Scripture Reflection – Forth Sunday in Ordinary Time (28-29 Jan 2017)

The Gospel for this weekend is appropriate while the New Year is still fresh and reasonably free of meetings, commitments and other demands on our energies and time. Also, they come just after we have officially celebrated Australia Day and can be the civic principles for how we live in our country. Rather than present a commentary on the Beatitudes, I will list them. But remember, the meanings of words differ from one language to another and from one time to another.

The Beatitudes are not the Christian Commandments. They are descriptions of the disciple’s integrity and disposition.

BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT are those who recognise their total dependence upon God. It is based on the First Commandment “You shall have no other gods before me.” Every single aspect of our lives is a gift from God to be used in God’s service for the welfare of others and the building up of the Kingdom.

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN are those who recognise the state of our worlds (personal, social and geographical) and know how our worlds should be. There is a gap which only the Kingdom can fill.

BLESSED ARE THE GENTLE are those who understand God’s gift of life, the talents and attributes they are entrusted with. They are unpretentious, sincere yet disarming people.

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR WHAT IS RIGHT are those who seek to do the will of God in all things. They know what is the right thing to do.

BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL are those who are compassionate by their concrete acts of humanity and kindness – moving beyond a sympathetic attitude or a feeling.

BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART are those who unalloyed, they are not a mixture of different elements. They are not half-hearted in their faith but focused solely on God.

BLESSED ARE THE PEACE MAKERS are those who seek only to make peace but also build a better community through it seeing good in others welcoming them.

HAPPY ARE THEY WHO ARE PERSECUTED IN THE CAUSE OF RIGHT are those who will not succumb to compromising their Christian values and accept the opposition they might invite by their witness.

HAPPY ARE YOU WHEN PEOPLE ABUSE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU which can be the outcome of being a subversive Christian in today’s society. Christianity is the most persecuted religion into today’s world. In the past 10 years, over 100,000 Christians have been martyred. (John Allen “The Pope’s Four Biggest Challenges,” CNN 17 March 2013)