Devotion for today: Our vocation to Beatitude

Today we begin our study of the beatitudes. In this Year of Faith, I will sight Catechism selections as well as famous holy people.

Scripture for meditation: Matthew 5:3-12

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: 1716 The Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus' preaching. They take up the promises made to the chosen people since Abraham. The Beatitudes fulfill the promises by ordering them no longer merely to the possession of a territory, but to the Kingdom of heaven. 1717 The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ's disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.

Pope John Paul II tells us: It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.

My thoughts: As we begin our study of the Beatitudes, let us take time today to carefully examine our own lives for signs that we may not be on the right path to happiness, to blessedness, to a life that will not settle for compromise. Let us ask God to reveal to us who we really are, devoid of the masks and imitations we present to others, and truthfully, to ourselves. It will be painful for us to see the person  we have become, to see what we have done to the dream God had for us when He created us, but we can do it. Once freed of falsity and lies, we can then begin the awesome task of becoming a child of God.

Only then can we be free to do something great with our lives. We only get one life; why not make it great?

Prayer: Father, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You. Jesus, I adore You; lay my life before You; how I love You; Spirit, I adore You; lay my life before You; how I love You. (lyrics by Matt Brouwer)