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Homilies are posted no later than during the week
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4 Ordinary Time
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Fourth Sunday of the
Year - A Cycle - Matthew 5:1-12
Some years ago New York magazine listed outstanding New
Yorkers. There was but one Catholic mentioned. She was Dorothy Day of
the Catholic Worker. For fifty years, she practiced the Beatitudes
daily in her House of Hospitality in New York City. She fed, clothed,
and housed the poor. She practiced the Beatitudes so well that secular
editors saluted her. She was our "tainted nature's solitary boast." Why
were there not more Catholic New Yorkers on the list? There are a
million in New York City.
A woman came to Jesus saying, "I can give you nothing but
myself." Christ replied, "Then you have given me everything."
The Beatitudes are the owner's manual Jesus gave to each
of us at Baptism. Note the Beatitudes refer to the world we live in and
not the life hereafter. No people had to take a dictionary with them
when they went to hear the Beatitudes. (Elijah Brown)
The Gospel opens in Galilee in northern Palestine. Were
Jesus to return to the province, He would find it unchanged. Its
terrain would bring happy memories to Him. This area gave Him the
colorful title - the Eternal Galilean.
For twenty centuries, Christ followers have struggled to
practice the Beatitudes. Some have achieved splendidly the goals of
Christ. The majority of us have not done well. But nothing beats a try
but a failure. (Unknown)
Those who would climb to loft heights must go by steps,
not leaps. (Unknown)
We can take consolation from TS Eliot, "For us there is
only the trying. The rest is not our business."
The Beatitudes outlined in today's Gospel were portions of
a longer talk of Jesus. The whole talk is called the Sermon on the
Mount. The Beatitudes are called the Charter of Christianity and the
Magna Carta for humanity.
If you journey to Israel, you find guides working on the
principle that paying customers should be kept happy. They will point
out to you the mountain where the Beatitudes were first spoken to a
spellbound crowd. But scholars do not know the precise spot.
Jesus spoke these famous words in the second year of His
public ministry. So perhaps we talk about 28 AD. The eight Beatitudes
are considered many slices of one brilliant emerald. There is little to
distinguish them one from the other. The Nazarene could have added or
subtracted one and still the total message would be the same. No one
would have been wiser.
The Beatitudes were given not to increase our knowledge
but change our lives. (DL Moody)
James Lowell wished Christ had added, "Blessed are they
who can laugh at themselves, for they will never cease to be amused.
Blessed are they who have nothing to say and cannot be persuaded to say
it."
Nor would Jesus pull your leg by claiming He was the first
to enunciate these principles. Cicero, who died in 43 BC, penned,
"There is nothing that makes a man more like God than mercy."
The spinal cord of the Beatitudes is love. This is our
love of God as well as belief in His love for us. But also it includes
love of neighbor. Important too in this formula is love of one's self.
It is difficult and perhaps impossible to love others if we dislike
ourself..
The God of the Old Testament required of his people
justice. That is the same justice commanded of us by tax collectors.
(Andrew Greely)
With the Beatitudes, the modus operandi has evolved to a
new level. God through His Son asks us for love. We are asked to help
the other fellows even though they don't deserve it. We are invited to
be generous with money even though we have mortgage payments. From what
we get, we make a living. From what we give we make a life. (Arthur
Ashe)
God the Father said, "Thou shalt not do evil." His Son
says, "Thou shalt do good." The former is the Silver Rule. The latter
the Golden Rule.
Why was Dorothy Day a saint? She was cheerful when it was
difficult to be cheerful, patient when difficult to be patient, pushed
on when she wanted to stand still, kept silent when she wanted to talk,
and stayed agreeable when she wanted to be disagreeable. It was quite
simple and always will be. (Unknown)
To paraphrase GK Chesterton, one cannot argue that the
Beatitudes have been tried and found wanting. Rather, they have been
found hard and not tried.
If you need courage to practice the Beatitudes, think of
US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's words: "We are fools for
Christ's sake...We must pray for courage to endure the scorn of the
sophisticated world. Jesus is greater than our greatest problem."
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http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
4 Ordinary Time |
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
That always seemed to me to be a strange blessing.When I hear
this, I sometimes think of people in a funeral home crying at the death
of a loved one.Is the Lord saying that a person is blessed
because the person is in grief? That cannot be possible.God
isn't happy when we have pain.At least, not my God.Maybe
we are being encouraged toshare in the grief of others,
not to let people be alone in their grief. Perhaps.Certainly the
Lord blesses people who leave the comfort of their lives to be exposed
to other people's pain.
But
this beatitude is a lot deeper than that.Do you remember when
Jesus said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and
stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather
your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and
you were not willing!"Jesus wept over Jerusalem because
thecenter of God's chosen people refused to recognize the
presence of the Messiah.He wept over Jerusalem because the
people there were more concerned with their possesssions and their
lives than with the presence of God among them.He wept over
Jerusalem because the people thought they were self sufficient.
He wept over Jerusalem because he could see the destruction their own
actions were bringing on themselves.
Blessed are those who weep, they shall be comforted.
This
is the reason why the Church has an active role in encouraging morality
in our nation.When we see that our public policyis
immoral,we weep over the destruction our actions are bringing
upon ourselves. The Church stands for morality because it weeps over
what the country is doing to itself. So to the many people, both within
and outside of the Church, who ask, "Why does the Church make a
statement which has to do with the laws of our country?" We have to
answer, "We do this because we love our country and we weep over what
ourcountry is doing to itself.
Some
will inevitably go on to say, "Church belongs in Church and State in
State and the two should remain seperate." I'm sure you have been faced
with that statement.First of all, to get historical regarding
the United States,the separation of Church and State was put
into the American Constitution to protect various religions from
interference by the country.There would be no one state religion
in the United States. Nor would certain faiths be excluded because they
had not been recognized by the American constitution.The
government would not pick leaders of the various denominations.
Nor would it force people to attend Church services.
Without demanding adherence to a particular religion, the founding
fathers recognized the need for God's guidance in the country and put
the words "In God We Trust" on our coins.I believe it was in our
own century that the words "under God" were added to the Pledge of
Allegiance. The separation of Church and State has nothing
to do with theneed of the Founding Fathers and the Country to
seek God's guidance for the nation.
Therefore, when the bishops make a statement, such as the document on
nuclear war, the document on poverty and justice, the statements on
fair labor practices, the statements on family values, or as we joined
the Church last week, in speaking out about abortion, the intent of the
Church is to direct the country in ways of morality.We can't
bePollyannas, blindly optimistic, and refuse to see evil among
us or do anything about evil among us.Therefore, Blessed are
those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
There is another problem here.We have only one life, not two
lives.We are Catholic, Christian citizens.We are not
Catholic here and citizens there.For our whole lives we have
heard the Church saying that what takes place in our Sunday worship
must be reflected in our daily lives.If we are going to speak to
each other about the Love of God in church Sunday, then we need to be
living the love of God in the way we treat other people during the
week.The problem is that some people act as though they are two
different people, saying one thing in Church and acting in a completely
opposite way in public. That is hypocracy.Just as it
is wrong for a person to be a fine family man in Church on Sunday and
be cheating on his wife during the week, it is also wrong for a person
to claim certain convictions in Church and others outside of
Church.Indeed, the well hacked out statement, "I am opposed to
this personally but would not publically oppose this."simply
translates into "I do not have the courage to stand by my convictions."
Jesus wept over Jerusalem because he could see the destruction the
actions of the people were bringing on themselves. We, in the Church,
weep for our country over those areas that are leading the country to
moral decay. Therefore, we speak out.
Blessed are those who mourn, for we shall be comforted.
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http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/
* available in
Spanish - see Spanish homilies
4 Ordinary Time
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Maybe Yes, Maybe No
(February 3, 2008)
Bottom line: Jesus does not say we should passively accept misfortunes,
but he does tell us that we will never be happy unless we can find
peace in the face of such trials.
A college professor once bared his heart to his students. He told them
that when he was a young man, his great dream was to obtain his
doctorate. He looked forward to the day when he would not be simply
Mark Muesse, but Dr. Mark Muesse. When the day arrived, his family and
friend had a big celebration. They pulled out all the stops. But Dr.
Muesse said that he felt strangely empty. The dream did not match the
reality.
Our lives are often like that. We imagine that certain things will make
us happy: good health, financial security and a long life for our loved
ones. But Jesus tells us something different. Not that those things are
bad, but that we will never be happy unless we can find happiness in
the midst of trials. Our problem is that none of us can see our lives
from beginning to end. Good fortune can turn sour and what at first
looks like bad luck might turn out to be a blessing. A famous story
illustrates this paradox:
Many years ago a man received a magnificent horse. All his neighbors
came to admire the horse. They said to him, "you are the luckiest man
in our village." The man replied, "Maybe yes, maybe no." A few days
later the horse escaped from his enclosure and the neighbors came to
console him. "What terrible luck!" they said. The man replied, "Maybe
yes, maybe no." The next week the horse returned and following him were
seven wild horses. The neighbors congratulated him on his good luck.
The man replied, "Maybe yes, maybe no." When his son tried to train one
of the wild horses, it threw him and the young man broke his leg. The
neighbors all commented on the bad luck. The man said, "Maybe yes,
maybe no." Then the army swept through the village and conscripted all
able bodied young men - but, because of the broken leg, they left the
man's son. The neighbors of course told him how fortunate he was. And
the man replied, "Maybe yes, maybe no."
In the beatitudes Jesus lists all the misfortunes which can befall a
person: bankruptcy & debts, loss of loved ones, hunger and
abstinence, political defeat, invasion of boundaries,
misunderstandings, false accusations – and, worst of all, to become the
laughingstock of former friends. Jesus does not say we should passively
accept those conditions, but he does tell us that we will never be
happy unless we can find peace in the face of such trials.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
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.
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Spanish Version
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http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
4 Ordinary Time |
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http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
4 Ordinary Time
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html
Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
4 Ordinary Time |
FOURTH Sunday, A
Zephaniah 2, 3; 3, 12-13; Psalm 146; 1 Cor 1, 26-31; Matthew 5, 1-12
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"BE GLAD AND REJOICE, FOR YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN IS GREAT."
The joys of heaven are infinite and eternal, and so are completely
beyond our ability to fully understand. But how often do we even try to
contemplate that eternal day of resurrection and life, when we will
know God as he is, for "we shall see him face to face"? To see God,
face to face, is an unlimited joy and glory, fulfilling our every need
and desire, and leaving us without any stain of sin or sadness
whatever.
The Catechism quotes St. Augustine in this regard: "There we shall rest
and see, we shall see and love, we shall love and praise. Behold what
will be at the end without end. For what other end do we have, if not
to reach the kingdom which has no end." (CCC 1720)
Inasmuch as we remain faithful to our baptism, and live the life of
Christ, we are promised "your reward in heaven is great." The difficult
task for us is to live in faithfulness, every moment, every day, to
Christ as Lord, through the power of His passion, death and
resurrection. We are called to perfection, to holiness. Christ teaches
us about holiness in the "Beatitudes" of Matthew, chapter 5, in today's
gospel. We are "poor in spirit" when we learn to practice a proper
detachment from reliance on the gifts of this life to rely instead on
the power and life of Christ, which will never end. Christ is the
resurrection and the life, and so to share in his kingly reign of
supernatural and eternal life takes us beyond death. By living out this
and the other beatitudes, we are blessed with rock-solid confidence
that heaven is not beyond our grasp, that we have been saved from
slavery to eternal death, brought about by sin.
It is the Eucharistic Sacrifice, or Mass, which is the way, first and
foremost, in which we share in Christ's perfect sacrifice for the
forgiveness of sins and the bestowal of life eternal. "Unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
you." If we grow in our knowledge and belief in the power of Christ,
truly present in His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, then we will
truly hunger for the Eucharist as the gift of real and eternal life. If
we grow in our reverential approach to the Real Presence of Christ, in
the communion of the Mass, then our faith will grow both in the divine
person of Christ and the life he bestows, and our love for the Mass
will grow. It is through faith, a divine gift, that we begin now to
share in the perfect happiness of the saints in heaven. Christ's Body
and Blood bestows that faith. Let us go with joy to meet Christ in the
Eucharist each Sunday: for "Blest are they who hunger and thirst for
holiness; they shall have their fill."
Looking forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we
"meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/ (Copy with permission only)
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http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
4 Ordinary Time
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Fourth Sunday on
Ordinary Time, Year A
In a recent translation of the New Testament Father Nick King SJ has
caused a bit of a stir by using the word Congratulations in the
Beatitudes.
We’ve only just got used to a change from the older rendering of
“Blessed are the poor” to a more modern “Happy are the poor”. But
apparently “Congratulations to the poor” goes beyond the pale for some
people. However, maybe not as much as the word “lucky” as I saw it
translated once!
I suppose these sort of controversies show just how difficult it is to
translate the Bible. I’m no expert on New Testament Greek so I won’t
take a stand on the appropriateness of any particular translation.
But perhaps these controversies do have a certain usefulness in that
they make us think hard about what Jesus really meant. And in the
Beatitudes we are at the very core of Christ’s message and on closely
examining the text we see just how revolutionary it is.
We find that all the things that are valued by this world are
disregarded by Christ and conversely we see that those things he valued
are more or less despised by the world.
The opening one is perhaps the most controversial and we find ourselves
asking “How can any one value poverty?” Yet here Christ places it at
the very head of this opening thesis which begins the most important
summary of his teaching, which we know as the Sermon on the Mount.
An adequate supply of money is essential to the smooth running of any
family or organisation, as it is of the Church itself. There are plenty
of well-off people who love God and place him and his Gospel at the
centre of their lives.
And indeed there are plenty of avaricious poor people. In fact some of
the poorest are among the greediest and most feckless people you could
ever meet.
So what is Christ getting at when he places the poor in such an exalted
position?
I think the way to look at it is to realise that Jesus hates poverty
but loves the poor.
Poverty is the result of sin and the reason that there are so many poor
people in the world is not so much because of their own inadequacies,
though that can and does play a part, but largely due to structures of
injustice which have built up over the generations.
As Christians it is our duty to do our part to eradicate poverty and to
eliminate unjust structures wherever they exist. An essential aspect of
the Gospel is that we reach out our hand to help the poor and
vulnerable.
When we look at the Beatitudes we have to be careful not to think of
them as addressed to eight distinct groups of people. The poor in
spirit being one group; the gentle another group; the merciful another
group, and so on.
No, the Beatitudes are addressed only to one group –to those who place
their trust and hope in God. This group has all these different
attributes. This group is made up of those who are hungry for
righteousness, those who are the gentle, those who are peacemakers,
etc, etc.
Actually all these groups can be summed up in the first group, they are
the poor in spirit.
And neither are there a series of distinct blessings that fall upon
some and not upon others. It is not only the pure in heart who will see
God and nor is comfort only given to those who mourn.
All these blessings are aspects of the one great blessing which is
summed up in the first Beatitude, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
What we are talking about then are the basic attitudes of those who
follow Christ. They will have a very particular outlook on the world.
They might well earn money and use it for their needs but it won’t rule
their life; we call them the Poor in Spirit.
They are gentle because they abhor violence.
They mourn because they understand the pain of loss.
They want what is right for they know this is the only way to make a
better world.
They are merciful because they realise that this is how God relates to
us.
They are pure in heart because they have dropped all need for falseness.
They are peacemakers because there is no enmity in God’s Kingdom.
They are persecuted in the cause of right and this is because those who
do not love God cannot stand them either.
What characterises this group is their dependence on God; their
closeness to him and their deep love of him on whom they know their
salvation utterly depends.
And what about us? The last beatitude is addressed to us and we are
being told that when we are persecuted for our faith it will bring only
blessings upon us. This sounds more like a warning and might make us
fearful but it is actually intended to give us hope when the world
throws all it can against us.
These Beatitudes are not just promises that will only be fulfilled
beyond the grave. These promises relate also to this life for if we
live the life recommended in the Beatitudes we will already be living
the life of the Kingdom of God.
We will be making it an actual reality in the here and now and we will
at some point be able to look around and see that we are living in that
new heaven and new earth that Christ speaks about.
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Contact Father at cbonar@cfl.rr.com;
information about his book of homilies is available at www.clydebonar.com.
4 Ordinary Time |
Fourth Sunday in
Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Readings: Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1: 26-31; Matthew 5:
1-12
Beatitude People
Introduction
Have you ever been to a rodeo? Excitement,
gripping action! Cowboys roping calves. Riding broncos. The crowd
cheers the great skill, the daring of the cowboys.
But, when the bucking steer throws the cowboy,
they send in the clowns. Those goofy-looking clowns with baggy pants,
funny colored wigs, bright red noses. Clowns distract the charging
bull, the bucking bronco, while other clowns rescue the fallen cowboy.
The crowd roars with laughter.
Did you ever think, maybe, the clowns are the
real heroes of the rodeo? Where there is danger, where bravery is
needed, when the fallen need help, they send in the clowns. We applaud
the skills of the cowboys, but we love the clowns.
Heroes of the Bible Are Beatitude People
Thinking about rodeo clowns helps us to
understand the Beatitudes. The world applauds the successful, the rich,
the powerful. But God blesses the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the
meek, the persecuted. Clowns are the heroes of the rodeo. In the Bible,
the heroes live the Beatitudes.
Remember Moses? God told Moses to command the
Pharaoh to set free the Hebrew slaves. Moses protested, "I am slow of
speech and slow of tongue" (Exodus 4:10). In fact, Moses stuttered.
But, Moses also was "meek" (Numbers 12:3). In
the Bible, "meek" means "God-molded," a person totally submissive to
the will of God. That was Moses. "Blessed are the meek," Christ says.
Moses did exactly what God asked him to do. Moses told the Pharaoh,
"Let my people go" (Exodus 5:1). Moses, meek, God-molded.
The beatitude, "Blessed are the poor in
spirit," brings to mind the boy with five barley loaves and two fish
(John 6:5-14). All day the crowd had listened to Jesus. By late
afternoon, they were hungry. Selfish people would tell the boy to keep
his fish and bread, to make some sandwiches for his own lunch.
But the poor in spirit are not selfish. The
boy offers his five barley loaves and two fish and Christ works a
miracle. Five thousand, the multitude, eat their fill. With twelve
baskets of food left over. An unnamed boy, poor in spirit, the hero of
the day.
The Bible is filled with heroes who lived the
Beatitudes. The Apostles Peter and Paul. Peter, the rock of faith;
Paul, the apostle to the gentiles. Paul tells us his persecutions. He
wrote (2 Corinthians 11:24-27), "Five times ... I received forty lashes
less one; three times I was beaten with rods, I was stoned once."
"Blessed are they who are persecuted," Christ says.
Jesus warned Peter, "when you are old, you
will stretch out your hands and someone else will ... take you where
you do not wish to go" (John 21:18). It was Christ predicting how Peter
would die. To be nailed to a cross, head down, as Nero persecuted the
Christians.
These are the beatitude people, heroes of our
faith. A meek Moses, an unnamed boy poor in spirit, and the persecuted
apostles.
Francis, Therese, and John Paul II
All through the history of our Catholic Church
we find great heroes and heroines who are beatitude people. Francis of
Assisi, a peacemaker; ThérPse of Lisieux, a heroine of mercy;
Pope John Paul II, hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
In his prayer, St. Francis of Assisi speaks
like a peacemaker. "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where
there is hatred, let me sow love. Grant that I may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be loved as to love."
All Francis did showed his devotion to God. His prayer was, "My God and
my all." His greeting to others, "Pax et bonum, Peace and all goodness."
The peacemaker is a person others look at and
say, "Here is a person of God." This at-oneness with God attracts
others, who in turn seek the same peace. "Blessed are the peacemakers,"
blessed is St. Francis of Assisi.
Another beatitude
person, St. ThérPse of Lisieux.1 Call her the merciful
saint. "Blessed are the merciful." Remember, "God is love"
(1 John 4:8). ThérPse wrote in her autobiography, "My vocation
is to love," and her heart burned with love.
ThérPse also knew love has to be proved
by action. When one sister make an annoying noise in chapel,
ThérPse lovingly offered the noise to God as if "some delightful
music." When cranky old Sister St. Peter needed to be piloted into the
refractory, ThérPse carefully walked behind the "invalid holding
her up by the girdle." St. ThérPse of Lisieux showed us the
"little way," the way of love, of mercy.
Another beatitude, to "hunger and thirst for
righteousness," means to yearn for God, to be like Christ (see
Galatians 2:20). Pope John Paul II set an example. John Paul sought
always to do God's will.2 His papal motto, "Totus Tuus" translates "I
am completely yours."
When Pope Pius XII named him a bishop, then
Father Karol Wojtyla went to a nearby Ursuline convent and lay
prostrate before the tabernacle, for hours. He told the nuns, "I have a
lot to talk about with the Lord."
Pope John Paul's day began with an hour of
prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, kneeling on a prie-dieu in his
private chapel. Mass followed. The Pope did his writing in his chapel,
before the Blessed Sacrament.
Pope John Paul II hungered and thirsted for
righteousness, for God and God's kingdom.
Francis of Assisi, a peacemaker; Therese of
Lisieux, a heroine of mercy; Pope John Paul II, hungering and thirsting
for righteousness. These and so many other great Christian heroes and
heroines who are beatitude people.
Becoming Beatitude People
The question is, How do we become beatitude
people ourselves? The Beatitudes identify the steps. We need to be meek
like Moses, to be pure in heart, and we need to mourn for our sins.
"Blessed are they who mourn," Jesus says. When
we mourn, we feel deep sorrow for the lose of something we love deeply.
As Christians, above everything we love God. When we sin, the sin says,
"I don't care whether or not my life pleases God."
As we realize how serious our sins, we come to
tears, we mourn the lose of God's friendship. Any priest can tell
stories of people crying during the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Etched
in my memory is a young inmate. He told of killing his own son while
shooting at his former wife's lover. Wrenching tears flooded his eyes.
"Blessed are they who mourn." Seeing our remorse, our deep sorrow, God
forgives our sins, we move closer to God.
"Blessed are the meek." We must become as meek
as Moses. God-molded, totally focused on Christ. A meek person is
patient. Like the day the pilot discovered a gash in the tire during
preflight check. With delayed take-off, the connecting flight was
missed. The meek person is sensitive and considerate. With patience,
the meek person makes light conversation as the haggard clerk checks
for another available flight.
"Blessed are the meek," blessed are the patient, the gentle, blessed
are those who imitate Christ.
"Blessed are the pure in heart," blessed are
those who have conquered pride, wiped out of their hearts anything
contrary to God. It should be so simple: we are made in the image of
God, the Holy Spirit dwells within us, our natural way of acting should
be like Christ.
But, we're tempted. Bernard of Clairvaux
calls curiosity the first step of pride, the beginning of all sin.
Advertisements play to curiosity. Buy designer clothes, look like the
rich and famous. The ad for the lottery teases us, tells us, "I'll bet
you know what you would do if you won the lottery."
With purity of heart, we need have no worries
about what others wear, how rich they are, what they possess. As the
saying puts it, the holy person "lets go and lets God."
How do we ourselves become beatitude people?
The Beatitudes identify the steps. We need to be meek like Moses, to be
pure in heart, and we need to mourn for our sins.
Conclusion
After listing the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us,
"Rejoice and be glad," you are the blessed of God. Living the
beatitudes, we come to a sense of wholeness, a sense that all is right
with our corner of the world. We gain the peace that comes from being
close to God. Christ offers us joy, we become joy-filled.
And, as a bonus, Christ promises, "Your reward
will be great in heaven."
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