Gospel: Matthew 5: 1-13
Today's feast invites us to reflect on what we must do to become saints ourselves, and for centuries the Church has given us the answer in providing us with this Gospel text for the feast: the Beatitudes. We must be poor in spirit, pure of heart, meek, thirsting for justice, a maker of peace, and joyful in suffering persecution. These are the qualities Jesus himself exhibits throughout his life, the values he emphasizes throughout his teaching and encounters with others.
If these are the traits of sanctity, why do we hear so little of them? Why is modern Christianity so obsessed with the commandments and so neglectful of the Beatitudes? Jesus made clear time and again that the commandments cannot lead to perfection, yet we erect monuments to them and not to that which does make us perfect in the Beatitudes.
So, today's feast is a day to reflect on how we can be more poor and simple in our lifestyle; how we can show mercy to others in concrete ways; how me might act more justly and fairly with others; how we might be more meek and pure of heart; how we might be peacemakers in a violent world; how to live joy in the midst of persecutions.
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