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Twenty-fifth
Sunday after Pentecost
Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk
10th November 2013
Dear Friends,
In the readings
for the feast of all saints, the gospel set out the words of
Our Lord in His sermon on the mount, in which He spoke to us
of the beatitudes, which are none other than the Gospel in a
simplified form. All the Beatitudes draw us out of our
selfishness and help us to overcome ourselves. It is only
when our lives are thus ordered to the principles that Our
Lord set before us in the beatitudes that we shall attain
peace and grow in holiness of life.
Poor in
spirit: Indifferent to the goods of the world our wills
are neither agitated nor disquieted by jealousy and envy,
they are content in the simple things of life and not drawn
constantly to always possess more.
Meek:
Gentleness is a quality which counteracts the imperious
desire to always be first, it necessarily curbs our pride
and the pursuit of a disordered desire for the recognition
of our excellence.
Sorrowful:
Sorrow is the recognition that we are dissatisfied and that
our desires are not fulfilled. When a man lives on the
earth, pursuing nothing but worldly goals, he is living only
half a superficial life; which offers no lasting happiness.
Desirous of
justice: A just man is ordered in all his dealings with
others; he is honest and worthy of confidence. A just man,
in the fullest sense, is one who also recognizes his
dependence on God, his Creator and Savior. Desirous of
rectitude and order this man is turned by this beatitude
toward to full satisfaction of gratitude and adoration which
will only be perfected in the Beatific Vision.
Merciful:
Mercy is being moved by compassion at the sight of the
misery of another. The man who understands the ways of God
knows full well the misery of those men who direct their
lives only to the things of earth; they cause themselves
profound dissatisfaction. This man also understands his own
selfishness and sinful habits which are also a source of
misery to himself.
Pure of
heart: This is the man who is right and direct in intention
and will, it does not firstly involve the moral virtue of
purity. This is a man whose personal life is ordered and at
peace. When a man's will is disposed by grace and directed
to a life of virtue, ordered to God in a hierarchical manner
he is at peace and content to see God in all His works.
Peacemakers:
The peacemaker is not only an individual whose life is
ordered properly and at peace within himself, but is one
whose life is so perfectly ordered that his life radiates
out to those around him and his influence is salvific. He
becomes like God, a Savior, a channel of redemption, and
thus a child of God.
O Jesus meek
and humble of heart make my heart like unto Thine ! |
