Homily for the week of January 30, 2011

Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time , 2010

Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13

Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Matthew 5:1-12a

The passage which I just read from Matthew’s Gospel is one of the most often quoted and used by Catholics and persons of other religions, and of no religious affiliation. It is often referred to as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mountain. The part that I just read today is also referred to as the Beatitudes. You will also hear parts of this Bible reading for the next seven weeks. There are 9 Beatitudes. They form a summary of all of the teachings of Jesus Christ, and therefore should be an outline as to how we should live as Catholics. Jesus tells us about 9 ways by which we can be happy. If you do this particular action, then you will be blessed by this.

On this particular day Jesus decides to climb a small mountain so that he could see all those who came to hear him, much like Moses did when God gave him the 10 commandments. There were many people around when Jesus began teaching on this particular day. They were ordinary persons like you and me. He wanted his message to be for everyone. Jesus sat down. Sitting down was the normal position of a teacher at the time of Jesus. So by sitting down Jesus is emphasing that these beatitudes are to be learned by us. Jesus was not just have an ordinary conversation with us.

For most of those to whom Jesus spoke, the Beatitudes were very strange and always new teachings. But also for many of you, they may be strange. How can we be happy if we are poor, if we are sad, if we are hungry, if we control our desires, if we try to make peace, if we are persecuted?

The Beatitudes are like the rungs or steps on a ladder which Jesus has arranged in exact order. Each step builds on the foundation of the previous step, each leads to the next, and each one is necessary to get to the next one. We can’t divide them up keeping those we like and leaving those we don’t care for to others.

The beatitudes name the ways in which peoples’ happiness is threatened such as poverty, grief, hunger, war and persecution. Jesus does not advise that those so afflicted simply wait for a reversal of fortune in the hereafter. To be poor in spirit is not to accept poverty as an inevitable state of life but rather to find one’s wealth in God, to trust in God’s care for the poor and to seek righteousness, which rectifies the unequal distribution of goods so that all have enough to thrive.

In the beatitudes, Jesus sets out the guidelines as to how we are to live as Catholics. The beatitudes are sometimes said to be the Christian equivalent to the Ten Commandments. What is immediately striking about them is their style of expression. They are not commands. They are not negative. Rather, they celebrate the essential qualities found in the true followers of Christ.

The top rung of the ladder is the Beatitude: BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Each Beatitude begins with the word BLESSED or HAPPY or LUCKY and followed by the verb IS. If we follow the beatitudes, Jesus tells us, weARE truly blessed by God and we will be God like -- not that we WILL BE like God.

But why be happy if we are poor? Those who were “poor” at the time of Jesus were not those who had little or no money. Rather “The poor” were those who had lost their honor. Widows and orphans were the most common example of people who had lost their status and thus their honor. Widows and orphans were the poor. In order to get out of poverty the widows and orphans tried to restore their honor by getting married again, or through attaching themselves to an extended family.

Following Jesus’ instructions is indeed unnatural. That’s why we need supernatural help to do it. We might think that Saints like Anthony or Francis or Augustine or Theresa or Brother André of Montreal were “born that way”? They were not. The only way they, or any one of us, can possibly live according to the Beatitudes is if we let God’s Spirit dwell within us and take charge of our lives.

All of the Beatitude blessings describe a spiritual attitude or action. If we do this, then we will be rewarded by this. All, that is, except one. The last Beatitude says: Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me….your reward will be great in heaven.

The Beatitudes are intended to be imitated. How often have young boys and girls tried to imitate the athletes in their school or elsewhere whom they admire. At an early age a child often tries the skills or lifestyle of others they have witnessed. But they soon realize that just wanting to be an outstanding basketball or football player does not happen overnight. Athletes just don’t play in the Super Bowl because they want to. Their football skills are not gained overnight but as a result of training and discipline for many years.

So is it, too, with our spirituality and religion. Because the beatitudes do not come naturally to the more selfish and fearful side of ourselves, we have to work at them conscientiously. Today, the pursuit of mercy, peace, or gentleness, which are the foundations for peace and justice, can seem so difficult that we don’t want to even consider doing them. In fact, compared to the Beatitude, the 10 commandments may seem a lot easier.

As with athletes or musicians or construction workers, the beatitudes must be practiced every day with the help of a coach, a spiritual fitness director or a respected worker. Yes, and as with athletics, starting out in practice can often be painful. The same applies to our spirituality. I suggest using one of the beatitudes for the next 9 weeks starting with the first. Take 10 minutes by yourself or with someone else to just be honest with yourself as to how you are doing with it; then another 10 minutes to place into your life some way in which you can practice it.