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Today’s Gospel reading highlights the familiar Beatitudes we have all encountered as Catholics.  As a pupil growing up in the Catholic school system, (in Ontario) I had to memorize the Beatitudes because the Beatitudes were a way to teach about who will find favor with God.  I remember thinking, “How can you be “blessed” if you are poor in spirit, or meek, or persecuted then be “blessed” if you are pure in heart or be peacemakers?”  My mother was very good at explaining things to me and since I wanted to know why I had to memorize the Beatitudes, she explained that “blessed” actually means happy, fortunate or favored; that we don’t hear Jesus insisting that we live in poverty in order to be blessed, only that we keep a proper prospective on what we perceive to be present blessings.  Our “happiness” is found not in money or power but in the gifts that we receive every day: life, creation, family, friends and so on.  I learned that, by studying the Beatitudes, we can see the virtues we need – those good habits, dispositions or attitudes that make us good persons.  A good person is a person who has integrity, truthfulness, generosity, humility, making the right choices to grow in virtue. Matthew, in this Gospel, reminds us that those who act in the manner described in the Beatitudes will find their reward with God.

In 2016, Pope Francis suggested six new Beatitudes for Catholics to consider.  They are as follows:

• Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart.
• Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized and show them their closeness.
• Blessed are those who see God in every person and strive to make others also discover Him.
• Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home.
• Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others.
• Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.

By trying to live the Beatitudes (the original and new ones) we learn to trust.  According to Henri Nouwen,  “we are reminded that where we place our trust, how we decide what is important , and what we seek after in this life, determines our path and determines our place in God’s realm; moving us forward to an always greater bond with God.”  Nouwen reminds us too that, “what makes us human is not our mind but our heart; not our ability to think, but our ability to love.”  And, as Matthew states, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven.” 

Cathy Keirstead