The Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, January 29, 2023

Matthew 5, 1–12

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. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.”  We may miss the meaning of this verse because it does not seem to show the Lord doing anything extraordinary.  In fact, what St. Matthew describes is that the Lord saw the crowds, suggesting an unusually large number of people, and that after he has seen them, he goes up a mountain.  The mountains overlooking the Sea of Galilee, as this one did, do not compare with, say, the Alps.  These resemble foothills more than anything else and can be climbed without too much difficulty.  Often goats or other animals have worn trails into the mountains that can be followed.  Climbing one might take a couple of hours, though, if one is aiming for the top.  We are not told whether the Lord did this or was satisfied with a ledge not too far above the people’s level.  Now, the Apostles, watching him, did not at first understand what he was doing.  The Lord often went up on mountains to pray.  In that case, he would stand.  But when they saw him sit, assuming the proper position of a teacher at that time, they knew he meant to teach.  It is at that time that they, and others of the disciples went up with him.  It is not clear from what we have read that the subsequent sermon was delivered to the Apostles and disciples only, or to the crowds below as well.  Reading the sermon, we would find good reason to conclude that the Lord had spoken only to those closest to him and not to the crowds, for he speaks of his Church, of persecution for believing in him, and for the necessity of believing in him.  He does not tend to dwell on these themes when he preaches to the people in St. Matthew’s Gospel, but would be more appropriate for them.  On the other hand, Matthew sees the Lord’s Sermon the Mount as the fulfillment of the Law brought down from Mount Sinai to the people by Moses, and so we might infer from this that the Lord delivered the Sermon to everyone within hearing.  A third possibility is that the Lord spoke most of the .sermon to the crowd, who were mostly down below, and other parts more quietly to his disciples and Apostles, nearer him.  We can think of the Lord spending some time preaching this sermon too.  He may have made several pronouncements and then paused for a few minutes to give people a chance to think and to discuss what he had said among themselves.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.”  The first of the Beatitudes differs from the rest because it alone shows the reward as given to the virtuous already.  The others shows the rewards being given in the future.  This may indicate that it is the most important of the group, or that being “poor in spirit” is a precondition for being merciful, pure in heart, and so on.  In this case, the various rewards define the experience of the Kingdom of heaven both now and in the future.  Now, to be “poor in spirit” means to give ourselves entirely to God and to him alone, to depend on him for everything, to love him with all our hearts.  It means to put service to him above all else and to see our simple possessions as a means to an end, and the people around us as those who, God wishes us to help save through our service to them.  This is not an easy state to attain and can only be reached through prayer.  It requires a complete conversion of our hearts away from the world and to Almighty God.  This conversion and this grace enable us to mourn in acts of penance for our sins and for those of others; to be meek — gentle of heart like our Lord; to hunger and thirst for holiness, to grow in holiness; to be merciful as our Lord has been merciful to us; to be pure of heart so that no stain of sin or distraction may distract us from beholding God; to possess peace and to make peace between others as did our Lord, who made peace between heaven and earth and between the Jews and Gentiles; to persevere in all tribulations and persecutions which inevitably rise up against the believer in this life.  This last Beatitude, concerning those who persevere, is shown to be the destiny or even goal of the one who is “poor in spirit” and so possesses the virtues already mentioned because the Lord makes a double of it: Blessed are those who are persecuted, etc., and Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you, etc.  We notice also the change of the address, from “them” to “you” as though for emphasis.

We pray for the grace to be poor in spirit so that we might perfectly conform to our Lord Jesus Christ.