Solemnity of All Saints, November 1, 2020

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Gospel: Matthew 5:1–12a

Theme: What does it mean to be blessed?

Matthew 5:1–12a

[The Sermon on the Mount]

When he 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 peace makers, 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.”

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

Adapted from Unfolding Light, by Steve Garnaas-Holmes, courtesy of Lourdes Alonso

Rejoice in the Lord always… I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all… The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

For the empty seat, we hold silence.
Love, have mercy.
For the two hundred thousand, we weep.
Love, have mercy.
For the homes incinerated, we mourn
Love, have mercy.
For the rule of law, we lament
Love, have mercy.
For kindness and nonviolence, we pray:
Love, have mercy.
For those who stand and speak on behalf of those who cannot, we pray
Love, have mercy.
For those who act out of a pure heart and soul, we pray
Love, have mercy.
For faith in one another, we pray
Love, have mercy.
For justice that dismantles oppression, hope that overcomes despair, for faith that overpowers dread, for love that defeats fear, for joy that will not be taken from us, we pray
Love, have mercy.

Add your personal prayers here

For all these prayers we trust in God’s loving mercy and receive the peace that passes all understanding to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Companions for the Journey

By Jean Shively, Lecturer in New Testament Studies, St Andrews, Scotland:

Context

The beatitudes introduce the Sermon on the Mount, a collection of Jesus’ teachings. Matthew places the Sermon at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, emphasizing that Jesus is the authoritative teacher of God’s people. Jesus breaks into the public arena proclaiming, “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). He calls his first disciples from the task of fishing for fish to the task of fishing for people (verses 18-22). Then, he shows the disciples just what this new kind of fishing looks like by preaching the good news of the kingdom of heaven to people and manifesting its power by healing every kind of disease and affliction (verses 23-25). The presence of this kingdom of heaven liberates. Then, Jesus climbs a mountain with the crowd he has so excited and sits down in the posture of a teacher encircled by his newly-called disciples. They are the primary targets of his instruction in the principles of life in the kingdom of heaven.

Content

A key principle of embracing this life is “blessedness.” This is a refrain that runs throughout verses 5-10: those are blessed who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are persecuted. The word “blessed” does not mean “holy,” and neither does it mean “happy” in the sense of being in a good mood. Rather, the word, “blessed” refers to a fortunate state of life. Jesus is saying that those who are poor in spirit are fortunate! It may surprise us that he speaks these words about those whose present circumstances seem so unfortunate.

Jesus can speak such words because he is revealing a kingdom perspective. The first and the last of the nine beatitudes extend his proclamation of the good news by applying the presence of the kingdom of heaven to the poor and persecuted (verses 3, 10). These beatitudes act like bookends for the rest of them, indicating that the kingdom of heaven is the controlling concept of the section. It is so because those who possess the kingdom are “blessed.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (verse 3). “Blessed are those who are persecuted... for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (verse 10).

The verbs in these two verses are in the present tense: “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The kingdom that Jesus proclaims infiltrates the present condition of the unfortunate and transforms it. Jesus had begun his public ministry announcing that the kingdom of heaven has come near. Later, when Jesus sends his disciples out to preach and heal, he tells them to make the same announcement as they go (10:1, 5-8). The kingdom of heaven breaks into the world with the words and work of Jesus.

The present conditions of the unfortunate are variations on the same theme. The language of each beatitude reflects Old Testament language: Those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, and who hunger and thirst for righteousness suffer because of their faithfulness to God, and they trust in God to vindicate them (Isaiah 61:1-2; Psalm 24:3-4; Psalm 37, especially verse 11; 42:1-2). While those who oppress God’s people may be fortunate for a moment, they who trust the Lord will be fortunate forever. Jesus calls those who would be his followers to the same radical commitment and hope.

After listing the beatitudes, Jesus says, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (verse 12). The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who suffer because of their faithfulness to Jesus. But Jesus is also calling them to follow his own way, since he himself will suffer for his faithfulness to God, trusting that God will vindicate him. While Jesus affirms the present experience of the kingdom of heaven in verses 3 and 10, he promises future vindication for the unfortunate in verses 4-9. While the verbs in the second half of the beatitudes in verses 3 and 10 are in the present tense, the verbs in the second half of the beatitudes verses 4-9 are in the future tense.

The promise of future vindication does not mean, however, that the focus is entirely future. Jesus insists that God has the final word, bringing assurance into the present. This is why he can say, “Blessed are those who mourn...blessed are the meek...blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...blessed are the merciful...blessed are the pure in heart...blessed are the peacemakers.” Jesus gives his followers eyes to see that the future is certain and this transforms the present.

Claim

Jesus calls us to join a radical kingdom. He gives us a radical vision to match, that the kingdom of heaven infiltrates our present. We can continue fishing for people, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom at great cost to ourselves, fighting oppressive powers in Jesus’ name. We can suffer for the sake of Jesus and the gospel, with the assurance that God has the last word. When we see people receiving the word of God, and finding healing and freedom in Jesus’ name we can announce, “the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.”

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • What do you think the word “blessed” means?
    Are you “blessed”?
  • What does it mean to be poor in spirit? What is its opposite?
    If I am poor in spirit, what will my focus be on?
    If I am poor in spirit, what will be my attitude toward God?
  • What is the kingdom of heaven, if it is not heaven itself?
  • The Greek word for mourning can mean both sadness cause by conditions of one’s life, but it can also mean an inner agony—an attitude—that can lead to repentance… Which do you think Matthew is referring to here?
    What are some things that hinder us from mourning?
    What/who comforts us? In what way?
  • How does the world define meekness?
    How does Matthew seem to define meekness?
    What qualities?
    How was Moses meek?
    How was Jesus meek?
  • What am I hungering for?
    What are some biblical examples of hungering and thirsting for righteousness?
    How will it characterize my life if I hunger and thirst for righteousness?
    How do I get there?
  • What is mercy? What does a merciful person look/act like?
    What are some biblical examples of mercy?
  • If we realize that “heart” in scripture really refers to our thinking, what does it mean to be pure of heart?
    Where do ostentatious practices of religiosity/piety fit into this beatitude?
  • What groups or individuals were persecuted in Matthew’s time?
    What groups, religious or otherwise, are persecuted today?
    If I am persecuted, what might be my usual response? What would be a proper response?
  • What people are insulted today?
    Have I ever, wittingly or unwittingly, insulted a person?
    Is it sometimes easier to insult and denigrate groups of people who do not share the same political or religious values as I do—especially if this is done from afar?
  • Which beatitude irritates you? Comforts you? Challenges you?
  • Do you know of anyone who embodies one of these beatitudes?
  • There is an argument from some quarters that the beatitudes enable a victim mentality… Do you agree?
  • The Irish Jesuits, in” Sacred Space” wrote that the beatitudes are not a set of regulations, but a blueprint for personal or spiritual happiness… Do you agree or disagree?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican style/Asking Questions:

The first thing Jesus does here is issue a series of statements, that are very short and repetitive, like a litany or a poem; they each start with the Greek word makarioi, which means blessed or happy or fortunate. For us, because “blessed” has become church language, it might help to substitute the more familiar word “fortunate” and see how it makes us feel. That might help us get closer to the counter-intuitive feel of these statements. Recite the beatitudes, using the word “fortunate” instead of “blessed”. How difficult do you find these statements?

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

From Songs of Life: Psalm Meditations from the Catholic Community at Stanford, by Anne Marchand Greenfield:

In considering the first beatitude (blessed are the poor in spirit—Isaiah 61:1-3), I need to understand that poverty of spirit means that I am utterly dependent upon God’s grace… this leads to humility and repentance. I read the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). I place myself in the events of this little story. What does the temple look like? Where is each man standing? What is the posture and manner of the Pharisee? How about that of the tax collector? With whom do I identify more: the man who did what he was supposed to, prayed regularly, gave to the poor, and was an honest, good person; or the tax collector, who preyed on the weak and the helpless, extorting monies from them they could little afford and raking off a profit for himself? When we try to be good people, is it hard not to be a little smug at times? I try to put myself in each man’s shoes. First I look at the part of me that loves and honors God and tries to be a good person. Do I unconsciously measure my goodness against that of others around me? Isn’t that a natural thing to do? Now I look at the part of me, like the tax collector, that has done some things for my own advancement that I am not too proud of—a sleazy little lie here, a little shameless flattery there, perhaps a little character assassination to top it off. Which side do I emphasize when I pray? I speak to Jesus about both sides of my nature, and pray for the understanding to know when I have been wrong, for humility which does not allow for personal pride in my own goodness and for the wisdom to know that both the understanding and the humility are gifts of God.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

What would be the beatitudes for the real world people live in everyday?

  • Blessed are the rich and famous, for they shall have what they want.
  • Blessed are the powerful, for their wills will be done.
  • Blessed are the strong and young for they shall draw a lot of attention to themselves.
  • Blessed are the white and well educated for they shall own the earth.
  • Blessed are Americans for they shall have the earth’s riches at their beck and call.

These beatitudes, or something like them, seem to reflect the way our world is run. They are what a lot of people in world value and would call “blessings.” They may make us wince, but haven’t we been encouraged to live by them, in one way or another, since we were young? Their values were passed on to us by our parents, in school, through advertising—all the sights and sounds we see on TV ads present these worldly beatitudes by showing us the successful, young and powerful who seem to lack for nothing.

Which of the world’s beatitudes is a particular temptation for you? How do you deal with it?
Which of Jesus’ beatitudes do you find the most comforting? Why? Which do you find the most annoying? Why? Which beatitude do you have the most difficulty living out? Why?
Imagine Jesus saying these beatitudes to you directly and looking straight into your heart.
Pray for the openness to hear what He says to you.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

It must be noted that included in Jesus’ blessings are those who have been victimized by society. Make no mistake here: He is not telling his disciples to become victims. Some may interpret the passage in that way. As we shall see, those who are victimized—struck on the cheek, have a shirt taken, forced to go a mile (5:39-41)—are not to be victims. Instead, they are to take the initiative and choose to turn the cheek; give not only the shirt but the cloak as well; go the extra mile. You may be victims to brute force, Jesus seems to be saying, but you don’t have to think like victims. Those who hear the blessings at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount know with certainty of the ultimate victory of God’s reign and so receive the blessings and assurance they convey. Beatitude people do not have to serve power, scheme or join the many ways the world has of taking care of itself.

That having been said, stop and reflect on any situations in which you have been complicit in the ways the anawim (the poor, the lost, the forsaken) are ignored or taken advantage of in this society of ours or in the world in general. For Jesus is not telling people to seek to be poor, grieving, mocked and persecuted, and he is not giving us license to ignore social injustice because, after all Jesus calls those anawim “blessed”… So, what is one small thing you can do to alleviate the situation of somewho is hated, bullied, imprisoned because of poverty, mourning the loss of a loved one or the loss of justice for a loved one, in pain, mentally ill, discriminated against because of religion, skin color or sexual orientation?

Poetic Reflection:

Read the following poem by Robert Browning Hamilton… what does it tell us about our own growth and development as a human being and as a follower of Christ?

I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chattered all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne’er a word said she;
But oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!

Closing Prayer

From Thomas Merton:

Teach me to go to this country beyond words and beyond names.
Teach me to pray on this side of the frontier, here where these woods are.
I need to be led by you.
I need my heart to be moved by you.
I need my soul to be made clean by your prayer. I need my will to be made strong by you.
I need the world to be saved and changed by you.
I need you for all those who suffer, who are in prison, in danger, in sorrow.
I need you for all the crazy people.
I need your healing hand to work always in my life.
I need you to make me, as you made your Son, a healer, a comforter, a savior.
I need you to name the dead.
I need you to help the dying cross their particular rivers.
I need you for myself whether I live or die.
It is necessary.
Amen.