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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading (1Kgs 17:1-6): Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab: «As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, during these years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word». The Lord then said to Elijah: «Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. You shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there». So he left and did as the Lord had commanded. He went and remained by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the stream.
Responsorial Psalm: 120
R/. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
I lift up my eyes toward the mountains; whence shall help come to me? My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

May he not suffer your foot to slip; may he slumber not who guards you: Indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps, the guardian of Israel.

The Lord is your guardian; the Lord is your shade; he is beside you at your right hand. The sun shall not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will guard you from all evil; he will guard your life. The Lord will guard your coming and your going, both now and forever.
Versicle before the Gospel (Cf. Mt 5:12): Alleluia. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Mt 5:1-12): 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. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

“Blessed are the poor in spirit”

Fr. Àngel CALDAS i Bosch (Salt, Girona, Spain)

Today, with the proclamation of the Beatitudes, Jesus helps us realize how forgetful we can be and how we tend to be like children, who usually forget their memories because of their plays. Jesus feared that the amount of His “good news” —His words, His gestures, His silences— would be diluted amidst our sins and worries. In the parable of the Sower, do you remember the image of the thorns that sprang up with His seeds, and choked them? Well, this is why St. Matthew runs the Beatitudes as fundamental principles, so that we do not ever forget them. They are a compendium of the New Law presented by Jesus, basic points which help us live a Christian life.

The Beatitudes are intended for everybody. The Master is not only teaching His disciples around Him, nor does He exclude any kind of persons, but He delivers a Universal message. However, He emphasizes the disposition we must have and the moral behavior He expects from us. While the definite salvation is not given in this world, but in the next, we must change, right now, while we are here, our mentality and our evaluation of things. It is necessary we get used to seeing the crying face of Christ, in those who mourn, in those poor of spirit, in the meek at heart, in those who yearn to become saints, in those who have taken a “determined determination”, as St. Therese of the Child Jesus liked to say, so that we can become Sowers of Peace and Joy.

The Beatitudes are the Lord's perfume participated in human history. But, also in yours and mine. The last two verses incorporate the presence of the Cross, as they invite us to rejoice when, because of Him and of the Gospel, things go humanly wrong. For when the coherence of our Christian life is strong, we will then, most probably suffer persecution in a thousand different ways, amid unexpected difficulties and setbacks. St. Matthew's text is emphatic: so “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven” (Mt 5:12).

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “For God is seen by those who are enabled to see Him when they have the eyes of their soul opened: for all have eyes; but in some they are overspread, and do not see the light of the sun.” (Saint Theophilus of Antioch)

  • “The individual Beatitudes are the fruit of the looking of Jesus upon the disciples; they describe their actual condition: they are poor, hungry, weeping men; they are hated and persecuted... In spite of the concrete threatening situation, this becomes a promise when you look at it with the provident light which comes from the Father.” (Benedict XVI)

  • “The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations (…)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nº 1717)

November 10th
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Gospel and commentary video

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November 9th
Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Gospel and commentary video