SUNDAY REFLECTIONS with Fr. FRANCIS: FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Zephaniah 2: 3; 3: 12-13; 1 Corinthians 1: 26-31; Matthew 5: 1-12a

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Rev. Dr. Francis Perry Azah

On this Sunday we are presented with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in which we are given the Beatitudes. These Beatitudes are the blue prints of our Christian journey and the most basic and important concepts of our faith, of our attitude toward God and our attitude toward one another. The Beatitudes are clear, focused pictures of what Christ expects from us his followers. We are challenged to place them in strategic positions in our lives, to be looked at and reflected on regularly. Whether in time of Jesus or today the Beatitudes represent an eccentric set of values; to be true to the Beatitudes is a risky stance. Those who hold to this view of the world are countercultural and may face derision for following this weird reversal of expectations. In the words and actions of Jesus we hear a call not only to be ready to display our spirituality but to live it in plain view of the entire world.

The original Greek word of the Beatitudes is “happy” in an ordinary sense, but it also means one who is especially happy or favored or fortunate. That is why it is translated “blessed.” Happiness is that which all men seek. But the problem is that what people think will bring them happiness does not in fact always bring them true and lasting happiness. The ethical person is the person who knows and does what can truly bring them not just excitement or pleasure but true and lasting happiness. In today’s gospel, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount shows that he really wants his followers to have true and lasting happiness, the happiness that the world and everything in it cannot give.

This state of blessedness is what Jesus calls being in the “kingdom of God.” The eight beatitudes we have in today’s gospel constitute a road map for anyone who seeks to attain this happiness of the kingdom. Why does Jesus deem it necessary to establish these guideposts to the kingdom right from the very first teaching that he gives to the disciples? It is because of the importance of this teaching. Everybody seeks happiness. But often we look for it in the wrong places. Ask people around you what makes people happy and compare the answers you get with the answers Jesus gives. The world has its own idea of happiness.

The prophet Zephaniah, Christ and Paul, encourage us to reflect on the rewards of everlasting blessings, comfort, happiness, peace, and joy that awaits us when we are poor in spirit, seek peace, trust God, when we obey God, when we are humble, strive to do His will and live in the spirit of total abandonment to His providence and divine mercy. The call for us to live the “beatitude”- poverty of the spirit, peace, hunger for justice, mercy, pure of heart, and bearing suffering for the sake of the Gospel, trusting God unconditionally, becomes more and more urgent in our world today, characterized by conflict and rivalry with erosion of family values. A world crippled by selfishness, individualism, pursuit of wealth and secularism. Aggressive pursuit of personal wealth and satisfaction has left many less interested in the promotion of the common good. In terms of communication individual neighbors have become anonymous while electronic objects are starting to talk to us.

We know God is the supreme peace maker, love, righteous and mercy. We are invited as God’s sons and daughters in our own little ways and capacities, to participate in living these characteristics of a true disciple of Christ in our homes, families, Church communities and in the general public. We are invited to promote peace and justice, by being meek and gentle in our words, actions and thought, pursuing righteousness and ready to forgive and be merciful to others after the examples Christ, the true source of our happiness. While consoling the underprivileged, Christ has positive commands for those of his followers who are in a position to carry them out. “Blessed are the merciful,” he says. That is to say: those who will show mercy and compassion to their suffering, needy neighbors can rest assured that God will be merciful to them on the Day of Judgment.

The Beatitudes should move us to a new sense of inclusion, to a new way of building a community that embraces those who might otherwise be left out of the picture. The Beatitudes encourage us to broaden our view of life and of the kingdom of God. They serve as God’s invitation for us to find out, and to see where we fit in this big picture of God’s plan of salvation. The beatitudes are a living challenge to us. They hold up a mirror to our lives, and offer us an enticing vision of how life might be for us if we choose, again and again, to try and live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven.