God alone satisfies

Matthew 5 : 1- 12

Blessed are the poor in spirit....the peacemakers......

The "Beatitudes" or 'blessings' Jesus speaks about are always an enigma to the world at large. These blessings certainly contradict the world's definition of what it means to live the good life. The advertisements we are confronted with all over the place from billboards to TV to people coming up to us, all remind us that we need something more - a product, a program or something - to get us to that place of ultimate fulfillment.

Jesus' list which reverses the world's values sounds crazy, even masochistic in light of all that.

I wonder how many of us have experienced "blessings" that indeed come from poverty of spirit, from meekness, from mourning, from being merciful, from being persecuted.......

I would certainly like to pray to be spared all those difficult situations. But in our lives in this world, they do come. They come as surely as the rain falls on the evil and the good. Tsunamis of all kinds wipe out both the evil and the good. In my own life, I can say from hindsight that I have been "blessed" through many difficult situations, especially in times of loss. They have made me a more compassionate person, for I have received God's grace in my need. I suppose I could still be kind even without such experiences, but deep compassion most often comes from wounded healers. Those are times I did not welcomed nor would like to go through again (though God does not promise clear skies forever)- but I am thankful that through them, what seemed like meaningless loss was a gain of something far more valuable.

The Beatitudes or "blessings" have something in them that the world without God cannot yet appreciate. They remind us that God alone satisfies and that his goodness is experienced when our hearts have been broken wide open to receive.