BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT



MONDAY, TENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

1 Kings 17:16; Ps 121; Mt 5:1-12

Path to life of Blessedness

The giving of the Beatitudes has a similar setting to Moses’ giving of the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. Then, the people of Israel were delivered from their bondage in Egypt and on their way to the promised Land of Canaan. Gathered at the foot of the mountain, Moses proclaimed to them the Ten Commandments, which were guidelines for them to enter into communion with Yahweh and gain true freedom. The setting of the teaching on the Beatitudes has a similar representation. The disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ gathered around him on the mountain, and he proclaimed the guidelines for the possession of the life of heaven. Just like the people of Israel were yet to enter and take possession of the Promised Land of Canaan, the new people of God are yet to receive the new life of heaven because Jesus Christ was yet to die. While Moses proclaimed the Old Law amidst thunder and lightning, Jesus Christ our Lord serenely and peacefully proclaimed the new Law of grace to the disciples and the crowd gathered around him. Little did they understand the privilege they were enjoying listening to the Messiah. Unlike the setting and the giving of the Commandments intended to instil the fear of God into the people, Christ gave the Beatitudes to reveal the life of God to those called to be adopted children of God.

We make further distinctions between the Old and the New Laws based on the mediators. While the people received the Old Laws from Moses who was a steward in the House of God, the New Law of grace is proclaimed by Jesus Christ who is the Son of God. The Old Laws were guidelines for entering the temporal Promised Land of Canaan and communion with God. But the Beatitudes are guidelines for inheriting the everlasting kingdom of heaven and communion with God. The Beatitudes are our Lord’s teaching on the right attitudes required for grace which the Lord made abundant for us to bear fruits in our lives. Unlike the Old Laws or Commandments which outlined forbidden actions, the Beatitudes are outlines of actions and attitudes bringing the life of God in us to fruition. “How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This blessing is for those who abandon their physical wealth for the spiritual one. The Beatitudes are positively formulated for those who have been reborn in the grace of baptism and enabled by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to cause the transformation of their lives and society. The Beatitudes are guidelines to draw dawn the life of grace into our setting for the transformation of the people around us. “Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage. Happy those who mourn: they shall be comforted.” The cause of this blessed sorrow is the sins committed against God and not for earthly things.

The Old Law and the prophets have the power to draw down God’s wrath on the people. As in the first reading, Elijah shut up heaven and withheld rain from the earth to punish the disobedience of the people to the Commandments of God. “Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord lives, the God of Israel whom I serve, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except at my order.’” The Law of grace proclaimed by our Lord Jesus Christ is not for the punishment of the people but to call down divine mercy and grace on the people. The Lord proclaimed the year of favour and salvation and not of judgment. “Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied. Happy the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them.” The Christian's vocation is to draw down the grace of God for the conversion of people around him through sacrifices. The Beatitudes are ways of true worship of God. They reveal ways of sacrificing our temporal life so that the life of God may be present to those around us. “Happy the pure of heart: they shall see God. Happy the peacemakers: they shall be called sons of God. Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The Beatitudes proclaim the maturity of Christian life. In the Beatitudes, the Lord presents what we will become when we undergo spiritual training. One who has attained these lofty heights is no longer living, but Christ living in him. The ideals the Lord presents to us in the Beatitudes he demonstrated in his life, death, and resurrection. None of us can bring himself to blessedness, we only need to submit to God.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to understand the dignity of the vocation we have received as Christians, that believing in the divinity of Jesus Christ your son our Lord, we may give up everything for the love of him who gave himself up to death for the love of us. 

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