beatitudes

The beatitudes lead us away from the false promises of this world to experience real joy!

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man” (Lk 6:22).

The Beatitudes are contrary to much of what too many of us are tempted by when seek our satisfaction, security, and fulfillment. Much of us are lured in some form or fashion, by power, fame, wealth, pleasure, and celebrity. What is more, how many of us who proclaim to be people of faith resist Jesus’ teachings because of self-centered reasons? We hold on to things that keep us from God, that really do not make us happy.

In today’s Gospel account from Luke, Jesus began to teach his disciples on a deeper level. He had just chosen the twelve by name and that number would not have slipped by them. Their thoughts were more than likely moving closer to the realization that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised heir of David. Would he be gathering them together to restore the twelve tribes of Israel and overthrow the occupying power of Rome? Yes, but not in the way they were thinking.

Jesus’ presentation was not about taking up military or physical armaments, but spiritual ones of attaining the  kingdom through four blessings and dashing the common hope with four woes. Jesus’ message is a universal message, an invitation to and for all who have ears to hear as well as hearts and minds open to receive. Jesus spoke not only to his twelve newly hand picked followers as wells as those from “Judea and Jerusalem” but also those from the “coastal region of Tyre and Sidon” (Luke 6:17). That Jesus did not dismiss but was teaching those from Tyre and Sidon would not have been missed either. They were from Gentile territory.

Jesus’ teachings challenged all present and they challenge us today to evaluate where we are placing our trust and security. If we are placing our trust in the things of this world, the four woes section is for us, for that which is finite and material are fleeting and passing. By placing our trust in Jesus, his Father and the love shared between them, the Holy Spirit, the beatitudes will lead us to experience joy.

Being poor, hungry, in mourning, hated, excluded, insulted and denounced as evil will bring us happiness? Yes. Because each of them counter the typical substitutes that we can be tempted by and place before our relationship with God. Each of the beatitudes that Jesus offers are invitations to experience true joy. We just need to be willing to relinquish putting self first and seeking pursuits apart from God’s will.

When we rely more on God and less on material things, even relationships, when we depend more on God alone, our relationships and our pursuits will be more properly ordered. With God first, we will experience order and peace and… what is so fleeting to so many who seek both in the things of the world, we will experience real rest. If we are serious about being Jesus’ disciple, then a good place to start is learning and living the beatitudes. This is no easy task but when we look at each one and begin to detach from the attachments they allude to, “we will rejoice and leap for joy” (Lk 6:23)!

Joy because we will then have the inner freedom to experience the good things that God gives and less ensnared by them. We will be fueled not by the advancement or aggrandizement of self, but by emptying our ego, we will have room to receive the love of Jesus, the source of our joy, which wells up from within and never runs dry! Jesus is the kingdom of Heaven that is at hand and he will lead us, if we are willing to follow, to the ultimate desire and deepest craving and hunger of our being, to be in communion with God and one another.

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Photo: EnJOYing another beautiful sunset painted on God’s canvas of creation Sunday evening. May you experience a taste of the joy God is seeking to bring you today!

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Material happiness is fleeting but the joy fueled by Jesus is eternal.

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man” (Lk 6:22).

The Beatitudes are contrary to much of what too many of us are tempted by when seek our satisfaction, security, and fulfillment in what St. Thomas Aquinas calls the substitutes that we put in place of God: power, fame, wealth, and pleasure. What is more, we may resist Jesus’ teachings because we do not agree, there are behaviors we may not be willing to let go of, we don’t understand them, or we find them too hard.

In today’s Gospel account from Luke, Jesus taught his disciples how to attain the kingdom through five blessings and four woes. Jesus’ message is a universal message, an invitation to and for all who have ears to hear and a heart open to receive. These teachings though challenge us to place our trust, not in the things of this world but in Jesus. That which is finite and material are fleeting and passing and cannot fulfill us. We will always be wanting more and we are never satisfied. In placing our trust in Jesus, he will lead us to his Father, and it is in building that relationship that we will experience true happiness and fulfillment for the deepest core of our being is made to be in communion with God and only he can fulfill our deepest need.

This is an inviting offer, yet when putting Jesus’ teachings into practice in our everyday lives we will receive opposition from those in our lives and from ourselves from within. Another word for blessed is happy. Can we really be happy if we are as Jesus said, poor, hungry, weeping, and when people insult and hate us? Yes. When we seek to live out these beatitudes with the help of Jesus, we will find that we are indeed happier when we are not attached to material goods, when we are more moderate in our consumption, and when we are not attached to outcomes as we want them fulfilled and when we are not seeking immediate gratification. We will experience much more joy and freedom if we are not gauging our every thought, word, and action based on what others think and instead be free to live our lives by following God’s will.

To be blessed, happy, and fulfilled in this life can be fleeting, like trying to catch the wind, if we seek to do so by acquiring more material things and having things our way as we want it, when we want it, on our terms alone. We will experience true happiness and deeper joy when we are willing to let go of our attachments to the things of this world and instead, place building a relationship with Jesus as our primary practice.

If we are serious about being his disciples, then a good place to start is learning and living the beatitudes. This is no easy task but as we come to better understand what they require, we are willing to let go and allow the Holy Spirit to heal and work through us, “we will rejoice and leap for joy” (Lk 6:23)! Joy because we can experience the good things that God wants to give us.

When we can see the difference between God’s gift of grace, the very gift of his life he wants to impart in us, and the apparent glittering of goods and false truths we have been seeking to provide for our security and foundation, we will be less apt to be ensnared by them. Slowly and surely, step by step, making time each day for prayer, reading and meditating upon what we learn in scripture, struggling with them, yet trusting in Jesus and putting them into practice, we will experience the love of Jesus, the eternal source of our joy, and we will drink from the well that never runs dry!

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Photo: Fireworks this past July 4. They have passed, but the joy in serving at Holy Cross continues to grow!

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, September 11, 2024