Monday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time
“Blessed are…”
The Gospel today is about the Beatitudes. They are Christ’s way of showing us our true greatness! Pope Francis tells us that they are Christ’s way of telling us what it means to be holy.
The Beatitudes are like a Christian’s identity card. So if anyone asks: “What must one do to be a good Christian?”, the answer is clear. We have to do, each in our own way, what Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount. In the Beatitudes, we find a portrait of the Master, which we are called to reflect in our daily lives.
I think that most of us are afraid of this holiness, this greatness. We are afraid of coming to the real self, which God sees, loves, and wants to draw to glory with Him.
Pope Francis tells us that, “we can only practice [the Beatitudes] if the Holy Spirit fills us with His power and frees us from our weakness, our selfishness, our complacency, and our pride.”
When we seek to follow the Beatitudes, I suggest one small practical approach. It can nurture a familiarity with the Holy Spirit. It is to ask Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, to teach us Jesus – Jesus as He wants to come alive in us: “Here I am Lord, to be what you want to be through me.” A practical way to do this is to give careful, daily attention to the mysteries when we pray the rosary. They have so much to teach us about what we mean to Christ, how he desires to live in us. This prayer can also, if we slow down and give it the reflection it calls for, do much more; it will cultivate desire in us to be what Jesus wants to be through us!
Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB
Posted in Articles for Lent, Daily Reflections, Lenten Resources