Matthew 5:1-12

1 Kings 17:1-6

Psalm 1211bc-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

Matthew 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.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I am blessed to be a member of the New Covenant People of God. Help me to appreciate and value what that means. Humanity walked in darkness for centuries but now has the light of Christ and his words of eternal life. I have received that light and those words, and I thank you.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Transforming Curses into Blessings: During the next twelve weeks our weekday Gospel will be taken from the Gospel according to Matthew. One of the characteristics of Matthew’s Gospel are the five discourses Jesus delivers. When Jesus ascends the mountain, he sits down and delivers the New Law in the Sermon on the Mount. In this first discourse and the other four, he is acting as the New Moses. In the Old Covenant, given by Moses, there were blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (see Deuteronomy 28). Moses promised things like material prosperity, numerous offspring, and victory over enemies to those who obey God’s voice and observe God’s commandments. He also promised frustration, disease, famine, plagues, exile, foreign invasion, and fruitless labor on those who disobey God’s commandments and statutes. In the New Covenant, Jesus transforms some of the old curses (poverty, mourning, persecution) into the path to New Covenant blessings. In the New Covenant, material wealth, prosperity, accomplishments, and bodily pleasure can be dangerous. They can easily lead a person to trust more in themselves and the things of this passing world than in their Heavenly Father. On the other hand, our suffering in this life and our good works (of justice, charity, and mercy), united to Christ and empowered by divine grace, lead to eternal blessings.

2. Christ our Exemplar: Jesus gives the supreme example of how to live the beatitudes. Jesus talks the talk and walks the walk. He is poor in spirit, with no place to lay his head (Matthew 8:30). He is the one who mourns as the man of sorrows. He hungers and thirsts for righteousness. He is the merciful one who calls his followers to practice mercy (Matthew 18:21-35). He is pure of heart and loves his Father with an undivided love. He is the prince of peace who is persecuted for the sake of righteousness. He is innocent and yet is insulted and persecuted as he is crucified (Matthew 27:39-44). Jesus not only models the New Law for us but also promises to give us the Holy Spirit and the grace to fulfill the demands of the New Law.

3. The Prophet Elijah: The First Reading, from the First Book of Kings, picks up the story of Israel’s Kingdom. Back in February, during the fifth week in Ordinary Time, we read from the First Book of Kings and learned how and why the Kingdom of David and Solomon was split into the southern Kingdom of Judah and the northern Kingdom of Israel. During Ordinary Time, weeks six through nine, and during Lent and Easter, the Liturgy of the Word breaks from the history of David’s kingdom but picks it up again in week ten. Today we encounter the figure of the prophet Elijah. He ministered in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of the wicked King Ahab (874-853 B.C.). His ministry of renewal aimed at fighting against Baal worship in the Northern Kingdom and calling the people back to the Lord. The First Reading reveals that the Canaanite god, Baal, who was the god of storm and rain, is really no god at all. It is YHWH, the God of Israel, who brings and withholds the rains. The feeding of Elijah with bread and meat recalls how God fed Israel with bread (manna) and meat (quail) in the wilderness (see Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The First and Second Book of the Kings, 49). In many ways, the life of Elijah shows how he is a new Moses figure. Jesus, however, is the ultimate New Moses.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I thank you for the gift of the New Law and for the grace of the Holy Spirit to fulfill it. You truly have the words of eternal life and have marked out the path that leads to eternal beatitude. Help me to choose this path always in all that I do.

Living the Word of God: When I examine my conscience before the Sacrament of Reconciliation, do I limit my exam to the 10 Commandments? How can I examine my conscience in the light of the Beatitudes and the New Law: Am I poor of spirit? Merciful? Meek and pure of heart? A peacemaker? Just in my dealings with others? Generous in giving to the poor?