Cycle A - Year I:  

29 January 2023: Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Gospel:  Please Read  Matthew 5:1-12 

The way to God's kingdom!

If our Lord Jesus Christ were with us today in human form, do you ever wonder how He would preach God's kingdom?

Would He be in a Church and preach in a pulpit? Would He use television and radio to reach His audience? Would He use the social media to catch our attention?

Or, would He continue to be an itinerant preacher, traveling from place to place to preach to those who follow Him, just like the apostolic times?

What we do know is that Jesus is a great preacher. He would use simple teaching methods based on ordinary every day life situations to point to another order of reality. Our Lord Jesus Christ would always preach from the heart regardless of the way He chooses to proclaim God's kingdom. For it is through the heart that God speaks to us.

In one sweeping poetic way, Jesus teaches us how to know the heaven that is dwelling inside us, in order to reach the heaven that is not here yet.  The Gospel proclamation this Sunday is about the Sermon on the Mount, or more popularly known as the Beatitudes.

The big crowds were coming to Jesus, so He went up on a mountainside and sat down, the well-known posture of the teacher. This mount is traditionally located in the low hills behind the region of Capernaum and the other fishing villages on the shore.  Jesus began to preach to the crowds.

Now, this section of the "Beatitudes" is one of the most loved portions of the Gospel. It forms the beginning of what has come to be known as the "Sermon on the Mount". The word "beatitude" literally means "happiness" or "blessedness" in the context of our search for God's kingdom.  

What is the significance of the beatitudes, and why are they so central in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ?

We realize that the beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness in every human heart. Because the beatitudes teach us the final end to which God calls us to His kingdom.  But the beatitudes also confront us with decisive choices concerning the life we pursue here on earth and the use we make of the goods God puts at our disposal.  For in reality, God alone satisfies our longing for happiness, and not material possessions or wealth.

Clearly, the Beatitudes point the way to God's kingdom.  The saints have trodden the path of beatitudes in their worldly journey.  We, too, are called to be holy and to be happy by working for the treasures which can afford us welcome into the heavenly home. Because when we follow the way o the Beatitudes our Lord Jesus promises us, at the conclusion of the Gospel reading today... "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven"... just like all the saints. True happiness, after all, can only come from living the values of God's kingdom that are clearly expressed in the Beatitudes.  

Trivia: The preaching of this sermon may have come a little later in the chronology of the life of Christ; but Matthew placed it here at the beginning of Jesus' ministry because it forms such a grand proclamation of God's kingdom.

The Church celebrates National Bible Sunday and Pro-life Sunday. Let us pray for grace to live the Word of God in order to live a happy and blessed life. Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!