Beatitudes Year C 6th Sunday
The Beatitudes: the way of life for Christians
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
“Happiness is that which all [men] seek.” So says the great philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle also observes that everything people do twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, is what they believe will bring them happiness in one form or another. But the problem is that what people think will bring them happiness does not in fact always bring them true and lasting happiness. Observing people, one thing stands out constantly, namely, they are never completely satisfied. No matter how satisfied a particular experience leaves them, the euphoria quickly wears off and, like Oliver, of Charles Dickens fame; they soon want "More"!
We know that the good things of this world are good indeed; but we also know that they never completely satisfy. As we cross one horizon, another stretches out ahead of us. There is no end for our dreams. There is always a dream waiting for us to dream.
In today’s gospel, Jesus in the Sermon on the level ground shows that he really wants his followers to have true and lasting happiness, the happiness that the world and everything in it cannot give. Everybody seeks happiness. But often we look for it in the wrong places.
There are four Beatitudes according to Luke but they have to be considered as four facets of discipleship. Each of the four aspects constitutes a road map for anyone who seeks to attain this happiness of the kingdom. We ought to spell the word beatitudes to “Be-attitudes” to make the point that these are lifestyle stances of the Catholic who understands what his or her life is for.
The four Beatitudes do not describe four different people such that we need to ask which of the four blessings or four woes suits us personally. No, they are eight different snapshots taken from different angles of the same godly person. The blessed moments are those in which we recognize that nothing in this world can bring us total security or happiness. The moments of "woe" are those in which we deceive ourselves into thinking that riches, pleasure, power and fame can provide total fulfillment and happiness.
These beatitudes are like rungs on a ladder which Christ has arranged in an exact order. There is a pattern to his arrangement. Each step builds on the foundation of the previous step, each leads to the next, and each is indispensable. We can’t divide them up, retaining those we find appealing and leaving those we don’t care for to others.
We have to start at the bottom, and the first step is a big one. Here we find a rung that immediately makes people living in a rich society at least a little anxious: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
What does poverty of spirit mean? It is my awareness that I cannot save myself, that I am basically defenseless, that neither money nor power will spare me from suffering and death, and that no matter what I achieve and acquire in this life, it will be far less than I wanted. Poverty of spirit is my awareness that I need God’s help and mercy more than I need anything else. Being poor in spirit means letting go of the myth that the more I possess, the happier I’ll be. It is an outlook summed up in a French proverb: When you die, you carry in your clutched hand only what you gave away. Poverty of spirit is a letting go of self and of all that keeps you locked in yourself.
The second Beatitude is “Blessed are they who hunger, for they shall be satisfied.” Jesus praises those who want what is right as urgently as a person in the desert wants a glass of water or a child in a refugee camp cries for a crust of bread.
The third rung has to do with grieving: “Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted.” We have a lot to mourn. Mourning is linked to poverty of spirit. Without poverty of spirit and the hunger for truth, I am always on guard to keep what I have for myself, and to keep me for myself. An immediate consequence of poverty of spirit is becoming sensitive to the pain and losses of people around me, not only those whom I happen to know and care for, but also people I don’t know and don’t want to know. To the extent that I open my heart to others, I will do whatever I can to help — pray, share what I have, even share myself. I also open myself to the grief of my neighbor.
God grant us the gift of tears: for those whom we miss, for our past sins, for the sins of others, for the violence we do to each other and to the world God gives to us each day.
The fourth rung of ladder beatitude: Addressing his disciples Jesus calls those who are persecuted for their faith blessed because 1) they are eligible for a glorious reward ("Your reward will be great in heaven"), 2) they are given the privilege of sharing in the pain and suffering and rejection which Jesus Himself endured for our sins, and 3) they are following the footsteps of the martyrs of the Old Testament period and of the early martyrs of the infant Church. The thousands of Christians who courageously face persecution for their faith in different parts of the world today share in practicing the same beatitude, bearing heroic witness to their faith in Christ Jesus and inspiring us to do the same. We are called to end anything and everything that oppresses the human spirit.
A monk once visited a priory, when one of the monks greeted the visiting monk and took him to the guest room, as they climbed the stairs; he apologized to his brother monk for the many steps
The visiting monk replied to his apology in this way: “There are many steps in my abbey, too.” Then he added, “I count them as I climb…. This is how I count them: one, one, one…!” In the spiritual life it is always the beginning.
As you can see, the program that Jesus calls us to live is not any easy way of life. For many the Beatitudes may seem unrealistic, even impossible, for they appear to contradict every fundamental attitude of the world. But begin from one.
Jeremiah gives a beatitude of blessing (17: 7-8) paired with a curse (17: 5-6), as its opposite, when he compares the wicked to a barren bush in a desert and the just to a well watered tree growing near a running stream. In essence, this “beatitude” teach us that if we choose God as our hope, our security, and our happiness, we will be blessed, truly happy. On the other hand, if we choose human standards for our guides, ourselves as our source of security and the meeting of our own needs and desires as our happiness, we will find ourselves living in increasing misery and confusion, that is, with woe. Jeremiah tells us that the only source of lasting happiness is trust in God and hope in His promises.
Blessed are those who are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, insulted, and denounced because in poverty, we recognize God’s reign; in hunger, his providence; in sorrow, true happiness; and in persecution, true joy. What makes one blessed is not simply poverty or hunger or sadness or suffering for faith, but commitment to Jesus and His spirit of sharing.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
“Happiness is that which all [men] seek.” So says the great philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle also observes that everything people do twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, is what they believe will bring them happiness in one form or another. But the problem is that what people think will bring them happiness does not in fact always bring them true and lasting happiness. Observing people, one thing stands out constantly, namely, they are never completely satisfied. No matter how satisfied a particular experience leaves them, the euphoria quickly wears off and, like Oliver, of Charles Dickens fame; they soon want "More"!
We know that the good things of this world are good indeed; but we also know that they never completely satisfy. As we cross one horizon, another stretches out ahead of us. There is no end for our dreams. There is always a dream waiting for us to dream.
In today’s gospel, Jesus in the Sermon on the level ground shows that he really wants his followers to have true and lasting happiness, the happiness that the world and everything in it cannot give. Everybody seeks happiness. But often we look for it in the wrong places.
There are four Beatitudes according to Luke but they have to be considered as four facets of discipleship. Each of the four aspects constitutes a road map for anyone who seeks to attain this happiness of the kingdom. We ought to spell the word beatitudes to “Be-attitudes” to make the point that these are lifestyle stances of the Catholic who understands what his or her life is for.
The four Beatitudes do not describe four different people such that we need to ask which of the four blessings or four woes suits us personally. No, they are eight different snapshots taken from different angles of the same godly person. The blessed moments are those in which we recognize that nothing in this world can bring us total security or happiness. The moments of "woe" are those in which we deceive ourselves into thinking that riches, pleasure, power and fame can provide total fulfillment and happiness.
These beatitudes are like rungs on a ladder which Christ has arranged in an exact order. There is a pattern to his arrangement. Each step builds on the foundation of the previous step, each leads to the next, and each is indispensable. We can’t divide them up, retaining those we find appealing and leaving those we don’t care for to others.
We have to start at the bottom, and the first step is a big one. Here we find a rung that immediately makes people living in a rich society at least a little anxious: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
What does poverty of spirit mean? It is my awareness that I cannot save myself, that I am basically defenseless, that neither money nor power will spare me from suffering and death, and that no matter what I achieve and acquire in this life, it will be far less than I wanted. Poverty of spirit is my awareness that I need God’s help and mercy more than I need anything else. Being poor in spirit means letting go of the myth that the more I possess, the happier I’ll be. It is an outlook summed up in a French proverb: When you die, you carry in your clutched hand only what you gave away. Poverty of spirit is a letting go of self and of all that keeps you locked in yourself.
The second Beatitude is “Blessed are they who hunger, for they shall be satisfied.” Jesus praises those who want what is right as urgently as a person in the desert wants a glass of water or a child in a refugee camp cries for a crust of bread.
The third rung has to do with grieving: “Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted.” We have a lot to mourn. Mourning is linked to poverty of spirit. Without poverty of spirit and the hunger for truth, I am always on guard to keep what I have for myself, and to keep me for myself. An immediate consequence of poverty of spirit is becoming sensitive to the pain and losses of people around me, not only those whom I happen to know and care for, but also people I don’t know and don’t want to know. To the extent that I open my heart to others, I will do whatever I can to help — pray, share what I have, even share myself. I also open myself to the grief of my neighbor.
God grant us the gift of tears: for those whom we miss, for our past sins, for the sins of others, for the violence we do to each other and to the world God gives to us each day.
The fourth rung of ladder beatitude: Addressing his disciples Jesus calls those who are persecuted for their faith blessed because 1) they are eligible for a glorious reward ("Your reward will be great in heaven"), 2) they are given the privilege of sharing in the pain and suffering and rejection which Jesus Himself endured for our sins, and 3) they are following the footsteps of the martyrs of the Old Testament period and of the early martyrs of the infant Church. The thousands of Christians who courageously face persecution for their faith in different parts of the world today share in practicing the same beatitude, bearing heroic witness to their faith in Christ Jesus and inspiring us to do the same. We are called to end anything and everything that oppresses the human spirit.
A monk once visited a priory, when one of the monks greeted the visiting monk and took him to the guest room, as they climbed the stairs; he apologized to his brother monk for the many steps
The visiting monk replied to his apology in this way: “There are many steps in my abbey, too.” Then he added, “I count them as I climb…. This is how I count them: one, one, one…!” In the spiritual life it is always the beginning.
As you can see, the program that Jesus calls us to live is not any easy way of life. For many the Beatitudes may seem unrealistic, even impossible, for they appear to contradict every fundamental attitude of the world. But begin from one.
Jeremiah gives a beatitude of blessing (17: 7-8) paired with a curse (17: 5-6), as its opposite, when he compares the wicked to a barren bush in a desert and the just to a well watered tree growing near a running stream. In essence, this “beatitude” teach us that if we choose God as our hope, our security, and our happiness, we will be blessed, truly happy. On the other hand, if we choose human standards for our guides, ourselves as our source of security and the meeting of our own needs and desires as our happiness, we will find ourselves living in increasing misery and confusion, that is, with woe. Jeremiah tells us that the only source of lasting happiness is trust in God and hope in His promises.
Blessed are those who are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, insulted, and denounced because in poverty, we recognize God’s reign; in hunger, his providence; in sorrow, true happiness; and in persecution, true joy. What makes one blessed is not simply poverty or hunger or sadness or suffering for faith, but commitment to Jesus and His spirit of sharing.
No comments:
Post a Comment