Monday of the
Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
(II Corinthians 1:1-7; Matthew 5:1-12)
It was said that Fr. John Powell, S.J., could keep a
church basement full of people sitting on metal chairs attentive to his talk
for two hours. The marvelous
communicator wrote about Jesus’ beatitudes as the “Be Attitudes” --
dispositions that promised the fullness of being human. We hear them today as the first lesson from
Matthew’s gospel which will be read on weekdays until September.
Although most enumerations give only eight beatitudes in
Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, there are actually nine. The first four (blessed are the poor in
spirit, the mournful, the meek, and those desiring righteousness) speak of
passive attitudes necessary to align one with God. The second four (the merciful, the clean of
heart, peacemakers, and those who suffer persecution) indicate one’s actively
carrying out the divine will. The long
ninth beatitude reiterates what is said in the previous one but gives a new motive
for behaving righteously, Jesus himself.
It conveys Matthew’s belief that the Kingdom of God has arrived in
Jesus.
The beatitudes are so countercultural that most people do
not understand them, let alone imitate them.
They rile, for example, at the thought of being “poor in spirit.” This does not mean that we should have a negative
attitude, but that we should live first and foremost for God and not for ourselves. Jesus is saying that when we live by such faith,
we end with abundance not deprivation.
