“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 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. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were
before you.”
Matthew 5:3-12
When
my dad and I were blessed enough to go to Israel,
one of our favorite
spots was the mount
on which Jesus is said
to have established the beatitudes.
This Sermon on the Mount
is one of the more known stories in the Bible.
Most people know the
gist of the Beatitudes.
Montfort brought to
light a new way of looking at the Beatitudes
and applying it to life.
The word beatitude is
related to the word blessed.
The word blessed is
derived from both Old English and Latin
and means consecrated by
blood.
Blood means pain and
suffering.
This fits the Beatitudes
well when we truly take a look at them-
Blessed are the poor,
those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst…
But they do not end in
pain and suffering:
“Each
of the Beatitudes promises joy as a reward for suffering endured in love and
out of love.”
For theirs is the
kingdom of heaven, for they shall be comforted, for they shall see God...
“The
Beatitudes contrast true happiness, which only love secures, with false worldly
joys.”
Even though we know in
our heart of hearts what true happiness looks like,
especially compared with
the false worldly joys,
we still are more
attracted to the tangible and immediate false joys of the world.
“I
have found the One Who can give peace to your restless hearts, but you are
vainly looking for Him in wealth, pleasure, and power. He is the Eternal and
Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus from Nazareth. He alone is true wealth, true joy and
true power. ”
We claim that we cannot
find Him
but truly,
we have been looking in
the wrong places.
“The
Cross stands at the very heart of all the Beatitudes in the shape of poverty of
spirit, gentleness, tears, mercy, etc. This is a useful reminder for…[we] are
so easily misled by the ‘beatitudes’ of the world from which the Cross has been
carefully eliminated.”
This picture is from when mass was celebrated in Israel where the Sermon on the Mount took place.
I don't think I could ever go to the Holy Land...or any place that Jesus walked...I would be a bucket, no not a bucket but an ocean, of tears...tears of many emotions; joy, sorrow, awe, wonder, pain etc.
ReplyDeleteLike the song, "I Can Only Imagine"...I can only imagine what it would be like and in that imagination I know that I would be an ocean of tears.
Shouldn't that be what it is like every time we go to Mass?
Or visit with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel for Adoration?
???
Mrs.O.