Daily Retreat 06/12/06

2006 Jun 12 Mon: Ordinary Weekday (Tenth Week in Ordinary Time)

1 Kgs 17: 1-6/ Ps 120(121): 1bc-2. 3-4. 5-6. 7-8/ Mt 5: 1-12

From today’s readings: "You shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.... Our help is from the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth.... Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!"

 

True Blessednesss

A great overture was sounded once on a hill in Galilee - it was the fanfare of the Beatitudes, which was the beginning of the Lord’s great Sermon on the Mount. At first, the words sounded unbelievable - how could anyone honestly say "Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they who mourn, blessed are the meek..." In the eyes of the world, such people certainly are anything but "blessed!" Yet the fishermen and farmers who first heard these words, and down through the ages, many many people placed their faith in these words; many people, with their quiet honesty and integrity, have adopted this beautiful overture as their own theme song, not because of intrinsic appeal of the words themselves, but because of the integrity, the charisma of the Lord Jesus Who spoke these words.

 

For He proclaimed these words (and all that He taught), not just with His lips, but with His entire life. So, in fact, if we didn’t have the concrete example of the life of Jesus (echoed, as it is, in the lives of the saints who modeled their lives on His example) it would be foolish to give any credence to anything as clearly counter-cultural as these beatitudes.

 

But we do believe the beatitudes, not because they’re any secret of success for getting ahead in this world, but because our blessed Lord assures us that such blessedness is the best way to get a head out of this world.....

Fr. Rory Pitstick
Our Lady of the Valley Parish
2511 N. Elmway
Okanogan WA 98840 USA
(509) 422-5049

"Illum oportet crescere, me autem minui." John 3:30

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