February 1, 2026
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary
Time
Lectionary: 70
Reading
1
Seek the LORD, all
you humble of the earth,
who have observed his law;
seek justice, seek humility;
perhaps you may be sheltered
on the day of the LORD's anger.
But I will leave as a remnant in your midst
a people humble and lowly,
who shall take refuge in the name of the LORD:
the remnant of Israel.
They shall do no wrong
and speak no lies;
nor shall there be found in their mouths
a deceitful tongue;
they shall pasture and couch their flocks
with none to disturb them.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (Mt 5:3) Blessed
are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Reading
2
Consider your own
calling, brothers and sisters.
Not many of you were wise by human standards,
not many were powerful,
not many were of noble birth.
Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,
and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,
those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something,
so that no human being might boast before God.
It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus,
who became for us wisdom from God,
as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
so that, as it is written,
"Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord."
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad;
your reward will be great in heaven.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
When Jesus saw the
crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020126.cfm
Commentary on
Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12
Today we begin the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew’s Gospel,
Jesus is presented as the new Moses. He presents five long discourses by Jesus,
which can be seen to match the Pentateuch (the five first books of the Bible),
traditionally attributed to Moses as their author and which embody the Jewish
Law. Just as the Pentateuch embodies the Jewish way of life, so these
discourses embody Jesus’ vision of the life he proposes for us.
The Sermon on Mount is the first of these five discourses.
It is not a tape recording or a verbatim record of an actual sermon or address.
Rather, it is a collection of sayings and teachings focusing on the personal
qualities expected of a disciple of Jesus.
It is given on a mountain. Mountains are traditionally seen
as holy places where God is specially present, and there are several instances
in both the Hebrew and Christian Testaments where mountains feature in a
significant way. Apart from today’s example, we have, to give just two
examples, Mount Sinai where God gave the Law to Moses, and the mountain of the
Transfiguration where something of Jesus’ inner reality was revealed to three
chosen disciples.
Jesus sat down, a position of authority, e.g. when the Pope
speaks officially, he does so ex cathedra, sitting on his chair or
throne. Jesus’ audience consists of the Twelve, his other disciples and all
those who wish to hear what he says.
The core of Christian living
Just as the Ten Commandments are the core of the Jewish way of life and a law
to follow, so the Beatitudes are the core of the Christian way of life. Yet,
they are often not understood as such. In many ways, they are largely ignored
as guides to Christian living, and many Christians still regard the Ten
Commandments as their life guide. As a priest, I have yet to hear anyone refer
to the Beatitudes in making their ‘confession’!
However, there are major differences between the
Commandments and the Beatitudes. In a literal sense at least, the Commandments
are fairly easy to keep. And what is very significant as far as the Gospel is
concerned, they can be observed without love. They can be kept in a very
selfish, self-centred way. This was perhaps the problem of the rich man who
said he kept the Commandments since he was young, but could not bring himself
to share his wealth with the poor. This was surely a failure in love for the
neighbour—and so he could not become a disciple of Jesus.
In the society where Jesus grew up, a good person was
understood as one who kept the Law perfectly. In fact, many of the Commandments
can be kept by not doing anything at all, e.g. not stealing, not being violent,
not doing unlawful sexual acts and not talking about other people. A highly
introverted, narrow-minded Puritan might very well be observing the
Commandments to the letter. And this was where the conflict arose between Jesus
and the scribes and Pharisees.
Strictly speaking, the Beatitudes are not commandments. They
are not so much things to be done, or rules to be kept, as deep-down attitudes
of the mind. And, in fact, their observance is only possible with a deep love
of God and of other people. They can never be kept fully—they are goals that
are always calling us further. They never leave any room for complacency. One
can never say about the Beatitudes what the rich man said to Jesus, namely,
that he had kept all the commandments since he was young.
Sources of true happiness
Each Beatitude begins with the word “Blessed”. ‘Blessed’ is a translation of
the Greek makarios, and the Latin, felix. The meaning
of these words is a combination of happiness and good fortune. So we could
translate either with “Happy are those…” or “Fortunate are those…” As well,
‘Blessed’ used in this same sense is also a good rendering.
The Beatitudes must be understood in the context of the
Kingdom. The Kingdom, as discussed previously, is not a place. It is that
complex of relationships that exists between God and those who have totally
accepted him as the Lord and guide of their lives, and who share God’s vision
of what life is about.
So, in the Kingdom it is not the rich, the successful and
the powerful who are really happy and fortunate, but the meek and lowly.
Clearly that is not the conventional way of thinking for many in our world. And
that is why to enter the Kingdom requires metanoia, a radical
change in the way we see life and its values.
This point is made forcefully by Paul in today’s Second
Reading:
God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise;
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low
and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things
that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.
It is also made in the First Reading:
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his
commands; seek righteousness, seek humility… For I will leave in the midst of
you a people humble and lowly… They shall do no wrong and utter no lies, nor
shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths.
Eight paths to happiness
Right at the beginning of Jesus’ teaching he throws down a challenge to
conventional thinking. Let us now take a brief look at each one of these ways
of being blessedly happy.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom
of Heaven.
The poor in the Bible are not just the materially destitute, but all those who
in their need turn to God. Poor in spirit are those who clearly acknowledge
that they depend totally on God. With such an attitude, one has already entered
the Reign of God. One acknowledges clearly that one is not self-sufficient,
that one’s life always hangs by a thread and can be snuffed out at any moment.
In our daily lives we are dependent on a huge number of people who provide for
our needs. It is the loving power of God, accepted and experienced, that helps
us to see just how dependent, how powerless in every respect we really are.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Here we think not just of those grieving a death, but those also who feel a
deep sorrow for the evils and injustices of this world. They mourn not just for
their own pain, but are in solidarity with all those who are the victims of
“man’s inhumanity to man”. They face this pain with others and do not run away
from it in hedonistic, escapist enjoyment. They realise that often the only way
to cope with pain is not to go round it, but to go through it. Such people
will, in turn, experience comfort and a certain inner peace. They can discern
the loving presence of God even in situations that seem so negative and
painful.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
The Greek word here for “meek” is praus, a word only found in
Matthew, and then just three times. It is normally translated as ‘gentle and
kindly’. It is the very opposite of arrogance, bullying and violent
manipulation. It embodies deep respect and tenderness towards all. It learns to
find and radiate goodness everywhere. It is not to be identified with
wimpishness, weakness or cowardice. The truly gentle person, the one who can
remain gentle and respectful of the other’s dignity in the face of provocative
violence, is a very strong person. It is not an attitude we normally see in the
heroes of action movies, who are more likely to deal with hostility by visiting
violence on their foes. There is a fullness of life for the gentle that the
arrogant and violent and manipulative can never know. And the world is theirs
in a way that is never possible for the merely rich.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
For those who live in an area of abundant water and food, hunger and thirst are
rarely experienced as the poor inhabitants of the desert lands often
experienced in Jesus’ time. The intense hunger that Jesus speaks about here is
that people everywhere may receive what is due to them for a life of dignity
and fulfilment. There are people in our society who only hunger and thirst to
have the goods of this world for themselves, whatever impact this may have on
others. But there are in our society others who have a hunger and thirst to
dedicate their lives and energies to work for the restoration of true justice
and peace in our societies. Such people belong to the Reign of God, for it is
God’s will that that the hunger for justice be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
This is not just pity or sympathy, but a deep down compassion and empathy, a
real entering into the pain that others are experiencing. Such people can be
absolutely assured of God’s compassion for them. In another context, Jesus told
his followers to imitate the mercy and compassion of God. This means we have to
put aside all forms of judgmentalism and prejudice, not to mention hate and
contempt for others. This is part of the command to love our enemies, those who
hate and curse us. Our instinct is to pay such people in kind, but then we are
no different from them. On the contrary, we need to pray that their bitter
hearts may be softened, that they may be enabled to reach out in love to all
without exception.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
This is not about sexual purity. It refers to the person who sees things with a
totally unprejudiced eye, with no distortion whatever. They have 20-20 vision
of everything and every person around them. They are able to see things and
persons as they are. This is a very rare quality. They are the complete
opposite of the self-centred bigot, the racist or the narrow-minded legalist.
It is not surprising that such persons can see God, not in the sense of having
visions, but in being able to discern God’s loving presence all around them.
Such persons are truly blessed.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God.
These are those individuals who are active agents of unity and reconciliation
wherever they are. The peace here is not simply an absence of hostilities—an
uneasy truce—but a genuine healing and bringing together. We can be peacemakers
in our families and homes, in our schools and workplaces, between churches, and
in all the areas of our society where there is conflict. Peace is inextricably
linked with justice; there cannot be peace where there is prejudice,
discrimination or exploitation. It would be difficult to find a nicer thing to
say of anyone than that he or she was a peacemaker. No wonder such people are
called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
How can people suffering persecution be called blessed? Because of the reason
why they suffer—they do it for the gospel, for the sake of justice and
goodness. To suffer for bringing truth and justice into the world has a
consolation and joy all its own.
Historically, think of civil rights marchers in the 1960s,
singing in the paddy wagons on their way to prison. Remember the many
Christians who have lost their lives striving for justice in many countries.
Our more recent times have allegedly produced more martyrs for faith and
justice than any previous century. It is something for which we should be both
proud and ashamed. But we pray that there will always be people who would be
deeply unhappy if they did not remain true to a calling to justice and peace.
We know the unease we feel when we compromise on truth or justice. There are
some things which are bigger than us, and we will be more ready to give up
everything for their sake and experience a special joy in doing so. As a young
mother said to me once soon after having her first baby: “Now I know why a
mother will gladly die for her child.”
A special relationship
The Beatitudes have a quality and depth which goes far beyond the moral
requirements of the Ten Commandments. They call for a very special relationship
with God and with the people around us. They involve not merely a personal
observance of ethical rules, but a deep concern to be involved in the building
up of the world we live in, helping to make it a place of truth, love,
compassion, justice, freedom and peace. This is what the ‘Kingdom’ is all
about. It is a completely different ball game. Am I ready for it?
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/oa041/
Sunday,
February 1, 2026
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, send your Spirit to help us to read the
Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the disciples on the way to
Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, you helped them to
discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of your sentence and
death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them
the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in
Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor
and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples
from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to
others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and
peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father
and sent us your Spirit. Amen. Reading
Key for Reading the Text on the Beatitudes:
On this Sunday, the Church invites us to meditate on
the eight Beatitudes. Once, seeing the immense crowd who followed him, Jesus
went up on the mountain near the Lake of Galilee. Sitting on the top, and
looking at the crowds, he
made this solemn proclamation: “Blessed are the poor, the afflicted, the
humble, those who hunger and thirst for justice, those who struggle in behalf
of peace, those who are concerned for the poor, the pure in heart, the
persecuted for the cause of justice!” Words of fire which, even today,
resound in the world! Throughout two thousand years, they have struck thousands
of persons, and they make us think and ask ourselves: “What is happiness? Who is truly happy?”
Some advise: After
the reading of the Beatitudes, it is good not to begin immediately to study and to analyze the words of Jesus. In the first
place, it is good to keep silence in our heart for a moment and believe that we
are in the midst of the people gathered together at the foot of the mountain,
near the lake, watching Jesus and listening to his words. A Division
of the Text to Help the Reading:
Matthew 5: 1: The solemn proclamation of the new Law
Matthew 5: 2-10: The eight doors which permit one to enter
the Kingdom of
God Matthew 5: 11-12: Jesus declares Blessed those who are
persecuted
The Text:
1 Seeing the crowds, he went onto the
mountain. And when he was seated his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to
speak. This is what he taught them: 3 How blessed are the poor in spirit: the
kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 4 Blessed are the gentle: they shall have the
earth as inheritance. 5 Blessed are those who mourn: they shall be comforted. 6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for uprightness: they shall have their
fill. 7 Blessed are the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them. 8 Blessed
are the pure in heart: they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the
peacemakers: they shall be recognized as children of God. 10 Blessed are those
who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness: the
kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 'Blessed are you
when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against
you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be
great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you. A Moment of
Prayerful Silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our
life.
Some Questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
i)
Which part of the text struck you the most? Why?
ii) Where, when
and for whom does Jesus pronounce this discourse?
iii) Which are
the groups of persons whom Jesus declares blessed? Which is the promise for
each group?
iv) Do these
groups which Jesus speaks about exist today? Who are they and where are they
found?
v) How can it
be understood that a person can be poor and happy at the same time?
vi) Try to
remember two moments in which you truly felt happy in life.
Is your opinion of happiness
the same as that of Jesus?
vii)
What type of happiness do people seek today? A Key for Reading
For those who wish to deepen into this theme.
Context of the Discourse of Jesus:
In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus appears as the new
Legislator, the new Moses. Being the Son he knows the Father. He knows
what the Father had in mind when, in the past, he gave the Law to the people
through Moses. It is because of this that Jesus is able to offer us a new
version of God’s Law. The solemn announcement of this New Law begins
here, in the Sermon on the Mountain.
In the Old Testament the Law of Moses is represented in
five books: Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Imitating the old model, Matthew presents the New Law in five great discourses
distributed throughout his Gospel: the Discourse (Sermon) on the Mountain (Mt 5
to 7), The Discourse on the Missions (Mt 10), the Discourse on the Mystery of
the Kingdom present in life (Mt 13), the Discourse on the Community (Mt 18),
the Discourse on the future of the Kingdom (Mt 24 and 25). But for Matthew the
study of the Law alone is not sufficient. It is necessary to observe well the
practice of Jesus, because in it the Spirit of God acts, he is who animates the
letter of the Law from within. The description of the practice of Jesus
occupies the narrative part intermingled among the five Discourses and has the
purpose of showing how Jesus observes the Law and incarnates it in his life. Commentary on the text:
Matthew 5: 1: The solemn
announcement of the New Law
In the Old Testament, Moses
went up to Mount Sinai to receive the Law from God. Jesus also, the new Moses,
goes up on the mountain and looking at the crowd who followed him, proclaims
the New Law. Up until this moment, there were only four disciples with Jesus
(Mt 4: 18-22). But in fact, an immense crowd followed him. Surrounded by
disciples, Jesus begins to teach them, proclaiming the Beatitudes.
Matthew 5: 3-10: The eight doors to enter into the
Kingdom
The Beatitudes constitute the solemn opening of the
Sermon on the Mountain. In it Jesus defines who can enter into the Kingdom.
There are eight categories of persons. Eight entrance doors. There is no other
door to enter into the Kingdom, in the Community! Those who desire to form part
of the Kingdom must identify themselves with one of these categories or groups.
Blessed are the poor in spirit
It is neither the rich nor the poor who has the
mentality of the rich. But it is the
one who like Jesus lives poor (Mt 8: 18), believes the poor (Mt 11: 25-26) and
sees in them the first recipients of the Good News (Lk 4: 18). It is the poor
who has the Spirit of Jesus!
Blessed are the peacemakers
It is not the passive person who
loses the will and no longer reacts. But they are those who have been “pacified” and now, like
Mary, live in “humiliation” (Lk 1:
48). They have lost the land that they possessed, but they
will regain it (Ps 37: 7, 10-11: 22, 29, 34). Like Jesus, they try to be “meek and humble
of heart” (Mt 11, 19).
Blessed are those who mourn
It is not a question of
just any kind of sadness, but of a sadness in the face of injustice and the
lack of humanity which exists in the world (Tb 13: 16; Ps 119, 136; Ez 9: 4; 2
P 2: 7). They are sad because they do not accept the situation in which humanity
is.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
justice
It is not only a question
of the justice sought for in tribunals and which many times is the legalization
of injustice. But it is, above all, the Justice of God, which is sought, doing
in such a way that things and persons can occupy the place that belongs to them
in the plan of the Creator.
Blessed are the merciful
It is not only philanthropy which distributes alms,
but it is a question of imitating God who has entrails of mercy for those who suffer
(Es 34: 6-7) Mercy means to have the heart in the misery of others to diminish
their pain. It means to do in such a way that the suffering of others is not
foreign to us.
Blessed arte the pure in heart
It is not a question of legal purity which only sees
the exterior, but it is a question of having a purified gaze to accept the Law
of God in the heart which becomes transparent, and allows persons to recognize
the calls from God in the events of life and of nature.
Blessed are the peacemakers
It is not only the absence of war. The peace which
God wants on earth is the total and radical reconstruction of life, of nature
and of communal life or living together. It is the Shalôm, the Peace announced
by the prophets and given by Jesus to his disciples (Jn 20: 21).
Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause
of justice
In the world constructed
and organized according to the egoism of persons and groups of persons (like
the Neo-liberal system which dominates the world today) the one who desires to
live the disinterested love will be persecuted and will die on the cross.
The 1st and the 8th categories
(the poor and the persecuted in the cause of justice) receive the same promise
of the Kingdom of God. and they receive it now, because Jesus says “the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs!” Between the 1st and 8th categories,
there are other six who receive a promise which will be fulfilled in the
future. In these six promises there is a new project. It is the project of the
Kingdom, which wants to reconstruct life in its totality: in the relation with
the material goods, with the persons, and with God.
The Christian Community, poor and
persecuted, is already a sign of the Kingdom! It is its seed!
•
The first pair Meek and
those who Mourn, refers to the relation to material goods. For the
future they expect an equitable sharing of the goods of this world among all.
•
The second pair Hunger and
Thirst for justice and Merciful, refers to the relation between
persons and community. For the future they expect the fraternal reconstruction
of human living together.
•
A third pair, Pure in
heart and Peacemakers, refers to the relation with God: to see God
and to be sons of God. For the future they expect the reconstruction of the
relation with God.
The Eight Categories /The Eight Promises
The project of the Kingdom
•
The poor in spirit The Kingdom is theirs
The seed of the Kingdom
•
The meek
•
Those who mourn
Will possess the earth Will be consoled
Just sharing of goods Eliminates inequality
Hunger and thirst for justice
•
The merciful
Shall have their fill Will receive mercy
Reconstructs the fraternal and just relationship
•
The pure in heart
•
The peacemakers
Will see God
Will be sons of God God is present,
Friendly and faithful Presence
•
Persecuted in the cause of justice
The Kingdom is theirs The seed is crucified
•
Matthew 5: 11-12: Jesus declares that the
persecuted are blessed
He pronounces a word of consolation to the persecuted. At
the time of Matthew, around the years 80’s after Christ, this project of reconstruction of life and
of living together or community living was about to be assumed by the Christian
community, all of them poor and without the sense of expression. This is why
they are persecuted. This last word of Jesus confirms the community in the
resistance out of love for the Gospel.
Broadening Our Vision on the Beatitudes
•
The community which receives the Beatitudes
Matthew mentions eight Beatitudes. Luke only has four and
four curses (Lk 6: 20-26). The
four mentioned by Luke are: “You who are poor, you who are hungry, you
who weep, you who are hated and persecuted” (Lk 6: 20-23). Luke writes for the community of
converted pagans. They live in the hostile context of the Roman Empire.
Matthew writes for the community of converted Jews, who
live in the context of breaking away from the Synagogue. Before breaking away,
they enjoyed a certain social acceptance. But now, after the breaking away, the
community entered in crisis and in it they began to appear different tendencies
and struggles among them. Some belonging to the line of Pharisees wanted to
maintain the same rigor in the observance of the Law, to which they were
accustomed before their conversion to Jesus. But in doing this, they excluded
the little ones and the poor. The new Law introduced by Jesus asks that all be
accepted in the community as brothers and sisters. For this, the solemn
beginning of the New Law presents eight Beatitudes which define the categories
of persons who should be accepted in the community: the poor, the meek, those
who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, the pure in
heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted.
•
The poor in spirit?
Jesus recognizes richness and the value of the poor (Mt
11: 25-26). His mission was “to announce the Good News to the poor” (Lk 4, 18). He himself lived as a
poor person. He possessed nothing himself, he had nowhere to lay his head (Mt
8: 18). And to those who want to follow Jesus he asks that they choose between
God and money (Mt 6: 24). Poor in spirit is
the person who before the poor has the spirit of Jesus.
Every time that in the story of the People of God they
seek to renew the Covenant, it is begun by re-establishing the rights of the
poor and of the excluded. Without this, it is not possible to renew the
Covenant! This is what the prophets did, this is what Jesus does. He denounces
the system which excludes the poor and those who are persecuted, those who
fight for justice. In the name of God, Jesus announces a new Project which accepts
the excluded. The community around Jesus has to be an example where this future
Kingdom begins to be shaped. It should be characterized by a new type of
relation to material goods, to persons and to God himself. It should be the
seed of a new nation! Behold, a very important task for us Christians,
especially for the young. Because this is the only way to merit credibility and
to give a very concrete example of the Kingdom, an alternative of life which is
really Good News of God for the poor and the excluded.
•
Be blessed, happy today
The Gospel says exactly the contrary to that which the
civil society in which we live affirms. In society the poor is considered an
unhappy person, and happy the one who possess money and is able to spend as he
wills. In our society, happy is the one who has fame and power. The unhappy
ones are the poor, those who mourn and weep! On Television, the romances, shown
in episodes diffuse the myth of the happy and fulfilled persons, and without
being aware, the romances shown in episodes become the examples of life for
many of us. These words of Jesus still keep their sense in our society: “Blessed are the
poor! Blessed are those who mourn!” And for me, being a Christian, who
in fact is Blessed?
Prayer: Psalm 117
God deserves to be praised.
Alleluia! Praise Yahweh, all nations, extol him, all
peoples, for his faithful love is strong and his constancy never-ending.
Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to
understand better the will of the Father. May your Spirit enlighten our actions
and grant us the strength to practice that which your Word has revealed to us.
May we, like Mary, your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word.
You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever
and ever. Amen.
