The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
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.”
—Matthew 5:1-2
The nine blessings of the Beatitudes give us a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus isn’t necessarily promising rewards for his followers here and now. Instead, he’s looking toward the fullness of life in the God’s Kingdom. As Scripture scholar Daniel Harrington, S.J., observed, “The promise of God’s kingdom frames the eight beatitudes (5:3, 10), and the intervening promises (comfort, inheriting the land, satisfaction, obtaining mercy, seeing God, being called ‘sons of God’) refer to the final judgment, the vindication of the just, and the establishment of God’s perfect kingdom” (from The Gospel of Matthew).
While the blessings of the Beatitudes transport us to the fullness of life in the Reign of God, the qualities of discipleship outlined in the blessings are very much concerned with how we live our lives in this present moment.
“We can never meditate seriously enough on this great charter of the Christian life or ever be done with the attempt to implement it fully. It can always be read with a still greater faith and a still deeper sense of God.” –Adrian Nocent, O.S.B., in The Liturgical Year
In these post-inauguration days, when there is so much tension and un-ease in our country, it’s important for us to take time to reflect on how we are living out our commitments as followers of Jesus and the Beatitudes offer a beautiful opportunity for us to ask ourselves some challenging questions. But we can also reflect on how similar our current situation is to that of Jesus’ first followers. Like them, we also live in days of uncertainty, haunted by threats of violence and by fear. The Beatitudes promise that what we experience today will lead to future joy.
Like those women and men so many years ago, we also need to take Jesus’ promises to heart and remember the blessings promised to the poor, the meek, to mourners, to peacemakers, and to those who suffer persecution for their faith in Christ. Reflecting on this, Sister Barbara Reid, O.P., notes that the way of life outlined in the Beatitudes “is able to heal the hurtful memories of the past and to transform the present toward a hope-filled future… Jesus addresses his teaching to all his disciples and to a great crowd, inviting them to recognize their capacity for happiness in this present by espousing attitudes and actions that will influence the future” (from Abiding Word, Year A)
