You Are The True Winners

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I’ve been to Mount Sinai where the Ten Commandments were delivered to Moses and due to the heat, we climbed it at 2:00 in the morning. It was an awesome experience. I’ve also been to the mountain of the Beatitudes where this gospel was proclaimed and in many other places. Even though the commandments sound negative they really point to love and go way beyond the evil that they name. They also remind us of the great commandment: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength and your neighbors yourself. The Beatitudes don’t destroy the old law of the commandments, but they bring it to its fullest potential, they deepen them.
Jesus says blessed are the poor, the hungry, the weeping, the insulted. It seems that Christ is exulting those whom the world regards as weak. He seems to be saying to them: blessed are those who seem to be losers, because you are the true winners: the kingdom of heaven is yours. These words challenge us to change our hearts because we hear another voice today that says blessed are the proud, the violent, those who get away with murder, the devious, those who persecute anyone in their way. They are the ones that seem to win, to be happy.
Christ offers us a very different message. He’s close to the place where he chose the first apostles. He is asking us to make a choice. Which gospel do you want to follow to follow, the one of the world, or the one you heard today? Believe what he says. Christ doesn’t really speak about the Beatitudes, he lives them. He is the Beatitudes. He is the one who is poor, hungry, weeping, and persecuted. He says to us: come and follow me. He doesn’t say do what I tell you to do. He lives them and invites us to do so.
So hopefully you hear his voice that says leave your boats and your nets. What does this mean? Leave your idols, your comfort, your flat plans. We think that to be a Christian is something extremely difficult, but the young families that I know who have five or six kids they do it easily, with joy. It’s not an excruciating life; they have their moments but mostly they are very fulfilled and in peace. They are ordinary people who trust in God.
Christ comes down the mountain; he descends to the apostles, and to us. He goes into our hell, our suffering. He goes down to our hell in order to take us out. This has always been my experience. Trust in him and in his plan for you.

Subscribe Now To Our Daily Email

We respect your email privacy