How we live
life as Christians
January 29, 2017
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFM
, Mission Sts. Sergius & Bacchus/ Order
Franciscans of Mercy
Based on; Zephaniah 2:3 - 3:13, 1 Corinthians 1:26 -
31, Matthew 5:1 - 12
This week’s readings are
instructions on how to live our life as a true Christian and please God.
By asking ourselves a few
questions we can determine if we are truly following God’s will as instructed
by Jesus Christ’s.
The first reading from the
book of Zephaniah gives a clear instruction on how to live our daily life. “Seek
the Lord, all you, the humble of the earth, who obey his commands. Seek
integrity, seek humility: you may perhaps find shelter on the day of the anger
of the Lord.” “ They will do no wrong,
will tell no lies; and the perjured tongue will no longer be found in their
mouths. But they will be able to graze and rest with no one to disturb them”
Paul’s letter to the
Corinthians continues the theme by instructing us on who God looks upon as
favorable “at the time when you were called: how many of you were wise in
the ordinary sense of the word, how many were influential people, or came from
noble families? None, God chose what is foolish by human standards, those whom
the world thinks common and contemptible; they are the ones that God has
chosen”
And the Gospel reading, referred
to as the Sermon On The Mount or The Beatitudes spells out for us they way to
achieve God’s infinite love and gain everlasting life with Christ in heaven..
According to the
dictionary Beatitude means “Heavenly Happiness or Bliss”
Let us examine these
Beatitudes one by one and try to decipher what they mean.
“How happy are the poor
in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
What exactly does it
mean to be “Poor in Spirit”? It means
that we understand our own guilt and helplessness, that we see in its true
light the tendency in us to everything evil, in short, it means that we admit
our fallibility and our need for God’s help through the Holy Spirit to overcome
our weaknesses.
Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage. Being gentle is so often misunderstood as a sign of weakness but in reality being gentle means being agreeable and tolerant. Being a person who is respectful of others. So often in this modern world of the twenty-first century we see a total lack of tolerance and respect for the concerns and need of others and more self-indulgence. This is not living the way Christ instructed.
Happy those who mourn:
they shall be comforted. To
mourn is to feel and show sadness because something has been lost or no longer
exists. We mourn the loss of a child,
friend relative not only with words but with action. In Jewish and many other customs when a
family is grieving neighbors bring food for the family and try to bring comfort
into their lives by doing common tasks in order to allow them to come to grips
with their loss. But we can also mourn
the loss human compassion people show by not looking out for the wellbeing of
God’s less affluent people and the total lack of concern for the stabilization
of our environment.
Happy those who hunger
and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied. To hunger and thirst means to have a craving or a
great need or desire for something. There are people who live in many countries
including our own that are deprived basic rights every human should be entitled
to. Like the right to decent housing, affordable adequate medical care and
healthy food to eat. As long as people
ignore these problems they are not living as Christians and they may well not
ever be satisfied for it is in caring and giving that happiness is found.
Happy the merciful:
they shall have mercy shown them. To be merciful is showing mercy or compassion to the
poor, sick, aged and being open and welcoming to all who come with honest
desire to worship God.
Happy the pure in
heart: they shall see God. Being
Pure of heart is having pure motive. Our hearts should be characterized by
single-mindedness and undivided devotion. William Barclay, the famous Scottish
New Testament scholar, says that this verse can be translated in the following
way: "Blessed is the man whose motive is always entirely unmixed, for
that man shall see God." Watching
the political debates on morality and
the direction our nation should take is fascinating. I am not entirely sure that the politicians
really understand what true morality is and where it comes from and that their
motives are pure or just glory and power seeking.
Happy the peacemakers:
they shall be called sons of God. This one is easy, being a peacemaker is a person who
brings about peace and reconciliation between others and will do everything in
their power to achieve that rather than use force or violence to achieve a
goal. Sadly so many who advocated that
goal, like Gandhi, Brother Roger of Taize, and Martin Luther King Jr. who were
all killed for advocating peace.
Happy those who are
persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Throughout history people who have tried to advocate
what is right and just have all too often been ridiculed and ignored because
they were looked upon as being different or in many cases crazy.
Our society likes to place
people in certain niches and when someone does not fit comfortably into the
niche others think they should be in they receive scorn.
God created a world of
diversity and to try to change that into a world of conformity is to not accept
God’s will.
The last paragraph of the Sermon on the Mount sums up what lies in store for those who endure the rejection, scorn, alienation and disenfranchisement and still hold onto their faith in God. “Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.” Matthew 5:12
The last paragraph of the Sermon on the Mount sums up what lies in store for those who endure the rejection, scorn, alienation and disenfranchisement and still hold onto their faith in God. “Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.” Matthew 5:12
Beginning now let’s
evaluate ourselves using the Beatitudes, Let us ask ourselves the difficult
questions and answer them honestly as if we were facing God and answering
him.
Let’s put into action the
changes we need to make to more fully live Christ’s teachings every hour of
every day.
Making major changes in
our life styles can be difficult especially when those changes do not fit with
our current society.
God expects us to speak up
loudly when we see injustice, poverty, deceit, corruption, or greed being used
to subjugate any of His children and to always Seek integrity, seek
humility (Zephaniah 2:3) AMEN
