Category: Beatitudes

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Seeking Hope

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I normally think of the Beatitudes as full of promise and invitation so I was a bit surprised the two words that jumped out at me from today’s gospel were “calumny” and “persecuted”. On reflection I realised that given the times we are living in I maybe shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was. This has left me pondering a dilemma, how do we allow ourselves to trust the promises and invitation Christ gives us when life is hard, challenging and uncertain?

The Beatitudes invite us to:

“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

It seems to me that this is a real possibility when life is relatively easy, or at least seems manageable. It’s a lot harder to hold onto that promise, and respond to the Christ’s invitation in hard times. We can of course spiritualise the Beatitudes, telling ourselves that the promise is for eternal life, and not for this earthly life.

If I’m honest that doesn’t seem to be quite enough to sustain us through challenging times. Christ’s invitation, his call to rejoice, and his promise of is new life as much to sustain us in this earthly life as they are for the next.

Even when it feels like we are surrounded on all sides by calumny and persecution he calls us to discover glimmers of blessings, love and hope in the most unlikely of circumstances. This is the challenge that comes with the promise and invitation of the Beatitudes.

Where is Christ challenging you to look for glimmers of hope today?

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Baptism Beatitudes Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Divine Office Ecumenism Lectio Divina Liturgy Prophetic voices Scripture

Called to be one.

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A post from the archives for the week of prayer for Christian Unity. In his letter to the Colossians St Paul writes:

“Clothe yourselves in heartfelt compassion, in generosity and in humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must do the same. Over all these, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, to which indeed you are called in one body.”

His words are an inspiration and a challenge. They show us the best that the Christian community can be, and they remind us of how often we fall short of that ideal within and between our denominations.

This has particular resonance as I reflect on our ecumenical journey. We all stand in need of forgiveness, having misjudged and misinterpreted the insights, gifts and intentions of other denominations. At other times we have all been able to take the risk of reaching out towards other Christians in ways that have brought healing and moved us closer to unity than we could ever have dreamt of.

Many of our denominations and churches are dealing with internal situations that take most of their energy and resources. That is understandable and necessary, but it can make ecumenism feel like its on the backburner.

My hope is that we have learned to love and respect each other enough be able to bear with one another in compassion, generosity and gentleness in a way that allows us the freedom to take the space to deal with internal issues without losing sight of the ground we have gained. Then, when the time is right we will be ready and able to take the next steps in our ecumenical journey together.

In this week of prayer for Christian Unity where are you inspired to be generous and compassionate?

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Beatitudes Benedictine Spirituality Christ Discernment Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

The challenge of the beatitudes.

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Luke’s Beatitudes are challenging read. Unlike Matthew, whose focus is on the spiritual attributes of the Beatitudes, Luke links them much more to the grim material reality of poverty, hunger, war and the other sufferings that we inflict on one another. For those of us who live materially comfortable lives it gives them a stark urgency, showing us precisely how different the values of the kingdom are from our human values.

Almost everything he lists as blessed, we would choose to call cursed, and vice versa. His words remind me that if we are to follow Christ we have to choose to live by values that are not the world’s. We have to be prepared both to rock the boat and to live with the consequences of that:

“Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven.”

They have particular resonance today when we see so many lives destroyed by war, violence and economic hardship. It seems to me that they call us question a status quo that accepts such suffering as long as it’s not on our own doorstep.

They call us to look hard at our own lives, the choices we make and how they impact on other people. Their concern with the material reality of life remained us that the call to build the kingdom is not just about our heavenly future. It is a call to do all we can to make it possible for everybody to live with dignity and to flourish.

How are you allowing the challenge of the Beatitudes to shape the choices you make in daily life?

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Beatitudes Benedictine Spirituality Christ Gospel Lectio Divina Scripture

Living the Beatitudes.

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Beautiful and inspiring as they are the beatitudes are one of the most challenging texts in Scripture. They turn all our expectations of life on their heads. They detail the whole range of human experience. We all know the experience of mourning and weeping. We all experience poverty of some sort, whether physical, spiritual or emotional. We all know hunger in some way, whether that’s physical hunger or an inner spiritual hunger. We have all been mocked, excluded and derided.

When caught up in the experience of these things our first thought is not likely to be that we are blessed. The challenge of the beatitudes is that the things Jesus calls blessed we tend to see as, at best, misfortune:

“Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven.”

The blessing comes, not in the circumstances themselves, but in the fact that whatever we are going through, God is with us, transforming the experience by God’s ever present love. That is not an excuse for those of us who are are not experiencing, poverty, hunger, mourning or exclusion to walk away from those who are.

It can be tempting to think that we can leave their situation to God. That is never the way of the gospel. If we want to live a life based on the beatitudes we are called to reach out to those in need, to offer support, to share what we have, to alleviate suffering in whatever way we can.

Where are you being called to live the beatitudes in your life today?

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Beatitudes Christ Divine Office Gospel Lectio Divina Liturgy Scripture Uncategorized

The challenge of the Kingdom

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Luke’s Beatitudes are challenging read. Unlike Matthew, whose focus is on the spiritual attributes of the Beatitudes, Luke links them much more to the grim material reality of poverty and hunger. For those of us who live materially comfortable lives it gives them a stark urgency, showing us precisely how different the values of the kingdom are from our human values.

Almost everything he lists as blessed, we would choose to call cursed, and vice versa. His words remind me that if we are to follow Christ we have to choose to live by values that are not the world’s. We have to be prepared both to rock the boat and to live with the consequences of that:

“Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven.”

They have particular resonance as we face a cost of living crisis that is driving many more people into poverty. It seems to me that they call us question a status quo that leaves so many unable to meet their most basic needs while others, including ourselves, have so much more than needed.

They call us to look hard at our own lives, the choices we make and how they impact on other people. Their concern with the material reality of life remained us that the call to build the kingdom is not just about our heavenly future. It is a call to do all we can to make it possible for everybody have the material basics they need to live life with dignity.

How are you allowing the challenge of the Beatitudes to shape the choices you make in daily life?