It is told that when Mother Theresa was once cleaning the wounds of a leper, a millionaire businessman came to visit her. The disgusting stench of the wounds and the sight of the worms crawling out from the man’s body seized the businessman with gross repugnance. He exclaimed, “Even if I were to be given a million dollars, I wouldn’t dare do what you are doing.” Mother Theresa replied: “Me, too; even if I were to be given a million dollars, I would not also do what you will not doing.”
In our gospel today according to St. Matthew, Jesus is talking about this popular heavenly constitution, the Beatitudes. In Greek, the word Beatitude is macarius which means happiness. So the meaning of the word “Blessed”, as Jesus told, is that this is happiness. All that Jesus wants us is to be happy, not according to the understanding of the world of what happiness is all about but according to what God meant by this word.
Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD told that in the book We Belong to the Land by Mary Jensen, a totally new and surprising interpretation of today’s gospel. Jensen studied Aramaic, the language which Jesus spoke and she found out that the original words Jesus used did not sound as passive as the English translation “Blessed are…” She understands the words of Jesus as an appeal to get up and get involved. It is like this: “Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you peacemakers, for you shall be called children of God…” She said: “I can hear Him saying: ‘Get your hands dirty to build a human society for human being; otherwise, others will torture and murder the poor, the voiceless and the powerless.’ Christianity is not passive but active, energetic, alive, going beyond despair.”
The beatitudes, therefore, signifies not just sweet religious attitudes of a passive life by which we have to pray and attend Mass everyday due to the belief that it’s the surest way to be a perfect disciple of Jesus and the surest way to heaven. That is far from it. Rather, our Christian lives should also be directed towards the problems of the world, the conversion of sinners and the missionary task of the Church which we support day and night.
I would like to give more emphasis on the first beatitudes that says: “How blest are the poor in spirit, the reign of God is theirs.” In St. Luke, the words ‘in spirit,’ is not found. I don’t know if this is intentionally done or not, that I do not know. I remember the story of a group of missionaries who built a hospital for the poor. When it was finished, a group of rich people wants to speak to the missionaries and to ask them why they had referred only to the poor, excluding everyone else, since the hospital was supposed to be for everyone. One of the missionaries said to them: “It is true that the hospital is for everyone, including you and everyone will be taken cared of for free of charge and courteously. But it is also true that for those who are poorest and in greatest need, this hospital is good news of great joy in a special way, for, unlike you, they have had no other place to go. That is why now, they are especially happy. When we built the hospital we had have them especially in our mind and hearts without excluding anyone.
May be you heard already about the axiom” Preferential Option for the Poor.” Who are the poor? According to J. O’Halloran in his book entitled Signs of Hope, he said that the poor are the materially deprived especially those who struggle for sheer survival, wondering where the next meal will come from, they have no leisure time to devout to thoughts of spiritual or human enrichment. The Hebrew word for poor is Ani and Dal which conveys a notion of powerlessness and usually accompanies with material deprivation. Also, those having sufficient worldly goods themselves take up the cause of the poor and are one with them in their struggle. Jesus opted for poverty and the poor. He didn’t slam the door on anyone. So do we. He calls us to conversion – to an option for the poor.
The rest of the beatitudes: being hungry for holiness, merciful, pure of heart, peacemaker, persecuted for righteousness and others, all spell out God’s prescription of happiness for us.
Actually the reign of God is for everybody and of everybody. God’s reign is offered in a special way to the poor, not because of their poverty but because the Kingdom of God is a good news to them. God loves everyone in a non-exclusive way but God has a preference for the weakest and the oppressed of His children. God has taught all of rich, poor, to have the same attitude toward each other and us. What happen now, His teaching is distorted and His words are misinterpreted. So can we now start and reflect on our lives and lifestyles on this teaching, the beatitudes? Are we converted people today? Are we really serious in following Jesus’ footsteps?