Today’s readings: Zephaniah 2,3. 3, 12-13; 1 Corinthians 1, 26-31; Matt 5, 1-12.

Revisiting the Beatitudes in today’s gospel makes us realise how often, in the name of this same gospel, we stood on the wrong side of history, not realising exactly what was the message Jesus was driving home when considering the poor and vulnerable as blessed and happy. The theme highlighted today right through the three texts is precisely the heavy contrast between how reality is judged by human reckoning and in God’s eyes.

Since its first proclamation by Jesus the gospel has constantly run the risk of sounding naive and unrealistic, of being unpopular, and never in tune with the deepest struggles we engage in daily wherever our survival is in question. We acknowledge that we live in a selfie culture when the word ‘me’ has never had it so good. Yet we do well, and this is where the gospel can be liberating, to uncover the deceptions that remind us of Narcissus.

There is always a primary narcissism in every child which, if not catered for wisely, with time can only degenerate into a pathology character-wise. We all know that the territory of character is very delicate and many a time is the ground where the big life battles are waged. Against the deceptive culture of ‘me first’ that we breathe, Jesus is proposing the remedy of a culture of authenticity. In the Beatitudes he is in no way exalting vulnerability for its own sake. He is only making us aware of the wrong paths we can take when exploring the delicate territory of searching for happiness.

Happiness is what we all long for and what, if sought in ephemeral things, can be short-lived. Jesus puts it at the centre of a discourse which has always been hailed as profoundly human and spiritual and which has proved deeply meaningful beyond the borders of the diverse faiths and religions.

In the Scriptures, happiness can only be grasped in the realm of the heart and the spirit. Augustine’s Confessions, one of the most be­loved Christian classics, unpacks for us the intimate conversation bet­ween a towering intellect and the God whose peace Augustine at last humbly accepts. That peace, for which his heart burned, was the happiness sought and found.

We all have our personal narratives of soul searching, which reach dramatic highs when we need to choose between eternal life and death. The gospel is always challenging because by human standards it is radically opposed to what comes as natural in our longing and in our struggles. Seeing things with the eyes of God can provide us with other perspectives on life, and can, at the end of the day, make us experience the inner power of God where there is apparent weakness and vulnerability.

In the first reading,the prophet Zephaniah addresses the remnants of Israel, those left who were literally dwindling in numbers and manifestly weak as a people to vouch for God’s power. Yet, he gives the assurance of things hoped for because God’s power is never made manifest where might is the strategy.

The Beatitudes are the sermon Jesus gave on a mount. They stand for the new perspective to life which then found its fulfilment on another mount where he was crucified and died. St Paul classically refers to this when he claims that what was a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to pagans eventually became the manifestation of God’s power for us.

As Christians and believers, we might no longer live in the glorious days of a Christian society where the Christian faith googled answers to practically whatever perturbed the mind. As theologian Tomas Halik writes in his book I Want You to Be, “God does not approach us as an answer but rather as a question”.

The Beatitudes today can again send out a strong message to a society and a culture that builds the self only to demolish it through deceptive lures and promises. The gospel can still be experienced as the libera­ting voice from the lies and ideologies in which the self is very often imprisoned.

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