Monday, January 30, 2023

Living out the beatitudes by giving yourself in love to bring happiness to others - Homily Fourth Sunday Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we are now in the last weekend in January. ‌This is the time of year when many of us have made resolutions in the new year for positive changes in our lives. Some of the most popular resolutions are to get in better physical shape or to lose weight.  The gyms are usually packed the first few weeks, but usually about this time the crowds start to thin out as the fervor in keeping those resolutions starts to wane.
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Why do we make these resolutions?  We do so to feel better about ourselves by making positive changes in our lives. We may do things to improve our overall health, like exercising or eating healthier food. We might want to find better job to make more income, to have less stress, or to have more personal time for ourselves and family. We might desire to improve relationships with our spouse, friends, or children. The overall goal is to improve our sense of well-being to make us happy.  While our own happiness is good, if we really want to be happy, we can do so by giving of ourselves with love.  In the Beatitudes Jesus shows us a way of living that not only brings us happiness, but also to others through the love we share with them which can bring lasting joy.

Over the past few weeks, we have hearing about Jesus public ministry.  Two weeks ago, Jesus was Baptized by John the Baptist, who testified that Jesus is Lamb of God and the Son of God.  Last week we heard about Jesus’ preaching to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and Andrew, James, and John being call by Jesus to follow to become fishers of men. This week Jesus teaches his disciples of how they are to live as his disciples through the beatitudes.

The word beatitude means being happy, not in the sense of an emotional state, but that of

good fortune.  In living the beatitudes, the disciples learn they will have the good fortune of being comforted, receive mercy, inherit lands, and being satisfied. The blessings get even better as they will see God, be called God’s children, and the God’s kingdom will be theirs. This was incredible news for the disciples as they had been anticipating the Messiah’s coming.  The Messiah they thought would come would be one of power to overthrow the Roman occupiers.  But Jesus’ teaching announced that God’s kingdom would be come to those who were considered least in the world through mercy and love.

God’s ways are much different than that the world the disciples lived in.  Their occupying Romans of their world valued those who are strong, powerful, and self-sufficient. The blessed in God’s Kingdom are those who were poor in spirit placing their total trust in God and are humble, meek, and mournful. The clean of heart, peacemakers, and righteous are the ones who would also receive his blessing. He was teaching them what God values most, which was very different from world powers of domination, and brute force.
 
In Jesus’ teaching on the beatitudes, he speaks of the blessings in both the present and future. Some of the blessings will be realized in this world through love and mercy his disciples bring to others living out the beatitudes. But others will come to those later in eternal life with God. In living out the beatitudes we are striving to bring about the blessings of God’s Kingdom in this world as his disciples and hoping to receive them as well in eternal life.
 
Our world of today is not much different from the time of Jesus. We can make a difference in our world that is so much in need of love and mercy by living out the beatitudes, How are we to live out the beatitudes in our own lives? We can be poor in spirit by placing our total trust in God each day through a relationship in prayer thanking God for our good fortune and asking for his help in our trials.  We can mourn for the sins we have committed against God and others each day by coming to God in prayer asking for forgiveness. We can be meek by restraining from anger when someone cuts us off on the drive to work, and instead just letting it go and praying for the person who cut us off. We can hunger and thirst for righteousness by refusing to gossip and asking others not to do so. We can be merciful by praying for the strength to forgive someone who has hurt us in the past and being open to the possibility of reconciliation. We can be clean of heart by asking God for the help to rid us of garbage in our heart and mind that separates us from God.  We can be peacemakers by deciding to let go of always being the one who is right to foster peace and harmony in our family, work, or at school.
 
So, if your new year’s resolutions are not working out as planned, consider making the Beatitudes one your new resolutions for the year. This may be the perfect time to do so with Lent coming up. Pick out one of the beatitudes each week and work on trying to practice it throughout the week. Keep in mind that you are practicing and not being perfect. If you fail, take it to God in prayer, asking for help to do better in the coming week.  In doing so you’ll also be practicing the first beatitude, being poor in spirit.  And remember, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of God.

1 comment:

  1. Very inspiring homily, Deacon Ron. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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