Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
“Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth,” is the psalm response for today (Ps. 121:2). While it seems to be spoken confidently, the psalm itself bespeaks a kind of desperation, and a confidence in the Lord because of that desperation: “I lift up my eyes toward the mountains; whence shall help come to me?” (Ps. 121:1). In today’s gospel passage, we are led also to lift up our eyes to a mountain, where sits our savior Jesus. The reading from Matthew describes Jesus climbing up a mountain upon seeing large crowds (Mt. 5:1). Jesus then proceeds to teach them, in the words of the now famous beatitudes. In some sense, these beatitudes represent “help” from the Lord. Jesus upsets the conventional categories by naming as blessed many of those who seem to be suffering: the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, and so on. Rarely do we look upon people in these situations and say that they are “blessed.” We’re more likely to think they are cursed… or at least suffer from bad luck. Added to this list are also people who seek justice, peace, and righteousness, and show mercy. While these people are likely respected for these activities, they still represent those whose deepest desires remain primarily unfulfilled while they are on earth.
But when Jesus calls these people “blessed,” he means it. We might identify a two-fold blessing here. The ultimate blessing is that they will have their reward in heaven (Mt. 5:12). But they are also blessed at this very moment. In their sufferings and desires they already share in the life of Christ. This is a blessing, even if we usually fail to identify it as such. In the last line of today’s gospel passage, Jesus notes that the prophets – those who stood for justice and held the people accountable for their ungodly actions – also were persecuted. Hence in our passage from 1 Kings, an Old Testament book that is identified among the “historical books” of the Old Testament, we find the prophet Elijah going into hiding.
As we encounter these readings today, our first task is to allow Jesus to upset our categories. We need to believe that what he says here is actually true. Those who are mourning, those who are merciful really are those who are blessed. What this means is that we need to identify meaning in each of these cases, whether they refer to us or to others. Our second task is to live our lives as though we really believe that what Jesus says here is true. This ought to take a lot of different forms, but one is certainly for us to embrace meekness and suffering, to seek righteousness, to show mercy. Let us pray that Jesus’ beatitude message will challenge and change our lives this day and always
- Maria Morrow