A Reflection on the Beatitudes ~ by Phyllis Booth

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Zep 2:3; 3:12-13
Ps 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
1 Cor 1:26-31
Mt 5:1-12a

Life is a Journey... Enjoy It! The journey of life Jesus revealed in the Sermon on the Mount described the old covenant and the New Life we are to enjoy if we embraced the Holy Spirit and let the old order pass away.

Jesus used life values of the people to help them to imagine or have a vision of how the New Life would be. The poor in spirit, those with a clean heart and the peacemakers would see God and join Him in heaven. The mourners must accept the new order and believe the Word of God to be comforted. Many Christians today are mourning over the economy and have lost faith in self and God. The challenge for them is to accept changes in life, move from the darkness and see the light at the end of the tunnel by trying new things, preparing self to live in the new age and seeking God's love and help.

The same challenge includes the meek, the merciful and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Because we are made in the image of God, we are given grace and certain gifts that will lead us to eternal life. But when we stop seeking, loving and pleasing God, God will use steps to bring us back to him. Sometimes the storms of life are to discipline us in ways that direct us to develop new life habits, skills and understandings of how Faithful God is. God wants to transform us to bring those in most need of His mercy to the Kingdom.


~ Image: Jesus on the Mount by Gerard Hoet

~ Image from: Truth Book