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Posts Tagged ‘Sermon on the Mount’

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Consider the Beatitudes

In 06 Scripture & Theology on 2016/07/01 at 12:00 AM

The Beatitudes clearly image the perfect fruits of the Holy Spirit in man’s soul.  The Beatitudes are as “divinely” human acts we can perform.   In living the Beatitudes, we will gain the reward attached to them now and in the afterlife.

sermon-on-the-mount-13-1-GoodSalt-prcas6178All the Beatitude align to our human desire for happiness.  This desire was placed in our hearts by God to draw us to Himself who is the fulfillment of those desires.  St. Augustine stated it clearly: “Thou hast made us for Yourself O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”

We are called to imitate Christ; to be Christlike.  the Beatitudes are a mini biography of Christ, of His charity.  They describe His perfected humanity, the one we are to follow, the one He models for us.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Way – our only way. He is our Truth – our only truth. He is our Life – our only life. To know Jesus Christ is the supreme goal of every Christian.

Jesus drew up and eight point plan to guide us. The Beatitudes teach us that real happiness comes from fulfilling God’s will for us. It is a good idea to follow Pope Francis’ admonition to dwell on Our Lords’ magnificent plan contained in the Beatitudes. These Beatitudes are Our Lord’s invitation to a godly life. Let us accept this divine invitation with joy and determination.

All the Beatitudes have the sanctification of our souls as their goal. Our Lord, through the Beatitudes, calls each and every woman, NOW, to reform, to conform herself to Him. In the Beatitudes you have the one and only strategy you need to be filled with a supernatural joy you will be able to communicate to others. They will enable you to be exemplary lay apostles radiating Christ to others.

The Beatitudes contradict the spirit of our times. The culture and media of today call losers winners and losers those whom Jesus declares winners. For as where the world exalts wealth, power, glamor and influence, Our Lord commends humility, meekness, mercy, purity, generosity and detachment.

Which path are you following? What path will you take? Let’s be like St. Peter who recognized that Jesus has the words of eternal life and say “YES” to Him.

 

 

 

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Christians’ Firm Hope in the Resurrection

In 06 Scripture & Theology on 2013/02/28 at 11:11 AM

The Holy Father presided at Mass for the souls of cardinals and bishops who died during the course of last year.

Extracts from his homily are given below:

“Burial places constitute a sort of assembly, where the living can encounter the deceased and consolidate the ties of a communion which death was not able to break. And here in Rome, in those unique cemeteries, the catacombs, we are aware as in no other place of the profound links with ancient Christianity, which we experience as close to us.

“When we enter the Roman catacombs – or the cemeteries of our cities and towns – it is as if we cross an intangible threshold and enter into communication with those whose past is there, a past made up of joy and pain, defeat and hope. This occurs because death concerns humanity today exactly as it did then; and even if many things from the past have become foreign to us, death has remained the same”.

“But how can we Christians respond to the question of death? We respond with our faith in God, with a firm hope based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus death opens the way to life, eternal life, which is not infinite repetition of the present, but something completely new. Faith tells us that the true immortality to which we aspire is not an idea, a concept, but rather a relationship of full communion with the living God: it means abiding in His hands, in His love, and in Him becoming at one with all our brothers and sisters whom He created and redeemed. … This is life which reaches fullness in God; a life that we can now only glimpse just as we catch sight of a clear sky through the fog”.

“The pastors we remember today served the Church with faith and love, at times facing difficult challenges in order to ensure the flock entrusted to their care received the necessary care and attention. In the variety of their respective gifts and tasks, they showed perseverance and vigilance, wisdom and zealous dedication to the Kingdom of God, offering a valuable contribution in the period following Vatican Council II, a time of renewal throughout the Church”.

The Eucharistic banquet they attended, first as the faithful and then, daily, as ministers, foretells most eloquently what the Lord promised in the Sermon on the Mount: the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven, participation in the banquet of the heavenly Jerusalem. Let us pray that this might be accomplished for everyone. Our prayer is nourished by the firm hope that ‘does not disappoint’, because it is guaranteed by Christ Who chose to experience death in order to triumph over it through the prodigious event of the Resurrection”.

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