Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Shopping & Beatitude

Even a hermit has to eat!

Poverty, gently I must say, assures I shop wisely on the discount and seniors days.

Today was one of those days.

As I walked the aisles of the store my heart was moved to wonder, and to pray.

To wonder: Jesus, does she know You? Jesus, does he know You?

To pray, especially for those my heart sensed were lonely, suffering, burdened.

Today is the Solemnity of All Saints – which means everyone in heaven – people just like those shopping in the grocery store.

The Fathers of the Desert urged a daily praying of the Our Father and the Beatitudes as an aide to becoming a saint.

Holy Mother the Church calls us to pray the Our Father before Holy Communion in every Mass and in today’s Mass gives us the Beatitudes as the Gospel reading.

So I have been meditating on the Beatitudes today and here is some of what came to my heart:

Jesus teaches us that: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Ah Lord, so my actual trust and reliance must be upon You and from that trust and reliance will come the heart of a child, a child of the Father, an inheritor of the Kingdom.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

So You really do want us to learn from You who are meek and humble of heart, but meekness in the face of our fears? No wonder the Desert Fathers urged connecting the Our Father each day in prayer with the Beatitudes.

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Sometimes Lord I think we are weighed down with sorrow but do not know how to truly mourn, for if we did, our mourning over the aborted children would be such a river of tears it would wash the evil and darkness away then, finding ourselves in a culture of life, we would indeed be comforted.

Each Beatitude is an opportunity to reflect upon how we actually embrace and live, or not, the Holy Gospel.

If we struggle to live the Beatitudes we shall certainly hear Him say when we die: “Come good and faithful servant, receive what has been prepared for you since the beginning.”

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