beatitudes are not laws. They are an invitation to enter into the mystery of Jesus. He is the one who is truly blessed and they are a revelation of the depth and breadth of the mystery that is Jesus Christ.
Thomas Merton has a beautiful definition of prayer. He says, Prayer is yearning to be in the presence of God, a personal understanding of God’s Word, knowledge of God’s will and the capacity to hear and obey it.”
The Beatitudes are a description of Jesus. They are an invitation to enter into the mystery of God. They are a call to let this understanding of the Word that is Jesus draw us into the call that is God’s will. Now we need to hear and obey.
I would like to use one short example of the upside down, first is last world of the Beatitudes.
Jesus says, “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted”. (Mt 5:4) This, like all the Beatitudes, shatters our common sense perception of reality. Mourning and happiness just do not fit in our quest for happiness.
A deeper look at mourning connected to Jesus begins to shed light on the reality that Jesus reveals in the totality of his life, death and resurrection.
Why do we mourn? The reason we mourn is because we love. Jesus it teaching us that in the end, love will win out. All our losses are in transition when we walk with Jesus. He invites us into a way and a life and a truth that guarantees the victory of love. He reveals that victory in the Resurrection. He gives us the presence of a new reality where every tear will be wiped away. That reality begins now when we love. In the end, that love will share the fullness of the victory that is the Risen Jesus. We are much richer when we mourn because we love than when we are indifferent and have no need to mourn.
