Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12a
The Christian Beatitudes

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. I begin by wishing you all a joyous Sunday.

The passage from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew, which we have just heard, tells us: Jesus went up the mountain and began to teach the crowds who had gathered around him about the Beatitudes. We know that the mountain is a symbol of God’s encounter with humanity. Therefore, the Beatitudes proclaimed on the mountain, along with the crowds and disciples who gathered with Jesus there, together form a prototype of the visible Catholic Church.

The eight Beatitudes mentioned in the Gospel passage—those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those persecuted for the sake of righteousness—embody the very philosophy of life of Jesus. He calls those who wish to follow him to be like him, to return love for love, and to manifest the Father’s mercy everywhere and at all times.

Today, we live in a world that is constantly filled with conflict and uncertainty. This world urgently needs us to infuse it with more certainty through our constant imitation of Christ’s actions, to bring more love and warmth to this cold world, and to restore it to the harmony of creation as it was in the beginning when God first made it.

Holy Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us. Amen.

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