Often we remark that God has favored us when people speak well of us, or when material benefits come our way or when life is filled with laughter and merry making. Today’s reading of the Beatitudes, seems to contradict that view, and says the opposite. Blessed are the poor, hungry, weeping: they are the ones who are favored by God. That blessedness comes from becoming a disciple of the Lord. A disciple is one who imitates the lifestyle and the attitudes of the master. To be a disciple of the Lord then, is to imitate his life style. Only to such is the blessed condition given. Pseudo Christians however, seem to be perfect disciples of the world, not Christ. Teilhard de Chardin says “if we do not believe, the waves engulf us, nourishment fails, sickness lays us low or kills us and divine power would seem remote. If on the other hand, we believe, the waters are welcoming, bread is multiplied, our eyes open, the dead rise again, the power of God is, as it were, drawn from him by force and spreads through all nature”.

Prayer: Abba Father, empower us to live like your Son, who became utterly poor and vulnerable and received heavenly glory. Amen.