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January 29, 2017Last Sunday, I walked out of the church and saw this little girl leaning against her mom's tummy while crying her eyes out. Mom, dad, in fact the whole family, was happily eating a breakfast burro. Why was Marcella crying? She couldn't have one because she misbehaved in mass. What does virtue look like in the spiritual life?
In the gospel, Jesus walked up the mountain like Moses did when he brought the law to the people of Israel. He sat down, which in the ancient world was the posture of the teacher. His disciples gathered at his feet and he began to teach what a human life was supposed to look like.Divine LifeThe first part of his teaching was an instruction about the divine life present in the human person.
First, the Lord taught blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God. The willingness to show mercy to others turns us into peacemakers. Without mercy, the life of justice is not possible. Marcella will eat with the family again, I hope.
Second, blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. If we show mercy, we will receive the gift of mercy. Mercy allow others back into the possibility of a right relationship with me. Without justice, mercy is meaningless. Marcella needs to learn how to live in a just relationship with others. It can be a hard lesson.
Third, the willingness to be a peacemaker and to show mercy places God into first place in our life. So Jesus said blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. We will see and know God is some way now, not just in the future. Mercy and justice can only be sought rooted in the love of God and others. Without love mercy and justice are just rules. To discipline a child is to have some sense of what a free, whole person looks like. Justice and mercy then exist in relationship to our undestanding of God.
Finally, our deepest desire is to be ‘right.’ Human beings are made to live in the truth. We spend too much time trying to fit others into our version of truth. Jesus taught blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to desire to live in harmony with our creator. To be in right relationship with God and one another is the goal of Christian life. To attain that life, in some sense now, we need to have a toolkit for living.The Tool KitThe second part of Jesus’ teaching is about the tool kit we need to be happy.
First, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It is good to have sufficient wealth to be free from want, but in order to be happy, we can’t be obsessed by things. Detachment from obsessively acquiring more is one key to a happy life. We need to detach from the consumer driven throw away culture. Marcella must learn that her love of mints cannot be the driving purpose of her life.
Second, blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Our priority cannot be our pleasure. Most of the important things we do in family and community are not pleasurable. Jesus counsels us to grow up, attend to our duties out of a concern for others well- being. Sorrow is part of life. Growth and love cannot occur without grief and loss of our false self. We mourn the loss, but something better, divine life, is coming.
Third, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. To be meek is to detach from the desire to have power for the sake of having power. If we live the other beatitudes and do not seek power for its own sake, then when we have power, we know how to exercise it in a responsible way.
Finally, blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is not counseling us to be masochistic, but counsels us that we need to be free from the need for someone else’s approval. If our sole motivation is the approval of others, our life will never be our own. If a mom and dad are going to be who God made them to be, at some point their kids are not going to like them. Just part of the job.
‘Blessed’ means to be happy. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus offers us a meditation on the nature of happiness. We cannot win happiness, but if we pursue the attitudes and actions that Jesus counsels, happiness will ensue.
