Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes
1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus gives us an extraordinary Sermon on the Mount...He speaks of those blessed...And those blessed are those poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...To have and get everything you want in this world is greatly missing from this Sermon...Material things and accumulation of wealth are also missing...His Sermon says in this world the least and the last need our help, so let us help them...And the least and the last are those who He blesses...
It seems that after we fell from grace in the Garden of Eden, we were meant to mourn and suffer in our lives...Or to put it another way, we were not meant to resolve our suffering in this world...In this life our earthly life, we are to expect suffering, in this world...It seems Jesus wants us to see that there are greater things above our health and our sufferings, and wealth...He wants us to see that our earthly issues are more about following Him, believing in God, and to live a humble life...When we learn to trust Him completely, we see the Light and understand that being poor, and mourning, and hungry, and suffering are only transitory...They are not the eternal things He teaches -like God and His Kingdom...We see these earthly painful issues as Job did, and they take up much of our lives and our thinking...
St. Thomas Aquinas was one of our Great Saints, who was also a great writer...He is considered one of the greatest theologians of all time...He studied philosophy, the natural laws, ethics, and political theory...He was a great thinker...In 1273, it is said that Jesus spoke to this Great Saint...Jesus asked him what He desired...St. Thomas said "Only You LORD...Only You."...He had been writing the Summa Theologica, a great intellectual paper...This was one of the greatest classics of the history of theology and about the existence of God...After seeing our LORD, Thomas did not finish this great paper...He told his friend Reginald of Piperno why he could no longer write, "Reginald, I cannot, because all that I have written seems like straw to me."....I think Job, in the Book of Job, may have felt this way when God comes out of the cloud in chapter thirty eight, and Job feels His Presence...
I think of the Great Saints, when they saw this Light, they then understood better those things Jesus speaks about and taught...The Great Saints understand the real rewards are in heaven...The things of this world seem less and less, and the Kingdom of Heaven is all things, much more than earthly things...When the Light enters one's life it is all things (a Great Thing, the Greatest Thing) and a blessing...There is Great Hope from our Messiah for those who mourn and suffer...To be blessed by Jesus is one of the Greatest things on earth to ever happen...And in His Sermon on the Mount we see who are blessed...