Welcoming the Holy
Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God.
By: Sister Ruth Maier
“Rejoice and be Glad”
Opening Prayer
Creator God,
from the days of Abraham and Moses
until the gathering of Your Church,
You have formed a people in the image of Your Son.
Bless this people with the gift of Your kingdom.
May we serve You with our every desire and show
love for one another even as You have loved us.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Scripture
Matthew 5: 1—12
When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up the mountain, and after He had sat down, His disciples came to Him.
He began to teach them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
The Word of the Lord.
Reflection
Moses went up a mountain and received the Ten Commandments.
Today we read that Jesus went up a mountain and gave us the Eight Beatitudes.
Moses went up the mountain alone to receive the Ten Commandments and bring them down to the people waiting at the foot of the mountain. These Ten Commandments became the “blue-print” for the Pentateuch, the First Five Books of the Bible, the laws of how to live a righteous Jewish life.
Jesus invites all those gathered to join Him on this mountain for He saw these people in a way that others did not. As He looked out over this motley crowd, He saw the poor in spirit, the grieving, the meek, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted. And He declared them blessed, blessed by God, His heavenly Father.
Matthew gives us these Beatitudes as the introduction to Jesus first sermon in his Gospel. Matthew has Jesus preaching five sermons in his Gospel. And we have come to know this Sermon as the Sermon on the Mount. This Sermon gives us the “blue-print” for living a Christian life, for being a disciple of Jesus.
Jesus’ ministry was to bring the blessing of God’s kingdom to all people, both Jews and Gentiles. God call us all to blessedness and the blessing of the Kingdom. We live out our blessedness in our every day lives when we are poor in spirit, meek, merciful, clean of heart peacemakers, forgiving and just.
Perhaps during this week before us, each day we could reflect on a different Beatitude:
How is it making a difference in my life?
How is it calling me to rejoice and be glad?
Closing Prayer
God, we pray that You help us to go a different way and love as You have asked us, rather than be divided against our brothers and sisters. We ask for the grace to bring us to new life so that we may always bring glory to You. Amen.
