4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 5:1-12a
What are our goals in life? What are we striving for? Probably all of us want to be happy. We want to stay healthy or get well again when we are ill. Many young people strive to find a good spouse. And a good job, to earn money for themselves and their families. Some also strive for higher positions in their work or in society. Others strive for knowledge in a particular field. Or for being particularly good or skilled at something specific. And almost all of us strive for other people’s recognition.
None of these goals is bad. But there is one goal that surpasses all others in importance. A goal that, if we do not reach it, robs all other goals of their value: the kingdom of heaven. None of the many individual, good goals we pursue in life should stand in the way of our journey towards the one great goal: the kingdom of heaven. We must never lose sight of this goal.
“The kingdom of heaven”, what does it mean? Jesus says it in the Beatitudes: to be comforted in grief. To be satisfied with righteousness. To receive mercy. To see God. And to be called sons of God.
Sometimes we have to give up something good here on earth for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Sometimes something we would have liked to have in life is simply taken away from us, often in a brutal way. Or we desire something very strongly and are unable to obtain it. In these situations, the Beatitudes are of particular value to us. They give us comfort, because they realign us with the one, the only important goal: the kingdom of heaven.
We do not earn the kingdom of heaven. It is given to us. And paradoxically, we are closest to it when we miss it the most. When we experience a deeply felt lack and deficiency.
Those who have lost a loved one, or whose life plans have been shattered, may feel abandoned by God. But Jesus says: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. God will wipe away all tears. He wants to give us eternal life, which has already begun with the resurrection and ascension of Christ.
Those who see themselves failing to live up to moral standards, those who are caught in the web of their bad habits, those who suffer under the burden of past sins, may feel distant from God because of their own fault. But Jesus says: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. God forgives those who repent their sins and long for healing and righteousness. He makes us righteous through the death and resurrection of his Son. And we will be satisfied with the body and blood of Christ.
Those who know deep in their hearts that they cannot boast in the presence of God because all their good works are rather insignificant, those who recognise that they are deeply addicted to the approval of others, those who find themselves unable to pray to God, who think that all their prayers are empty words, may feel abandoned by God. But Jesus says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It is Christ himself who gives us his closeness when we pray. He himself is present when we gather for Mass. Regardless of how poor our charity and our prayer life may actually be, he gives us himself in the Holy Eucharist. When we recognise and admit that we are spiritually poor and helpless and that we need God and his grace more than anything else, that is when we are best prepared to receive Christ in the Eucharist. Then the kingdom of heaven belongs to us, for Christ himself gives it to us. To our salvtion and to his glory. Amen.
