Feast of St Brigid, Secondary Patron of Ireland
Readings: Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12
Theme: The Beatitudes: Jesus’ Recipe for happiness
By Michael McCabe, SMA.
In last Sunday’s gospel we heard how Jesus launched his mission with a simple, clear message and exhortation: ‘Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand’. In today’s gospel Matthew introduces us to the beatitudes of Jesus. In them we see the kind of repentance or change of heart Jesus is asking of us, if we wish to enjoy the blessings of God’s Kingdom and experience the kind of happiness God is offering us.
In The Beatitudes Jesus is not giving his disciples a new set of commandments like the ten commandments Moses received on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel. The Jews in Jesus’ time already had enough commandments and rules. Six hundred and thirteen of them are found in the Torah. So, more rules would be bad news, not good news. The beatitudes are good news. They are declarations of blessing. They are Jesus’ recipe for happiness. The word ‘blessed’ occurs nine times in today’s gospel reading. Declarations of blessing are found throughout the bible. The first psalm opens with the beatitude: ‘Blessed is the person who follows not the counsel of the wicked… but who delights in the law of the Lord’ (Ps 1:1-2). The first beatitude in Luke’s gospel declares Mary blessed because she believed ‘that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled’ (Lk 1:45).
What is surprising about the beatitudes of Jesus is the categories of people he declares to be blessed. They are not the prosperous, powerful or famous, not those we tend to consider blessed or happy. Indeed, his beatitudes turn upside down the values and attitudes that are dominant in our world. They propose an alternative way of life to that which most people desire. They articulate a vision of the good life seen from the perspective of a God who is Love. This was the vision of life Jesus himself embodied and lived. In the words of the American Evangelist, Carl F. Henry, ‘Jesus clothes the beatitudes with his own life’.
For the sake of the Kingdom that he proclaimed, Jesus renounced power and prestige and chose the way of powerlessness. He was truly ‘poor in spirit’ and identified himself with the lowly of this world, not with the high and mighty. He was merciful, meek and compassionate. He mourned with the sorrowing. He was a peace-maker who offered the violent no resistance. Yet, he was uncompromising in his commitment to all who were exploited and suffered injustice. He was persecuted for the cause of right and finally handed over to death. Everything he said and did flowed from, and gave concrete expression to, the power of the Father’s love at work in him.
The beatitudes only make sense in the context of the Kingdom of God. In this Kingdom it is not the rich, the successful. and the powerful who are blessed, but the meek and lowly. These are the people God chooses as his privileged instruments in the service of his Reign. In the striking words of St 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 (1 Cor 1:27-29). These are the people through whom God works to realise his dream of a world transformed by the power of Love: a world where the weak are protected and none go hungry; a world where the riches of creation are shared and everyone can enjoy them; a world where all peoples live in harmony and mutual respect; a world where peace is built on justice, and justice is guided by love.
While the beatitudes are not a new set of rules for the disciples of Jesus, they constitute a radical challenge and call to action. We cannot live them without undergoing a profound change of heart. They go way beyond the moral requirements of The Ten Commandments, which the rich young man in the Gospel of Luke was easily able to observe. They require that we imitate the example of the self-giving love of Jesus, resisting the idolatrous pull of wealth and power. They involve not merely a personal observance of ethical rules, but a rejection of the obscene inequalities that mar our world, and a tenacious struggle for a more just participation by all in the gifts of the earth. They involve an unswerving commitment to mirroring on earth the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ and making the world a place of truth, love, compassion, justice, freedom and peace.
Today in Ireland, we celebrate the Feast of St Brigid, Secondary Patron of our Land. Born at Faughart in County Louth around the middle of the 5th century, she consecrated her life to God and founded monasteries for men and women in Kildare. Her life was marked by kindness to strangers, care for the sick and poor, and love of nature. She was truly a woman of the beatitudes, whose reputation spread not only in Ireland, but throughout many parts of Europe.
St Brigid, Mary of the Gael, pray for us and help us to live the beatitudes in the context of our time.
Listen to an alternative audio Homily by Tom Casey, SMA: