Monday in the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time, June 7, 2021

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. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The Lord Jesus fulfilled the old Law in his time on earth, and in so doing he overturned the people’s understanding of what the Law was telling them.  The Law told those who performed its works that they would be blessed with wealth and material possessions, and every kind of prosperity.  The Lord is revealing in the Beatitudes that those who carry out the new Law of the Gospel will not likely enjoy prosperity in this world, but they will enjoy the kingdom of Heaven; they will be comforted by the Holy Spirit; they will inherit the “land” of the New Jerusalem; their hunger and thirst for righteousness will be quenched in the only way it can, by God; they will be shown mercy by the Almighty Judge; they will see God face to face in heaven; they will be called adopted “children of God” because of the grave of their baptism.  Indeed, for the ones who most tenaciously imitate the Lord Jesus in his virtues, “their reward will be great in heaven.”  

We ought to note that it is not enough to act meekly now and then when it costs us little, or to be merciful on occasion.  The tense of the Greek verb indicates a continuous and persistent state of meekness, mercy, purity, and so on.  To accomplish this we gaze at the crucifix and see how the Lord perfectly lived out the virtues.  We look, too, at the Blessed Sacrament.  Could God become any more meek and merciful than that?  And we pray for the grace to live holy lives so that we might finally arrive at perfect beatitude.