Homily 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A.
THE BEATITUDES AND HOLINESS.
The Beatitudes, a way to holiness and happiness.
AV Catechism + Gospel reflection.
The Beatitudes, a way to holiness and happiness.
AV Catechism + Gospel reflection.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and
utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”
- With these words, Jesus had just expressed the novelty of His message, a radical change in spirit as compared to the teachings of the Pharisees who considered misfortune and adversity as God’s punishment and earthly happiness as God’s reward.
- Humility, misfortune, adversity in our life are not God’s punishments but rather occasions to seek God and are pathways to real happiness and joy in this life and the next.
- With the Beatitudes, Jesus clearly laid down the necessary moral conduct and spiritual dispositions which He demands from all His followers. The struggle to practice these moral dispositions and virtues will ultimately lead to happiness in heaven: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”
- It is worthwhile to note that Jesus begins the Beatitude with the word “blessed”. The word “Blessed” means “happy,” “fortunate.” Poverty of spirit (humility and detachment), hunger for justice and righteousness, mercy, meekness, purity of heart which leads to purity of the body, peace, perseverance…all these are virtues which Christ taught and lived: virtues which we must strive to live as well with the help of God’s grace in order to find earthly happiness and arrive at eternal happiness.
- As Pope Francis said: With the Beatitudes, Jesus “shows us the way to life, the way that he himself has taken. Jesus himself is the way, and he proposes this way as the path to true happiness. Throughout his life, from his birth in the stable in Bethlehem until his death on the cross and his resurrection, Jesus embodied the Beatitudes. All the promises of God’s Kingdom were fulfilled in him. In proclaiming the Beatitudes, Jesus asks us to follow him and to travel with him along the path of love, the path that alone leads to eternal life. It is not an easy journey, yet the Lord promises us his grace and he never abandons us. We face so many challenges in life: poverty, distress, humiliation, the struggle for justice, persecutions, the difficulty of daily conversion, the effort to remain faithful to our call to holiness, and many others. But if we open the door to Jesus and allow him to be part of our lives, if we share our joys and sorrows with him, then we will experience the peace and joy that only God, who is infinite love, can give. (Message for the World Youth Day 2014).”
A Blessed Sunday and week ahead! Fr. Rolly Arjonillo
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