Homily for Ordinary Time 5
Beatitudes, Part 2 of 3
February 8, 2026
Last
week we read Jesus’ famous eight Beatitudes – His rules for living blessedly -
and I spoke about the first two. If you missed it, you can hear it on our St.
Jude’s website. Today I will speak about the next three Beatitudes – what they
mean, what virtue they embody, and how they lead to our true happiness.
Jesus
goes on to say, “Blessed are the meek” – an often-misunderstood term. Meekness
isn’t weakness – rather, it is strength under control. The virtue to cultivate
here is that of self-control. As St. Maximilian Kolbe said, “What use are
victories on the battlefield if we are defeated within our innermost selves?”
It makes no sense to rule the entire world if we cannot control ourselves.
The
famous story goes that Mother Teresa approached a baker to beg for food for her
homes for the poor in India. The baker, indignant upon being asked, spit upon
her face. Mother Teresa took out her handkerchief, calmly wiped the spittle off
her face, and replied, “That was for me. Now, how about something for my poor?”
This perfect self-control so impressed the baker that he gave a generous
donation to her.
How do
we grow in this self-control? The answer is simple…and simply unpopular. Daily
sacrifice and fasting. Our life is a battle between our will and our flesh –
which one will have mastery? The will is like a muscle, and when it gets a
workout, it grows stronger so that we can more easily choose the greater good
despite any difficulty. So don’t hit the snooze button…willingly give up
dessert…don’t use the heated seats and be a bit uncomfortable on your
drive…pray a little longer on your knees than is comfortable…hold your tongue
from that unnecessary word that only serves to pad your ego. Only a
self-controlled person is free – if we are beholden to our physical and
emotional whims and desires, then we are ruled by them.
Notice
Jesus’ promise: the meek will inherit the earth. If we are free because we are
interiorly self-controlled, then the whole world will be in our grasp, because
we have our strength directed to the greatest good.
But what
is that greatest good? Jesus goes on to say that we are blessed if we hunger
and thirst for righteousness. Interesting that we are blessed if we are not
content – if we are discontented with the status-quo, tired of the same old
life, yearning for something more. This might be easiest to see in contrast to
a widespread vice: that of acedia. Acedia is mediocrity in the spiritual life –
just settling for the same prayers that we’ve always done, falling into the
same sins and dismissing them as “oh, that’s just who I am”, never going beyond
the bare minimum.
In the
1600s in Italy there was a teen girl named Veronica who was a pretty good
person. She took care of the poor, and loved going to church – but also had the
typical flaws of a strong-willed, somewhat vain teen girl. One day she was
praying and she had a vision of Jesus holding out a heart that was made of
solid iron. She asked what it meant, and Jesus said, “This is your heart – I
long to give you a heart of flesh, on-fire for love.” She realized that she had
been living a mediocre life and set about correcting her flaws and really
praying with real fervor. She is now St. Veronica Giulianna. I wonder, if Jesus
showed us our heart, would it be as cold as stone, as lukewarm as a bad bowl of
soup, or on-fire with divine love – hungering for holiness?
So what
can we do about our lukewarmness in our faith? Some suggestions could be: go on
retreat, pray in a new way, or make a pilgrimage to a holy place. Visit a
cemetery and ponder the shortness of life and the length of eternity. Remember
what St. John Vianney said: “If people would do for God what they do for the
world, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven.” And consider your
lofty calling – you are made to be a great saint, overflowing with graces and
virtues, another Christ in this world today…not a mediocre person who sullies
the name of Christian with their lukewarm life.
Jesus
then goes on to say, “Blessed are the merciful.” How many feuds have escalated
absurdly because people were unable to forgive? There is a small island between
the US and Canada called San Juan Island. In 1859, an American farmer found a
British-owned pig rooting around in his potato patch, so he shot the pig. The
British owner informed the police, who threatened to arrest the farmer. But the
American government got wind of it, and sent soldiers to occupy the island and
claim it as American soil. The British responded by sending fully armed Navy
warships to the island. Weeks of a tense standoff ensued – until finally cooler
heads prevailed and the two countries backed down. People could have died…all
because of a pig! If someone had just apologized and offered forgiveness, this
absurdity would not have happened!
Thus,
the virtue here is mercy. Mercy differs from justice in that justice
gives someone what they are owed, while mercy gives someone what we do not
owe them – a greater kindness than they deserve. But isn’t this precisely how
we have been treated by the Lord? We deserved wrath, and He gave us forgiveness
– we deserved to die for our sin, and He took that death upon Himself. How
blessed we will be if we can extend that same mercy to others!
Next
week, we will look at the final three beatitudes and how we can live them out
so that our life will be truly blessed!
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