Each Sunday until Lent, our Gospel will be a portion of the Sermon on the Mount, St. Matthew’s recollection of Jesus’ preaching of the “Kingdom of Heaven,” also known as the “Reign of God.” It is what the world would look like if we all conformed our behavior to God’s standards of holiness.
Holiness? Isn’t holiness about God?
Yes, God is holy. AND God calls us to holiness. But what is holiness?
Matthew 5:1-12a
“The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and everyone of His disciples of every condition. He Himself stands as the author and consummator of this holiness of life….Indeed, He sent the Holy Spirit upon all men that He might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all their mind and all their strength and that they might love each other as Christ loves them.” (Lumen Gentium, paragraph 40)
This sentence from Lumen Gentium, the Vatican II constitution on the Church, describes holiness pretty clearly: holiness is matching our minds, hearts, strengths, and souls to the standards and perspectives of God.
It is all spelled out in the Sermon on the Mount. Perhaps the lines today are the most famous lines of that long homily of Jesus. We know them as the Beatitudes.
I am drawn to the Beatitudes, yet they confuse me. I read various books on the beatitudes and come to the conclusion that others are confused, too.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Does that mean we must be humble or detached or live a “caring, sparing, sharing” lifestyle or all of the above?
“Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Does that mean we can expect God to comfort us when we grieve the loss of someone we love? Or is it about mourning for our sins to let go of them?
“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” Is this personal righteousness (holiness), or is this seeking for righteousness (justice) in the world?
Whether you read saints through the ages or popular spiritual writers of the 21st century, you will find interpretations of the Beatitudes that run the gamut.
Because of this spectrum of interpretation, I find comfort in some lines farther down in Lumen’s paragraph 40:
“All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity; by this holiness as such a more humane manner of living is promoted in this earthly society. In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. They must follow in his footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history.”
This gives me comfort in trying to figure out what standards Jesus is actually setting in the Beatitudes: I adapt the general description to fit my life and gifts.
As a Benedictine Oblate, for me there are many admonitions of how to live “poor in spirit” and the other Beatitudes in the Benedictine Rule. The guidance for a friend of mine who is a Co-worker for the Missionaries of Charity is different. The practicalities of life as a newly married couple give them other parameters and issues to define how they are poor in spirit with each other and in the community.
One size does not fit all. But there is a size for all. The Beatitudes are ways of being. They are also ways of being Holy–the image of God living the ways of God.
A question as we read and hear the Gospel this week: Which beatitude draws me today? How does it appeal to me or arouse argument or curiosity in me? That could be a good way to explore God’s call to holiness to each of us today.
I Corinthians 1:26-31
The selection from I Corinthians concludes St. Paul’s first chapter of his letter to the church at Corinth. Two weeks ago, he introduced himself as one who is sent to help them learn how to be holy. Last week he admonished them to seek unity, rather than competition. Today, he reminds them that they are living the beatitudes, and this is an advantage. They are not great and famous people. They have no great list of personal accomplishments. So God can show his greatness through them.
This, then, can add another layer of meaning to the Gospel. The Beatitudes describe lowly qualities: poverty/humility, sadness, accepting endurance, mercy, yearning for something better, simplicity or purity of heart, making peace where there is conflict, and being persecuted.
They are all things we encounter in life at times, but they are not necessarily the things we want. Yet God often uses them to make us more like him. We’ve all had experiences when being down and out that helped us grow in holiness.
Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13
Zephaniah was a minor prophet in Jerusalem during the time of one of the better kings of Judah, King Josiah. Josiah became king when he was only 8 years old. Once he became an adult, he made many good reforms in Judah, especially around stopping the mixing of Jewish practices of worship with the pagan peoples around them. However, the oracles in the book of Zephaniah we read today were made before King Josiah made those reforms.
It is likely included as the Old Testament passage because it shows that what Jesus taught in the Beatitudes had been part of Jewish teaching hundreds of years before: “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth, who have observed his law; seek justice, seek humility.” It also prophesies there would be a remnant of the people of Israel who would follow them: “A people humble and lowly…they shall do no wrong and speak no lies.”
Applications:
It seems to me that the Beatitudes make the universal call to holiness both easier and more difficult to apply to my life.
The Beatitudes make it easier because they show that holiness does not depend on my personal accomplishments or gifts. The Beatitudes say that holiness happens when we recognize our weakness and let God fill it—even when we are poor, humble, sad, or intense. Holiness is a gift God bestows on us when we come to him empty.
Ah, yes, and, that is the other perspective, the one that is hard: it is not easy to be empty. It is not easy to come to God in our weakness and fragility. We want God to see how good we are! God wants to see how good He can be through us.
Let go and let God. Maybe that is both the message of today’s readings and God’s plan for holiness—in us and, through us, in the world.
Prayer
Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. Empty me, Lord, then fill me again.
