The Beatitudes As Obedience

[Guest bchriste]

Lk 6:17, 20-26

Jesus came down with the twelve

and stood on a stretch of level ground

with a great crowd of his disciples

and a large number of the people

from all Judea and Jerusalem

and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.

And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:

"Blessed are you who are poor,

for the kingdom of God is yours.

Blessed are you who are now hungry,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who are now weeping,

for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you,

and when they exclude and insult you,

and denounce your name as evil

on account of the Son of Man.

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!

Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.

For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

But woe to you who are rich,

for you have received your consolation.

Woe to you who are filled now,

for you will be hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will grieve and weep.

Woe to you when all speak well of you,

for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way."

The Beatitudes as Obedience

It is my will to give you a worth which does not properly belong to you, and to fashion you solely from the might of my heart, as Eve was fashioned from Adam's rib.

The source of your life, O Church, is both a demand and a promise. Live not from yourself; live solely in me and from me. Think of yourself no longer as of the one you used to be. Think no longer of your heart, but rather let my heart alone be sufficient for you - the heart which I have planted in the center of your body. You ought, in this way, to be my Bride and my Body, and it is my will to redeem the whole world in you, exclusively in you. Be my handmaid. Renounce your will and nestle, like Ruth, at my feet. Become obedient even to death. Be for the world my embodied obedience, shown forth visibly and sensibly throughout all ages. Be so obedient, and whoever proclaims me must depict my obedience even to the death on the cross.

Father von Balthasar (1988)

Deo omnis Gloria,

bchriste

[the_rev]

At mass last night, they sang "We are the light of the World" I'm sure glad I mememorized the beatitudes because it provided for a nice reflection time during communion.

[phatcatholic]

At mass last night, they sang "We are the light of the World" I'm sure glad I mememorized the beatitudes because it provided for a nice reflection time during communion.

yes, we too sang that song at mass this morning. i love that song! this may be trivial, but the thing i like the most about it is how it reminds of the prayer we say before meals, when we sing "Bless Us Our Lord, make us...." i like that part. i've been singing that song in my head all day today!

pax christi,

phatcatholic

[the_rev]

I love that song!

I usally get church songs stuck in my head after mass!